Monday, June 29, 2009

All-Mountain

And BTW... if someone feels ambitious they can try and explain the concept of the All-Mountain mountain bike to me. As I browse the web dreaming of full-suspension goodness (maybe for X-mas dear if you're wondering), I find these peculiar creatures of the bike world. In an attempt to make a bike that's good for everything off-road, I can't help but wonder if what they've done is created a bike that's not particularly good at anything off-road. A bit too heavy for XC race and a bit too whimpy to be seriously dropped, maybe it's only intended for the not quite so daring weekend warrior who will never race. I guess that's _A_ market, still just seems a bit odd...

7 comments:

Colin R said...

A high-end all mountain bike (i.e. Trek Remedy 9 or Specialized Enduro is gonna weigh in under 30 lbs for 6 inches of F/R travel. That's an imminently downhill-able setup (I rode Thom's Remedy at Highland last week) and with that weight you can have plenty of fun on technical XC trails as well.

There's a large and growing segment of guys who mountain bike for fun and for beer. They don't race, don't mind walking the occasional steep hill, and love going downhill. For them, this could be the only bike they need to own. A 6+6 bike can definitely be "seriously dropped," in fact, to push a 6+6 bike past what it's capable of requires much larger balls than either of us has.

Basically I think you underestimate how many guys out there do the social mtb thing with their buddies and have no intent of ever putting a number on (or riding a road bike). You should see the Harold Parker parking lot on any given weeknight.

trackrich said...

I don't think it's so much that as me not considering how much mixing there is of guys who like to throw themselves off 6 foot drops and guys who like to weave through single-track. I always considered them to be two separate groups so you either needed 3-4" of travel or 8" and a full-face. I guess judging from the parking lot at Nam yesterday though, maybe there are a lot of people with just big enough stones to warrant one of these rigs. It is a somewhat attractive offering... just couldn't get my head around whether it was really useful. Maybe I just need to check my stones to decide since I can promise I'll never need a full downhill rig.

solobreak said...

They are just motorcycles anyway. The only difference is that the engine is attached to a chair lift. Why not just cut to the chase and buy a KTM? Then you won't have to drive to the mountains and pay $65 every time you want to ride. No waiting in between runs either.

gewilli said...

http://velonews.com/article/94022/barry-wicks--bc-bike-race-rig

that's what ya need...

while you are at it grab one for me too

trackrich said...

I was reading about that one the other day... pretty sick.

Part of my confusion stems from wondering out loud how much typical riders doing their typical riding "need" full suspension. Maybe it's actually the 4" travel bike that the marketing folks have convinced us we need, but nobody really does. You want to go fast and uphill, get a hardtail. You want to go sick and downhill, go with the all-mountain or full on downhill. Everyone tells me the full susser makes it "easier" and "better", but I've still got no first hand experience. Once I save enough pennies much test riding will definitely be required.

Colin R said...

Maybe it's actually the 4" travel bike that the marketing folks have convinced us we need, but nobody really does.

No one "needs" a dualie, but they are sure as hell faster on some race courses.

Jorge said...

Hey trackrich, I was expecting a report from your race last weekend. You did very well my friend, what was the price for 3rd?
http://www.root66raceseries.com/page/9-race-results
I ended better than I expected for that course, which was pretty brutal in the climbing side.
I agree with Colin R on the "no one needs a dualie". I definitely could use one when the downhills at the end of the race start beating me up, and I can hear the guys that I just passed on the uphills gaining on me.
I still survive, but wonder how it would feel on the body with the other rig.