Thoughts Mountain Biking

Why are mountain bikers so angry?

Robb Sutton123.7K views

I was scrolling through my usual Facebook feed looking for some mountain biking content to digest for the morning when I ran across this article on MTBR.com. It was titled “The 5 best mountain bike innovations and why you need them“.

Simple enough. You can debate whether they are the “5 best” for sure but the list was a good one. Then I scrolled down to the comments section to find what seems to be a trend in any online conversation these days…anger and negativity.

…or you’re too simple to operate a shifter with your left hand

Leonard Fancher

On the olden days before dropper posts:

SO CUMBERSOME!!!!!!!!!! Too bad they never invented quick releases or tools you could carry in your pocket, or views to stop at or any other reason. I guess in the old days when you were not worried about a few seconds on your strava time anything could happen. Imagine wasting the time to lower the saddle when life expectancy was only like 24 yrs….

Grizzled Old Man

Dropper posts are the most overrated useless piece of equipment to date. Makes your bike heavier and adds nothing to the performance. I don’t understand why so many companies spec this on their bikes.

Brad

Anybody could quite happily ride a bike without any of those items on the list. I don’t even know why I opened the link and went through it. You just make people reluctant to turn up at trail centres because they can’t tick most of the boxes. There is nothing lovelier than a cared for retro bike.

Andy

Every thing comes at a price though. Hundreds of dollars for a device who’s only function is going up and down. We are in the middle of a pandemic, but yet beginner’s and kids parents. Have enough to shovel out cash for the latest and greatest. Keep buying and they will keep supplying, until your wallet is flat

Douglas Vlad

Hey, Josh….explain to me why i’m wrong. you’re sooooo good at defending a random list of new technology. Shouldn’t you be out putting together another list of crap to buy.

The list should be titled, “Buy a new bike and don’t read some crap article about new bikes”.

Drew P

Less bike mass is always better, Newtons Law. I live on a small mountain with lots of gravel roads, its great biking with views and good downhill. But the people who ride mountain bikes just stay on the flats, they don’t like to climb, because their bikes are too heavy

Steve

There are some of them but you get the idea. I see this trend on Facebook posts, forum threads and anywhere there are public comments that can be submitted. A lot of the negative energy seems to be pointed at newer innovations that riders think are stupid (in their own opinion of course).

Part of me gets the frustration. If you want to talk about how expensive the sport has gotten or how everyone wants to have their own standard…I’m all ears and we can really dive into that. However…when did so many riders become so vocal and reluctant about innovations like dropper seatposts that they have to be yelling from the top of the mountain all of the time?

If you don’t like it…don’t buy it.

It is funny to me the amount of energy riders will use to try to put down the choices of others. You like your gravel bike? Great! Ride it! Why do you care if someone else rides a bike with 160mm of travel and a dropper post?

Is there really any reason to be negative enough to have to comment on articles like that?

For me…riding has always been all inclusive. There are a crazy amount of different ways to enjoy the sport. It used to just be about getting out there and riding while encouraging others to do the same. Maybe it is just the rise of social media and the internet that has created this. I do know that I do not see a single person screaming at strangers about dropper posts at the trail head. I don’t see them putting down others for what they are riding.

My hope is that these people are the small percentage of riders that just happen to be the loudest. You don’t win a prize for not buying a new bike or part and still completing the trail. I know you think it makes you “old school” or “harder” than other riders…but it doesn’t. I actually saw someone’s forum signature that said “I learned out to ride a bike before dropper posts” like it is important enough to tell people all of time to try to put others down.

If you really have enough time in your day to spend riding paragraphs about 1x component groups and dropper posts…maybe you need to be out riding your bike more and typing less.

What are your thoughts? Are you seeing the same trend?

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12 comments

Douglas Vlad September 1, 2020 - 5:53 am
I guess when your well off, you really can't see the anger. You yourself wrote about not being able to bike no more. So you got an E-Bike. You didn't have any mention of any financial hardship. And I get the arguments, I am responsible for my own financial hardship. Back when I was in high school in Detroit, we had three levels of education. General, Business, and collage prep. Because all of our father's worked at the auto plant's, we all ended up in business prep taking shop classes that prepared us for blue collar labor. Now a lot of the manufacturing jobs have dried up. When I was younger, I could afford the DX and sometimes XT. But nowadays, I will never really know how great a dropper is. It's a part that goes up and down, but they are really expensive. And it's hard to justify paying $200+ for a seat post. Cycling has taken a new face, more professional's are into it, then the hippies who first brought it onto the scene. They talk about trickle down tech. I wish 12 speed would come down to my financial level, instead of a revamped eight speed. I'm not angry about the new tech, just the fact that I'm not included anymore.
Robb Sutton September 1, 2020 - 7:56 am
I understand the expense part of it for sure. We are looking at getting my wife and my son a new bike right now and it is hard to find anything within a budget these days. I will say though...that is true of most things right now. Prices of everything have seemed to go up. The used market is a great place to find deals on bikes that people barely ever ride.
Douglas Vlad September 1, 2020 - 5:48 pm
I don't even know how to use a dropper, folks at the bike shop say that they move your saddle out of the way for long descents. So what else are they used for. Is there any tutorials about using a dropper. I have long legs, so my saddle didn't seem to get in my way. But if there are other reasons for using a dropper, let me know, maybe I'll start saving up. But the guys at the trailhead told me I need larger sanctions for my fork. Which one do I do?And what do you care if I don't feel the same as you towards the new innovations. I was happy to see that you found a way to start riding again, I had even thought that I wished I could afford an E-Bike. Maybe I could start riding with the group again, but until I get ahead financially, I'm just a lone rider. I'm not mad at innovations, I'm mad at the way that it is not available to everyone. When you slap a 400 dollar price tag on it, and everyone purchases it. It will never come down in price. But I decided just not to read anymore of your pieces. Because it seems to anger you that I have an opinion.
Edward Mosimann August 31, 2020 - 6:06 pm
Ha! I have been designing and building bikes and bike components starting in the early 80's. I have been yelled at ...and appreciated for building wheels with too few spokes, making event specific bikes sub 16 pounds, making mountain unicycles with and touring bikes with suspensions, and all before there were blogs. "...you're ruining the sport ...you'll get everyone killed ...no one will afford the sport." You would have a rough time finding any advancement or change to almost any sport without groups of both fans and naysayers. You know that you have made significant change in the world of your sport's 'gear' when there are people that actually want you dead. Until then, let the bike-grin be your guide to what works for you. Analyze your ride. If you need pads to ride a XC section, you might want to rethink that retro bike. I ride black diamonds without a dropper post, while all of my friends use them. No good, no bad, just the here and now.
Robb Sutton September 1, 2020 - 7:58 am
There will always be that group of people that really don't like change. They want it to be like the "good old days". The reality is like you said...just the here and now. Everyone has their "good old days" and they are all different.
Daniel Gardener August 31, 2020 - 12:40 pm
Just yesterday when I was out riding I said to myself, "I don't even know how I managed to ride a mtn bike without a dropper." Coming from North Jersey, our trails are a mixed bag of rocks and roots and mostly short ups and downs. A dropper post makes it all flow together so much more seamlessly. I'm definitely more confident when pointing it downhill, knowing my saddle is out of the way and I'm not going to go OTB on every bump and that is way more fun than no dropper. The better Strava times is just a side effect.
Robb Sutton August 31, 2020 - 12:43 pm
Agree completely. I have been using dropper posts since the Gravity Dropper first came out for the exact same reason.
Douglas Vlad September 1, 2020 - 5:28 pm
I don't even know how to use a dropper, folks at the bike shop say that they move your saddle out of the way for long descents. So what else are they used for. Is there any tutorials about using a dropper. I have long legs, so my saddle didn't seem to get in my way. But if there are other reasons for using a dropper, let me know, maybe I'll start saving up. But the guys at the trailhead told me I need larger sanctions for my fork. Which one do I do?
Bryan Andrada August 31, 2020 - 11:16 am
I think it's all just speculation as to why people are angry. It's a mixed bag of why's and why not's, and maybe venting about something as stupid as a dropper post is what gets them through the day without shooting up a school or something. A big part of that is that the industry does push crappy standards sometimes, or incremental changes that only serve to churn the machine with more paperbacks.
Robb Sutton August 31, 2020 - 11:25 am
Bryan, I agree. We don't know the motivations behind what people do. I do think there is a certain percentage of those people that have just made being negative online a hobby.
DT Swiss August 31, 2020 - 11:08 am
I think the people that write those comments are unhappy in general and nothing will ever please them. Free lunch at work today, "I hate pizza..." . You get they gist... Dropper posts, over rated? Fun factor shot up 100% with droppers. Uh,.. I don't even know what to say about that comment.
Robb Sutton August 31, 2020 - 11:10 am
You are probably right and bike parts are also probably not the only thing they are negative about online.
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