Lots of good anecdotes and points of view here. A few gripes about trails being too hard and bikes being too expensive. My wife and I moved out here from Ontario 20 years ago. I had just graduated teachers college after previously managing a bike shop. We came out here with a Turner XCE and a Santa Cruz Superlight! Yes those were hot shit bikes back then.
BC riding humbled us as it does many but over the years we have ridden just about everywhere in BC. after a few years my XCE was needing a new fork, new cranks (broke in two) and I didn't have the cash to upkeep and no shop discount :'(
My commuter bike a Surley Karate Monkey became my new mountain bike. 7 speed thumbshifters on an 8 speed cassette with two chain rings. No shocks. No dropper. The most cutting edge parts were a chris king rear hub and a set of original XT disc brakes. That bike took me to every corner of BC riding (including black diamonds on the shore) - until it finally gave up mid ride in Kimberly BC
Surly gave me a new one. I didn't like the blue as well as my "skid mark brown" but old blue carried me through my medical degree (8 more years), until I could get my MD and a credit card that would carry my dream bike (ti hardtail). Here is a photo of me with my second Karate monkey in Rossland BC while in medical school.
You don't need much to have fun riding in BC. If any of you ever go back east to ride you will know that back there, you pay $ to ride in circles on 10 acres of flat forested terrain. BC biking is one of a kind. If you can't appreciate it because your bike isn't good enough, you missed the point. I still have that blue karate monkey - it's my single speed now. Still ride it. Still love it. And I especially love it when my wife is driven crazy when we climb past some riders and she is on her carbon bronson with enve/chris king everything and everyone loses their shit over my prehistoric steel bike ignoring her marvel of bicycle engineering.
July 18, 2018, 12:38 a.m. - Reed Holden
Lots of good anecdotes and points of view here. A few gripes about trails being too hard and bikes being too expensive. My wife and I moved out here from Ontario 20 years ago. I had just graduated teachers college after previously managing a bike shop. We came out here with a Turner XCE and a Santa Cruz Superlight! Yes those were hot shit bikes back then. BC riding humbled us as it does many but over the years we have ridden just about everywhere in BC. after a few years my XCE was needing a new fork, new cranks (broke in two) and I didn't have the cash to upkeep and no shop discount :'( My commuter bike a Surley Karate Monkey became my new mountain bike. 7 speed thumbshifters on an 8 speed cassette with two chain rings. No shocks. No dropper. The most cutting edge parts were a chris king rear hub and a set of original XT disc brakes. That bike took me to every corner of BC riding (including black diamonds on the shore) - until it finally gave up mid ride in Kimberly BC  Surly gave me a new one. I didn't like the blue as well as my "skid mark brown" but old blue carried me through my medical degree (8 more years), until I could get my MD and a credit card that would carry my dream bike (ti hardtail). Here is a photo of me with my second Karate monkey in Rossland BC while in medical school.  You don't need much to have fun riding in BC. If any of you ever go back east to ride you will know that back there, you pay $ to ride in circles on 10 acres of flat forested terrain. BC biking is one of a kind. If you can't appreciate it because your bike isn't good enough, you missed the point. I still have that blue karate monkey - it's my single speed now. Still ride it. Still love it. And I especially love it when my wife is driven crazy when we climb past some riders and she is on her carbon bronson with enve/chris king everything and everyone loses their shit over my prehistoric steel bike ignoring her marvel of bicycle engineering.