#!markdown
Hear ya loud n clear. My first real MTB was a Trek 970. True Temper OX3, made
in Waterloo, and a near full LX group aside from the requisite XT rear
derailleur. Retailed less than a grand, and working at a shop brought it well
under with my EP. How do you sell MTB to younguns? Simply, you really can't.
Like all sports, it's something you're into trying or not. Yes, gear is
expensive. Yes, manufacturers know it and (mostly) try to constrain the cost-
performance ratio of their newest geegaws and doodads. Yes, the media have a
job to do to report on those same latest n greatest geegaws and doodads (or at
least publish the press releases if they're lazy). But any enthusiast sport
can be expensive. A buddy paid north of $700 for a fly fishing rod. Another
one spends a couple grand a year on windsurf boards and sails. And I won't
even talk about what my friends with motorcycle habits, street or dirt, lay
out. And let's not forget what it costs to get out and do any of those
activities. If your friends are curious, demo a bike and take em for an easy
ride in the woods. If they scoff, so what? They don't get it the way you and
the rest of us do. And that's cool. Everybody has their own definition of fun,
and what it's worth to them to have said fun.
Feb. 23, 2016, 7:23 a.m. - JT
#!markdown Hear ya loud n clear. My first real MTB was a Trek 970. True Temper OX3, made in Waterloo, and a near full LX group aside from the requisite XT rear derailleur. Retailed less than a grand, and working at a shop brought it well under with my EP. How do you sell MTB to younguns? Simply, you really can't. Like all sports, it's something you're into trying or not. Yes, gear is expensive. Yes, manufacturers know it and (mostly) try to constrain the cost- performance ratio of their newest geegaws and doodads. Yes, the media have a job to do to report on those same latest n greatest geegaws and doodads (or at least publish the press releases if they're lazy). But any enthusiast sport can be expensive. A buddy paid north of $700 for a fly fishing rod. Another one spends a couple grand a year on windsurf boards and sails. And I won't even talk about what my friends with motorcycle habits, street or dirt, lay out. And let's not forget what it costs to get out and do any of those activities. If your friends are curious, demo a bike and take em for an easy ride in the woods. If they scoff, so what? They don't get it the way you and the rest of us do. And that's cool. Everybody has their own definition of fun, and what it's worth to them to have said fun.