That really is a classic photo Andrew! Regarding your M.E. article, I wonder how many people actually care about what bike you ride. I certainly don't. I'm glad you're having fun on it though.
MEAT Engines 2023...
Don't know if anyone saw it earlier. Guy Kestevan wrote a piece on the state of the bike industry..
Posted by: skooks
That really is a classic photo Andrew! Regarding your M.E. article, I wonder how many people actually care about what bike you ride. I certainly don't. I'm glad you're having fun on it though.
I get asked about rigid riding (or told about rigid riding) very regularly when out pedaling bikes.
In this particular instance, I was actually writing about pants. Always interesting to see how stuff lands.
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And yeah, Steve & Meg take wonderful images.
"Everything serious is always [Full Suspension]" - Jerry Willows
Last edited by: AndrewMajor on Dec. 28, 2023, 11:18 p.m., edited 1 time in total.
Posted by: Endurimil
Don't know if anyone saw it earlier. Guy Kestevan wrote a piece on the state of the bike industry..
https://www.bikeperfect.com/author/guy-kesteven
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I know a lot of folks working in the industry currently - wrenching, running shops, in distribution, working at bike brands - and from what I gather, I think we’ll find that a couple of years from now we’ll look back and see there was a lot of doomsaying about nothing.
Companies went pedal-to-the-floor into the post-Covid-selling-spree WALL and there’s certainly some wrecks being patched up, but I think most outfits will heal.
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Locally lots of folks are talking about how slow it is sales wise, but for perspective, I’ve soloed a lot of dead winter days in local shops where we felt pretty stoked if a friend stopped by with coffees and left with a tube, or a tire, or later on a bottle of Stan’s. There’s way more going on than that right now.
I hate being the optimist in the room, but I’d guess most companies going lean right now are hiring next year. Lots of shops are already trying to bulk up for spring.
"Everything serious is always [Full Suspension]" - Jerry Willows
Last edited by: AndrewMajor on Dec. 28, 2023, 11:20 p.m., edited 2 times in total.
Posted by: AndrewMajor
And yeah, Steve & Meg take wonderful images.
Super nice folks as well!
We were out riding the other day and I was on the Double Hardtail (my mate was on his Stumpy Evo). We stopped at a great little café on the side of a farm for a quick caffeine and sugar hit. Two or three groups of riders pulled up. All on full squish carbon ebikes. I don't think any of them even twigged I was on a DHT - let alone had the slackest head angle out of all the bikes.
A similar thing happened when we stopped again in Peaslake - the epicentre of mtb in the Surrey Hills. The only group on MEATbikes where a group of kids.
Hardtails seem to fly under the radar even in the UK. We did see another group on MEATs and one was on a 29 Pace HT - I did praise their choice of bike.
Last edited by: fartymarty on Dec. 29, 2023, 2:04 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
I only have steel hardtails- it's all I've had for the last 8 years or so. I'm always amazed when, mid ride, someone in the group will look over and say "Oh! You're on a hardtail?" and usually that's when they start noticing whatever else "odd" I've got going on with my bike. "Christ those are big brakes" or "Is that steel?" or "Are those 26" wheels?" and so on.
I think that's probably good, honestly. The people that say stuff before we start a ride tend to end up being insufferable to ride with- they tend to judge based on your bike and then ride like they have something to prove. The people that notice mid ride tend to be more honestly interested and less judge-y. More curious less judgmental, to quote the man.
Andrew: Are we getting deets on those pants?
You don't have to zoom out very far for all mountain bikes to look the same and whether a bike has suspension or not to become an insignificant detail.
When we go kayaking and meet other kayakers on the water, I have no clue about their kayaks or how they compare to mine, whether they are special or expensive, or whatever. They're simply other people also enjoying paddling.
That's the perspective I try to take on the trail as well. Gear can still be a nice conversation starter at the level of 'nice paintjob' or 'how do you like those tires?' but someone who will go on and on about how their new 500 P.O.E. hub is a game changer for technical climbing will lose my attention pretty quickly.
Posted by: nothingfuture
I only have steel hardtails- it's all I've had for the last 8 years or so. I'm always amazed when, mid ride, someone in the group will look over and say "Oh! You're on a hardtail?" and usually that's when they start noticing whatever else "odd" I've got going on with my bike. "Christ those are big brakes" or "Is that steel?" or "Are those 26" wheels?" and so on.
I think that's probably good, honestly. The people that say stuff before we start a ride tend to end up being insufferable to ride with- they tend to judge based on your bike and then ride like they have something to prove. The people that notice mid ride tend to be more honestly interested and less judge-y. More curious less judgmental, to quote the man.
Andrew: Are we getting deets on those pants?
Interesting take. I tend to ride with the same folks (who I’ve ridden with for years) when I’m on the rigid so my interactions are with strangers we come across not folks I’m riding with.
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They’re Dharco pants. My wife saw them on sale and the whole fam got a pair for Christmas. It’s like team kit for Cumberlandworx this year!
Posted by: Endurimil
Don't know if anyone saw it earlier. Guy Kestevan wrote a piece on the state of the bike industry..
Wow. Good rant!
“Vulture capitalists will inject their strangling ‘strings attached' money into the next ‘big thing’ instead so brands that deserve to survive on merit will grow slowly rather than bail out b*llshitters getting rich quick.”
I’m thinking companies like Kona and Stan’s which sold out at peak bike are going to be pretty happy with their moves.
(It’d be a bit easier to take this guy seriously if the website wasn’t completely choked with ads.)
Posted by: fartymarty
We were out riding the other day and I was on the Double Hardtail (my mate was on his Stumpy Evo). We stopped at a great little café on the side of a farm for a quick caffeine and sugar hit. Two or three groups of riders pulled up. All on full squish carbon ebikes. I don't think any of them even twigged I was on a DHT - let alone had the slackest head angle out of all the bikes.
A similar thing happened when we stopped again in Peaslake - the epicentre of mtb in the Surrey Hills. The only group on MEATbikes where a group of kids.
Hardtails seem to fly under the radar even in the UK. We did see another group on MEATs and one was on a 29 Pace HT - I did praise their choice of bike.
I feel like capital-I-Interesting bikes like yours got much more attention during the covid days than they do now. I think part of that is most of the fresh-faced bike shoppers who’d make comments or ask questions are back to breathing arena air or playing snooker underground or something.
Maybe you just need a motor to get noticed now? Let’s touch base on this again in the spring when we have enough sunshine to really show off.
I've been riding my Kona Humu rigid singlespeed a lot lately and it seems to draw more attention than any other bike I've ridden (save my old Karpiel). It makes me really want to build up a more modern rigid singlespeed hardtail. Its so much fun! I wouldn't completely give up my Ripmo AF for it, but it is making the trails interesting again.
Blofeld - I think that a big percentage of riders are only interested in the latest and greatest. It's only probably riders who have a few decades under their belts and are jaded by years of marketeering that appreciate the esoteric / eccentric.
I wouldn't say my bike is Interesting (it's all stock parts) it's just very considered - there's a reason behind every part on it.
Last edited by: fartymarty on Dec. 29, 2023, noon, edited 1 time in total.
Posted by: fartymarty
A similar thing happened when we stopped again in Peaslake - the epicentre of mtb in the Surrey Hills. The only group on MEATbikes where a group of kids.
I think Peaslake has to be the top spot in the UK to spot a cornucopia of whatever is currently the easiest way to spend a TON of money on a MTB. It used to be the prime spot for carbon enduro bikes, now it’s electric versions of them. But it’s not like none of them can really RIDE - there’s some gnarly steep stuff (I’ve seen clips of mates of mine riding Brendog’s “rampage” lines which frankly would be suicidal for me to try) and some big jumps.
Lots of people having fun getting the most out of their bikes and lots of people barely scratching the surface of what their bike can do and certainly a fair few relying on their motors to get them up hills they can’t or don’t want to do with 100% meat power.
Head south towards Brighton and you’ll see plenty of hardtails (and rigids and fat bikes and retro bikes) mixed in with the usual big money electro carbon bling - probably because there isn’t as much gnarly stuff to ride and there aren’t as many big salary jobs as you get near London.
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