Are MTBs losing out to road bikes

stubs

Just got back from my LBS and I noticed that where as a year ago about half the showroom was taken by MTBs or MTB shaped objects now the MTBs are in a corner surrounded by piles of shiny road bikes and the walls that used to be full of knobbly tyres and helmets with peaks are now covered in bib shorts and leg shaving products. I mentioned this to the manager and he said road bikes are outselling MTBs by about 3 to 1 in the important round about a £1000 section. Top end stuff he reckons the guys who bought a blinged up XTR or XX MTB a year or so ago are now buying a Dura ace or Red equipped speed machine and the expensive MTBs are nailed to the floor.

Has the MTB bubble burst or is it just the tides of fashion shifting to skinny tyres.

cooldad

I hope so. More woods etc for the rest of us.

russyh

If you want my opinion (for what little its worth) I am both a roadie and a MTb rider. They both have their own space in the market and actually are quite different pastimes. I do think however that the MTB world has slightly lost its direction in terms of innovation and product development. It seems to be going a similar way as windsurfing did 25 years ago. Newcomers to the sport are confused by all the different types of bikes (AM, DH, XC, DJ etc. etc.) they are also confused by the new wheel sizes and the instability that has bought around buyer confidence. This just doesn't really happen with road bikes. Sure there is development, but the fundamentals are still the same.

in fact even when you buy a MTB magazine nowadays the articles contradict each other month after month. in the attempt to please advertisers they have lost direction and actually alienated the riders.

So to summarise, i don't think MTB is dead (i can never park at the trail centre) but i do think its in a rocky place...

njee20

MTBs always use to outsell road by a huge margin (seem to recall BikeBiz saying it was 7:1), but how that ratio shifts when you get out of BSO and entry level territory (say >£500) I have no idea.

Seems plausible there's been a more marked increase in road bike sales - it's more practical on a day to day basis, and the majority of the success that joe public has seen on TV is on the road, so that's probably what they're drawn to try.

Still think the trails are busier than ever before though.

Anyway, who cares, it's all bikes.

PerformingMonkey

I have noticed similar in that the front of the LBS is now devoted to road bikes with the MTBs at the back. I have also noticed that the rate of posts on the road section of this site outstrips the MTB section, but that might all be down to them being work shy...

Maybe it is an accessibility thing? Is an entry level road bike much cheaper than an entry level MTB? To ride a road bike you just turn out of your drive way and you have access to your chosen environment, rather than seeking out the trails on an MTB.

However a lot of people who tell me they want to get into cycling say they are intimidated by the roads and would love a bike they can just blast around the woods and cliff tops on.

97th choice

It just means more stuff coming through Pauls cycles at bargain prices.

I bought my last bike from an LBS but they price matched with Pauls and were happy to do so, they said that as long as they referenced the advert Giant were happy to match it so the LBS didn't lose out.

markhewitt1978

Yes, road bikes are getting more popular, partly because they are finally making them with decent gearings and geometries for ordinary people. Not to mention the popularity since Wiggins etc.

For a long time MTB was the 'normal person' option as manufacturers didn't make road bikes for normal people.

njee20

Is an entry level road bike much cheaper than an entry level MTB?

No, the opposite really. Although you could race a £500 road bike in the Tour de France if you wanted, it would be heavier, and a bit of a handicap, but it would do it just fine. Racing a £500 MTB in the World Cup... rather you than me.

partly because they are finally making them with decent gearings and geometries for ordinary people

Not so sure about gearing - triples and compacts have been around for a long time now, but the gradual shortening and increasingly upright position of most road bikes suggests they're being increasingly designed to fit people with less than supreme flexibility!

bigmitch41

I think cycling is having a bit of an "on trend" thing going on at the mo, as mentioned above with the Wiggins reference, not forgetting Cavendish & Kennaugh! With the rocketing price of parking/fuel/road tax blah blah blah, more people are turning to road bikes, this could explain the shift in bias to road over mtb cyclse in the shop?

redhanded

IMO a MTB with slick tyres is a pretty good choice for an everyday bike for lots of people; pootling around the local area not doing any great distances or speeds, going to the shops, pub, towpaths, parks and the like.

The whole push towards 29ers and inference that 26 inch wheels are old fashioned and on their way should seems like a cynical marketing exercise. For lots of people, a 29er just isn't a good fit.

97th choice

I think that marketing wise the MTB industry is in a bit of a mess and that's resulted in a lack of confidence from purchasers who are waiting to see how things even out.

markhewitt1978

I think I see it as more of a rebalancing rather than a lack of popularity etc. For many years the MTB was the default choice for many people even if they didn't want to take it anywhere near a forest or they did all of their riding on road. Whereas road bikes were strange and exotic.

kajjal

Russyh wrote:

If you want my opinion (for what little its worth) I am both a roadie and a MTb rider. They both have their own space in the market and actually are quite different pastimes. I do think however that the MTB world has slightly lost its direction in terms of innovation and product development. It seems to be going a similar way as windsurfing did 25 years ago. Newcomers to the sport are confused by all the different types of bikes (AM, DH, XC, DJ etc. etc.) they are also confused by the new wheel sizes and the instability that has bought around buyer confidence. This just doesn't really happen with road bikes. Sure there is development, but the fundamentals are still the same.

in fact even when you buy a MTB magazine nowadays the articles contradict each other month after month. in the attempt to please advertisers they have lost direction and actually alienated the riders.

So to summarise, i don't think MTB is dead (i can never park at the trail centre) but i do think its in a rocky place...

Your windsurfing comment is very true. Give people too many choices that may or may not be around in a few years and they will often choose something else which while not quite what they want is easy to understand and stable.

Mountain biking is splitting its market into too many sections and beyond the lower priced bikes people are now putting off buying as they don't know how things are going to pan out or feel change is being forced on them for marketing reasons only. Also the specs keep dropping and the prices rising which people are getting tired of not just in mountain bikes.

Road bikes are changing to match general riders needs rather than just the head down race types on road bikes which is rapidly expanding their market. Round by us the country lanes have alot of new shiney road bikes out in club rides for beginners. I do both road and mountain biking and can see the rise of road biking at the moment.

RevellRider

redhanded wrote:

The whole push towards 29ers and inference that 26 inch wheels are old fashioned and on their way should seems like a cynical marketing exercise. For lots of people, a 29er just isn't a good fit.

Not wanting to turn this into an endless 26" vs 29" debate, but saying that for lost of people the 29er isn't a good fit is a load of crap. Maybe 5 years ago, when the geometry wasn't as refined. Now the bikes fit everyone reasonably well from 5ft 2 girls to 6ft plus guys and pretty much everyone in between.

The road bike market has grown massively over the last couple of years, where as the mountain bike market hasn't shrunk in my experience. My feelings on this is the influx of cash rich, time poor cyclists. You can hope on your road bike, go out the door and be back home within a couple of hours after having done a decent ride. Mountain biking is more time consuming for most. The less aggressive geometries on road bikes are helping to make the change too

The Rookie

My feelings kind of align with RR....
MTB's had a boon a few years back, I think sales are down 'a bit' as those buyers work through to their next purchase, meanwhile road bike sales are up a lot (Olympics, cycling success in general TdF etc and more commuting) so the proportion of road sales to MTB has swung. Also as stated, a £300-500 road bike is much closer to the capability of the £5K plus bikes than is the case for MTB's.

mcnultycop

I bought a road bike late last year (just an entry level one) just purely for winter training, as it meant I could ride for an hour in the evening without a load of bike cleaning, etc. It has been getting more use than I thought it would, and has replaced a few weekend MTB rides.

It's miles less fun on the road, but much less maintenance.

BigAl

I think it's all down to the current profile of GB road (and track) cycling and the unprecedented success it's had over the last few years.

Road cycling is what people see on the TV and reported in the papers. Wiggo & Froome winning the TDF has put full frame on the back pages. Hoy, Pendleton and the rest beating all at the Olympics (ok it's track - but people will see it as akin to raod cycling). Even the bad stuff (Armstrong) keeps the profile high. On the flip side, very few non cyclists have heard of the Athertons or Steve Peat. When people think cycling they think of a road bike

And, as said above, all you need to ride the roads is a bike - just roll it out of your door and you're away. By contrast (depending where you live) accessing good trails may mean sticking the bike on a car rack, blah, blah. And maintenance and cleaning is more effort with an MTB too

I started as a roadie (long, long ago) but converted to MTBing when my priorities changed from fitness to leisure (fun). I very rarely ride on the roads anymore because I no longer enjoy it and cars frighten me

ddraver

I can't see how wheel size or "type of bike" is relevant at all really. No one is going to walk into a shop wanting to ride off road on muddy trails in the woods but suddenly buy a bike to ride on road, through towns becasue they ca't decide between an XC, AM, Enduro or whatever. Same with wheel size, "Argh I can't decide between 26, 650b or 29 so I ll go 700c instead!!" Nope.

Road biking has become cool, especially for older men having their mid life crisis and want something cheaper than a Sportscar. Remember that for them, their dream bike as a kid was a racer not an MTB. It's also a good way to get to work if you live in a city.

markhewitt1978

BigAl wrote:

When people think cycling they think of a road bike

Which is quite a change. Back in the last 1990s when I bought my first adult bike I got a hybrid, but many people - even without seeing the bike, would say things like "oh you're getting a mountain bike?" They thought it strange that I was buying a bike which wasn't a mountain bike.

BigAl

markhewitt1978 wrote:

BigAl wrote:

When people think cycling they think of a road bike

Which is quite a change. Back in the last 1990s when I bought my first adult bike I got a hybrid, but many people - even without seeing the bike, would say things like "oh you're getting a mountain bike?" They thought it strange that I was buying a bike which wasn't a mountain bike.

Indeed.

Mountain biking currently has virtually no public profile

mattrixdesign2

I presume an increase in road bike interest due to TdF, Olympic cycling success and coupled with incentives such as ride to work schemes where by most people will choose a road style bike to commute on.

Then you have the decline in 26inch Hybrid style bikes, and the increase of "flat bar" road hybrids (700c wheels), and an even bigger increase in the sales of CX style bikes. These bikes are easily capable of going where 80% of MTB owners would take their MTBs.

Even the amateur CX racing circuit is growing and is perhaps eating into the MTB XC sector.

As to all the MTB options, it is messy and confusing, I am not sure if it is preventing overall sales, but I could see why people may be put off by the vast options and deviations.

Personally I thought MTBing was the only cycling I would ever do, but then the road bike bug got me, I thought it would be boring, but its not and where I live is far more accessible than MTBing. I can do a 50mile ride from my door step, on the MTB I would have to drive 40mins/1hr just to do something worth while. Still love it thought, you don't get adrenaline from a road bike.

Now I have all three, Road/CX/MTB keep me interested all the time, bored of the roads, then I'll go exploring on the CX, fancy a massive thrill then i'll take the MTB out in the car.

stubs

I dont think the profile of MTBiking was helped by the Olympics the track wnd road events were exciting and successful the MTBiking was duller than watching paint dry and I cant even remember if there was any GB involvement

Northwind

I don't think we compete tbh, sure some bike shops will carry more road bikes and less mtbs but overall more bikes means more shops anyway- I was grumping that my local evans is 4/5ths roadie but then, they didn't exist at all a few years ago!

If people think "I'll get a bike" then decide whether to be a roadist or a mtbist, then we'd be losing out. But I don't think they do, I think they think "I'll get a road bike" or "I'll get an mtb" It's 2 different sports that happen to have the same number of wheels.

rockmonkeysc

The real reason people are buying road bikes instead of mountain bikes is the lack of Team Sky mountain bike kit.

markhewitt1978

I blame Wiggle.

Chunkers1980

Britian's turning gay.

apreading

stubs wrote:

Just got back from my LBS and I noticed that where as a year ago about half the showroom was taken by MTBs or MTB shaped objects now the MTBs are in a corner surrounded by piles of shiny road bikes and the walls that used to be full of knobbly tyres and helmets with peaks are now covered in bib shorts and leg shaving products. I mentioned this to the manager and he said road bikes are outselling MTBs by about 3 to 1 in the important round about a £1000 section. Top end stuff he reckons the guys who bought a blinged up XTR or XX MTB a year or so ago are now buying a Dura ace or Red equipped speed machine and the expensive MTBs are nailed to the floor.

Has the MTB bubble burst or is it just the tides of fashion shifting to skinny tyres.

I suspect that some of this will also be down to the LBS, in addition to the above reasons. If the LBS puts more road bikes in a more prominent position in the shop then sales of those WILL go up and if the MTBs are hidden or harder to find then sales WILL go down. Many people walking into an LBS already know what they want, but many of those more informed buyers will not go to an LBS and will buy online. Many people walking into an LBS that are less informed will see the road bikes and subconsciously think that is what they should look at. Newbies will commonly walk into a shop, knowing they want a bike but not much more than that, and be 'sold' what the assistant thinks they should be going for.

njee20

I disagree, having worked in an LBS for 10 years on and off the vast vast majority of people do at least know if they want a road bike or MTB. You may sometimes sell someone a hybrid, but people generally know which end of the spectrum they tend toward.

batmo

I wonder if the letters pages of cycling periodicals of the 1880s were filled with "My LBS has put those new-fangled safety bicycles in the front window and moved the penny-fathings to the back corner!" I suspect they were.

In fact, trawling the archives for the 90er vs. 27er debate might provide some insight...

Kowalski675

MTBs still occupy more floor space than road bikes in my LBS, and I don't often see anyone browsing the road bikes, although presumably they must be selling them well enough. I never even give them a glance out of curiosity, I have absolutely no interest in road cycling, either as a spectator or participant. From a selfish point of view, I'd rather the Tour De France wasn't coming to Yorkshire in summer - it's going to mean a weekend of traffic chaos and make some nice roads unusable for a weekend.

Thewaylander

I think as above its a huge mix of reasons.

Obviously recent success in Olympics/tour de France and so on gives road bikes a push. but I think return buys on MTBs are waiting to see what happens with wheel sizes.

Not so much the 29er but more will 650b replace 26" which isn’t a case of what’s more fun or not or what’s better, but a case of what the industry decides to push, 8 months ago I said when I see DH bikes with 650b wheels I'll start believe that 26" is on the way out... guess what half the teams are pushing them this year and 2015 will see a ton of them on the market. I think this indecision is bound to cause a slow down on repeat buyers until it kind of settles and the industry says ok this is the wheels sizes 650b and 29er or 26"and 29er.

Certainly been the case for me sitting back and waiting to see the fall out of 650b vs 26” so I know I will have a ready supply of tyres and rims in the future.