If we are roadies, what are mountain bikers?

secretsam

I always call them "knobblies" but what's the correct term?

keef66

Sheepshaggers?

Or how about Mountain Bikers?

capt_slog

Off-roadies?

haydenm

Capt Slog wrote:

Off-roadies?

Well, that explains the smell HA HA HA


Sorry...

lakesluddite

Crudders.

964cup

Children.

secretsam

LakesLuddite wrote:

Crudders.

I have seen this before. Is it polite? I mean, I wouldn't be offended to be called a roadie by a mtb-er

veronese68

SecretSam wrote:

LakesLuddite wrote:

Crudders.

I have seen this before. Is it polite? I mean, I wouldn't be offended to be called a roadie by a mtb-er

I thought that only applied on here due to the crud catcher part of the forum. I suspect you may get funny looks in the real world.

cooldad

Real manly men. Even the ladies.

fat daddy

slow !

veronese68

Happy

meanredspider

Being slightly controversial on a Road forum - what I love about MTBers is their willingness to adopt new technology. From adapting some basic bike frames in, what, the 70s (?) they've brought suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, tubeless tyres, 1x gear chains, dropper saddles, Lefty forks, the list goes on - not to mention the long list of bike types. In the same period of time, roadies have managed almost nothing unique - carbon first maybe? Electronic shifting that many still don't think is necessary. In evolutionary terms, Roadies (and I count myself as a reluctant Roadie) could be compared to Neanderthals being out-evolved by those crafty Humans. After all, much of what are the developments in road cycling have come from MTB. If we are roadies, what are mountain bikers? Smarter than us?

Let the flaming begin (where's Floppy when you need him?)

bbrap

Baggies

fat daddy

meanredspider wrote:

Being slightly controversial on a Road forum - what I love about MTBers is their willingness to adopt new technology.

That's only because they are about 30 years younger than the average road cyclist ... have you tried getting an old person to try anything new, let alone admit to enjoying it.

go on ... give a 60 year old couscous ... no lad, the only thing that goes with anything is a potato, that's all that's needed none of this fancy stuff, just a potato and don't do anything fancy to it, just boil it to death .. potato ..... if you must make it fancy then do a starter and make it a prawn cocktail with frozen prawns that leave a puddle of water in the glass.

Mountain bikers are averagly younger and able to adopt to new ideas ...... now middle age ... you can see the cut off happening, we love electronic shifting, disc brakes, hydraulics, dropper posts, Bluetooth on everything ...... but e-bikes ... WOAH .... anyting from the e-bike onwards its just not right, give us a potato !

Ben6899

^^^ nothing wrong with potato, lad.

veronese68

bbrap wrote:

Baggies

The clothes or the bellies? I am only thinking of myself here. :oops:

haydenm

meanredspider wrote:

Being slightly controversial on a Road forum - what I love about MTBers is their willingness to adopt new technology. From adapting some basic bike frames in, what, the 70s (?) they've brought suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, tubeless tyres, 1x gear chains, dropper saddles, Lefty forks, the list goes on - not to mention the long list of bike types. In the same period of time, roadies have managed almost nothing unique - carbon first maybe? Electronic shifting that many still don't think is necessary. In evolutionary terms, Roadies (and I count myself as a reluctant Roadie) could be compared to Neanderthals being out-evolved by those crafty Humans. After all, much of what are the developments in road cycling have come from MTB. If we are roadies, what are mountain bikers? Smarter than us?

Let the flaming begin (where's Floppy when you need him?)

I've been saying this for ages, if roadies weren't such a bunch of gruppy old luddites we would all be running reliable, standardised hydraulic disc brakes by now and we could forget that the foray into mechanical discs ever happened. Christ, my GF's £600 mtb has better brakes than any number of more expensive road bikes with mechanical discs...

964cup

On the other hand, they think 9kg is a light bike, they take chair lifts up steep hills and their clothes don't fit. Have a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naSgdcZlcPE. One looks like a cyclist, one like an ice-hockey player or (worse) an urban yoof.

fat daddy

964Cup wrote:

and their clothes don't fit. .

err not sure a roadie can claim this of an off-roadie

roadies wear clothing that's far too small for them, wedging those love handles and moobs into tight lycra ..... off-roadies sem to think they will grow another few inches so buy the next 2 sizes up to accommodate

the only riders that wear normal sized clothes are commuters !

haydenm

964Cup wrote:

On the other hand, they think 9kg is a light bike, they take chair lifts up steep hills and their clothes don't fit. Have a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naSgdcZlcPE. One looks like a cyclist, one like an ice-hockey player or (worse) an urban yoof.

The guy on the left raced Enduro world series where they don't really use chairlifts, I'd guess he is fitter than 99% of this forum

keef66

fat daddy wrote:

go on ... give a 60 year old couscous ... no lad, the only thing that goes with anything is a potato, that's all that's needed none of this fancy stuff, just a potato and don't do anything fancy to it, just boil it to death .. potato ..... if you must make it fancy then do a starter and make it a prawn cocktail with frozen prawns that leave a puddle of water in the glass.

Well you can bugger off. I'll be 60 this year and I'm the most adventurous eater in the family. And I've got an iPad.

I just don't have disk brakes or electronic shifting on my road bikes because the stuff I do have still works and I'm a tightarsed Yorkshireman!

meanredspider

HaydenM wrote:

964Cup wrote:

On the other hand, they think 9kg is a light bike, they take chair lifts up steep hills and their clothes don't fit. Have a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naSgdcZlcPE. One looks like a cyclist, one like an ice-hockey player or (worse) an urban yoof.

The guy on the left raced Enduro world series where they don't really use chairlifts, I'd guess he is fitter than 99% of this forum

Was gonna say that some of the MTBers I know laugh at what Roadies consider tough. When we did Inverness to Edinburgh (over the Cairngorms in "the worst storm for 50 years") in a day it was the MTBers that led the way. And even the downhillers (the chairlift crowd) I know are hard as nails - smashing various bits off themselves.

vimfuego

Are you not allowed to do both?

Where do I turn myself in?

meanredspider

vimfuego wrote:

Are you not allowed to do both?

Where do I turn myself in?

Absolutely - variety is the spice of life and, when it's icy on the roads, jump on the MTB instead. You could then just call yourself, um, I dunno: a cyclist?

burnthesheep

In the US I've heard "being a knobbie Nick".

I choose road. Would I ride CX or MTB, surely. Why not? I have semi-infinite paved cycling trails beginning right in my actual back yard. I also have lots of local roads with dedicated lanes.

I can get dressed and go. No wasting time to drive to the forest. There are a LOT of great MTB/CX paths very nearby also. However, it would still take me 30 minutes each direction to pack the car, unpack the bike and gear, ride, pack the car and gear back up, then drive home. That's an extra hour or more.

I don't have time with work or kids to lose an hour every time I want to go ride. Especially if I ride more than once a week. I usually ride 2 to 3 times a week.

So........road it is.

haydenm

burnthesheep wrote:

In the US I've heard "being a knobbie Nick".

I choose road. Would I ride CX or MTB, surely. Why not? I have semi-infinite paved cycling trails beginning right in my actual back yard. I also have lots of local roads with dedicated lanes.

I can get dressed and go. No wasting time to drive to the forest. There are a LOT of great MTB/CX paths very nearby also. However, it would still take me 30 minutes each direction to pack the car, unpack the bike and gear, ride, pack the car and gear back up, then drive home. That's an extra hour or more.

I don't have time with work or kids to lose an hour every time I want to go ride. Especially if I ride more than once a week. I usually ride 2 to 3 times a week.

So........road it is.

I find that, the stuff to ride out of my door on the mtb isn't great, the road bike has a load of great 'mountain' roads going for it. That said, because there are so few little connecting roads I either end up doing an 80km loop minimum or an out and back ride which is boring. There is a lot of cx potential out of the door though, stuff that is boring on my big bike. I'd still rather drive over to Innerliethen on a weekend with the mtb than nearly anything else

meanredspider

I like speed more which is what makes me prefer Road but there's something incredibly tranquil about the fire roads and I can do a 45km loop almost entirely off-road from my house which I will miss when we move properly back south.

haydenm

I find if I don't go to ride the mtb fast down hills over and over again on the weekend I feel like crap all week. I am essentially a child. These days I pedal up as well as down because it's more enduro...

figbat

Maybe there's an extension to the question as to what term a particular genre gives themselves?

Then there's the whole thing about polite dinner party conversation:

"So, what hobbies do you have?"

"Oh, this and that - I do a bit of cycling"

The converation then goes one of two ways:

1. You are talking to another cyclist, who is almost always a roadie:

"Oh, me too - what bike have you got - I have an Unobtanium 2.25.01 Pro Carbon with full Unbelievium groupset - I usually knock out a couple of hundred miles at a weekend - do you do Strava?"

"I.... I'm more of a [insert MTB-riding noun here] really"

"Oh....."

2. You are talking to a non-cyclist

"Yeah, I rode a bike once - a Raleigh something - proper flew it did"

"I mostly do mountain biking"

"Oh....."

secretsam

meanredspider wrote:

And even the downhillers (the chairlift crowd) I know are hard as nails - smashing various bits off themselves.

Including the chain. I read about some downhiller who won a race with no chain. That's not cycling, that's riding a big scooter down a hill.

veronese68

SecretSam wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

And even the downhillers (the chairlift crowd) I know are hard as nails - smashing various bits off themselves.

Including the chain. I read about some downhiller who won a race with no chain. That's not cycling, that's riding a big scooter down a hill.

Or an ankle, another guy finished a race with his foot flailing having broken his ankle on one of the last jumps. Couldn't pedal the final approach but still finished second. There's a hell of a lot of skill in getting down those hills at the speed they do, and more than a little insanity.