I think I am in a "niche"

[Brothersmith]

Ok so I was out in the Dark Peak today on my Krampus. I normally ride mid- week or out mid wales way were I don't see many people or if I do they are simarly like minded folk.

However I think I only saw 2 hard-tails all day, no rigids or Fat bikes. At Fairholmes I thought I had walked into a cover shoot for MBR, every bike was FS, had a dropper post and 26" wheels (I had held off selling my 26" wheelset thinking no one would want them). I didn't think people actually baught into that magazine hype?

Most people couldn't get there head round why I would want to ride a fully rigid bike or my "weird" jones bars.

Was I just in the Enduro capital of the North and really I am "normal"?

[fatbikephil]

No your normal - full suss has had its day and people will realise this very soon. We are just ahead of the pack
(a fellow kramp rider)

[mountainbaker]

Ride what you like riding, they are the ones that ride what other people think they should be riding.

Enduro, meh.

[FLV]

I was at fairholmes yesterday, on my rigid salsa, with 29+ front. (I pass through regularly as I live I've the hill)

You're not far from the mark though, although I expect a few of the newer full sus bikes were 27.5

I was chatting to a guy at the bottom of the cut gate, he was on a bronson and was surprised to see my funny looking bike, but very complimentary about it

[slarge]

I must admit that for the Peak I would probably take my FS, but it doesn't have a dropper post, is a 26er, but it was probably pre-niche as it's a 2002 Stumpjumper FSR. Most other stuff I would take my 29er hardtail, that is completely with it and trendy.

My SS is a 2002 hardtail, so a 26er, so I am not sure which category it fits into.

Just ride what you like riding...

[johnnystorm]

Fair play to them for holding onto their 26" bikes and not running out and buying the latest trend.

Lets be honest, Jones bars are £130 for something that really shouldn't cost that much!

I don't know your area that well, is Full Sus OTT for those trails, would having a Fatty make any sense?

[jameso]

It'd be boring if there was a common opinion on what and how to ride off-road :)

[Solo]

Surely if they'd followed the mags they'd be on 650b by now!

Did anyone else spot What MTB Mag is featuring bikepacking this month?

[Yorlin]

Did 26" wheels come back in while I wasn't paying attention?

[Pyro]

I rode round Llandegla on a CX bike on Saturday. I felt very niche...

[voodoo_simon]

Both my mountain bikes are run without suspension. Sometimes I wish I had a sensible bike (suspended hardtail with gears) but I try to make best use of a rigid singlespeed or a geared fatty

[Brothersmith]

Fair play to them for holding onto their 26" bikes and not running out and buying the latest trend.

Lets be honest, Jones bars are £130 for something that really shouldn't cost that much!

I don't know your area that well, is Full Sus OTT for those trails, would having a Fatty make any sense?

It was ALL the latest trend, 1 x 10, 1 x11, and 2 x 10, dropper posts . There were a few 27.5 wheels as well, although strangley more 26" but I suppose thats people upgrading what they got.

Agree the price of Jones, but people equally prepared to fork out for 800mm carbon bars. You pays your money and you makes your choice

I suppose what I was getting at was lack of variety in what people were riding. I remember going out in the Peak and seeing people on all sorts of bikes and lots of different cycling tribes. This time the tribe was almost exclusively "Enduro" but may be thats just evolution and as you say a 150mm travel bike is the most appropriate bike to be on in the Dark Peak. The fact I chose to ride something nobody else was riding made me feel rather niche. Don't get me wrong everyone was really friendly, after all we are just all riding bikes, it just made me question how out of touch with the "scene" i am.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I had a similar experience last year which I mentioned in a post where I talked about me no longer been a mountain biker. At the time it put me on a bit of a downer but shortly afterwards I realised that non of it mattered ... embrace the niche I say

[Alpinum]

I was on a bike packing trip in the very eastern part of Switzerland this weekend. Practically all riding on single track. Some of them quite challenging (add a bit more difficulty to say Doctors Gate, add more loose rocks, bigger boulders, some snow and precipices, set this at 1500 - 3000 m). Pedal kicks, corners so tight you have endo around it etc.
I rode my 26” Scott Genius LT and my friend his 26” Trek Remedy, Schwalbe Mary and Hans Dampfs, Reverbs, long travel, rebound and compression damping, platform pedals. Perfectly set up for such trips.

On terrain like this only very few 29rs feel close to being at home. My BMC Speedfox 29r doesn’t, albeit it was loads of fun on HTR, a trip through Wales and some of the trails in Switzerland, I don’t like riding it on tough, high alpine trails. I can’t ride my pace and get held back in order to save the wheels (until I got a flow EX in the rear). But, 27.5 or 26 are more agile, pick up speed quicker, stiffer and more fun as you get down the really tight stuff with more ease.

Knards most likely wouldn’t have survived the descend from Piz Umbrail. If your riding skills match the need of the terrain, such places require thick sidewalls and deep tread. Endo-ing around tight switchbacks at the edge of a precipice is simply dangerous. Do this with a Racing Ralph or X-King and you’re simply stupid too. Simply dangerous and stupid too - nothing you want to add together.

While Jones bars must be comfy for long distances on easier terrain, a bar with 5-12° backsweep will enable you to apply much more force for edging the tires (Pull on the outside and push on the inside of the handle bar for cornering). Most of the riding I (182 cm tall – 6 feet) do feels much better with bar widths around 750 mm. (740 on single tracks, 760 on DH tracks). My girlfriend runs 720 and 740 bars being 170 cm tall. Jones are - I guess - 680 mm. They have their place, I’d likely try them should I ride more gravel roads and stuff, but it’s not on 3000 m summits.

Every bike and bar has it’s place. Of course you can have fun on a CX bike riding on single tracks, but you also can have fun riding a child’s bike in the very same spot. Efficient it’s not and to me and my friends efficiency and knowing the gear is up to the task is fun.

I consider riding a bike packing race in the depth of winter across a country just as normal as going biking where hikers start thinking about crampons, albeit it being summer. It just shows you how big the spectrum of this great sport is. A sport full of niches...

Enduro – you can’t be bothered?
Well, some can’t be bothered with gravel grinding.
So everybody has his place in this sport too.

We only can win.

and as you say a 150mm travel bike is the most appropriate bike to be on in the Dark Peak

I'd take my 100mm 29r with 2.4" Tires. But that's just me and I believe I win because I have tons of fun as I can chose from a few very different bikes, all with their place in the given terrain, enabling me to concentrate on the riding and landscape - on being out and not having to bother about the gear.

[Alpinum]

it just made me question how out of touch with the "scene" i am.

Good feeling this, isn't it?

[Brothersmith]

I think you miss my point a bit Alpinum. My bike suits my preferred style and choice of terrain (mostly wooded single track with occasionally forays to technical stuff in the Dark Peak, Wales and the Dales). I don't ride the type of terrain you describe, and I don't doubt in that environment Enduro bikes thrive. Hence I don't have a FS 26" bike anymore.

I did think I was your average middle age Joe Blog mountain biker though and so wasn't that unusual in my choice of bike. Turns out I was wrong

Moral: Ride more on a wkd., read MBR, stay away from niche forums

[Cheeky Monkey]

What's that saying, usually used around teenagers / goths, about trying too hard and buying the same stuff to demonstrate their individuality?

Pffft, I forget

Whatever, if it's not the beirdy-weirdy purists or the middle-aged-golf-replacement or the on-one fatbike, latest going-cheap-because-the-design's-a bit-wonky/shonky-frame there'll be some other reason to subdivide and witter on.

HYOH

[jameso]

re Jones bars, sort of makes a point to me

I’d likely try them should I ride more gravel roads and stuff, but it’s not on 3000 m summits.

I rode a Jones with loops over 450 miles in the Alps. Loads of tech and HAB-accessed trails. No issues whatsoever. But put me on a susser w/o a packed load and I'd be on normal 740mm bars. Many things can work in the same places for the same people on different days is my point, it's more about your priorities and attitude than anything I think? Something about cat-skinning.

There seems to be general agreement that 26-27" wheels, full sus and a few other things make a good general trail bike for what most people do, for good reason. Go outside the general use (bigger jumps or faster DH speed, longer distances with greater wear and tear, needs for extreme reliability, wanting climbing speed over all else, .. etc) and your bike may change. It may not really change where you ride though? I don't take different bikes to different places anymore, I just have different rides on the same bike.

The 'mainstream' is just an average, or a media illusion and a self-fulfilling, ever-changing thing.
"Fashion, something so ugly it has to be changed every 15 minutes.." - Some track on Kranked 1. Stick with anything and it'll come around into fashion eventually - and bikepacking and touring are probably next, sorry.. ; )

[Alpinum]

Oops, ja, looks like I completely miss understood you.

A normal in this very forum more likely will be a Krampus than a 26” enduro.
If a susser, it should have ample room for a spacious framebag, 29” wheels and 130mm max.
This is then to be considered as the bearbones enduro bike

Go to pinkbike and the bearbones world seems upside down 

You got to love this sport.

[jameso]

Go to pinkbike and the bearbones world seems upside down 

You got to love this sport.

Yup.
Are they even the same sport? : )
I remember when it was all ATBs and wellies, eh, isn't it..

[Alpinum]

I rode a Jones with loops over 450 miles in the Alps. Loads of tech and HAB-accessed trails. No issues whatsoever. But put me on a susser w/o a packed load and I'd be on normal 740mm bars. Many things can work in the same places for the same people on different days is my point, it's more about your priorities and attitude than anything I think? Something about cat-skinning.

completely agree. Many things do work in the same place, just not as good (=as fast and fun). Then on the far side of the spectrum many things don’t work, except for Chris Akrigg and Martin Ashton ;-)

Go outside the general use (bigger jumps or faster DH speed, longer distances with greater wear and tear, needs for extreme reliability, wanting climbing speed over all else, .. etc) and your bike may change.

That’s exactly my point. Unless I commute or ride from my doorstep I leave the general use in both directions.
Everybody who wants to feast on the variety of the sport on a certain level will end up with 3-4 bikes.
There are areas with overlap, but that’s just annoying. Cracked frames (on HT) Blown rear shocks, blown fork dampers (FS obviously), cracked rims, untrue wheels, untrue discs, torn sidewalls, bent cranks (been there, done that…) or on the other hand very weak progress (that’s why I bought a 29” – just because of my itch to take part at the HTR). Ever imagined to ride that with a enduro bike? No? well I did...

"Fashion, something so ugly it has to be changed every 15 minutes.."

Quote of the day

[Brothersmith]

Oops, ja, looks like I completely miss understood you.

A normal in this very forum more likely will be a Krampus than a 26” enduro.
If a susser, it should have ample room for a spacious framebag, 29” wheels and 130mm max.
This is then to be considered as the bearbones enduro bike

Go to pinkbike and the bearbones world seems upside down 

You got to love this sport.

Exactly. I need to get out more