Too Much Capitalism in MTB

Fully Rigid, 5/20/22

The other week I saw a mountain bike magazine on the newsstand at a bookstore that had a title saying that we/I need a new bike and that I/you deserve it.

What?

I deserve a new bike because …

I had to hunker down during the pandemic?

I survived Covid?

I had to sacrifice parts of my life over the past 2 years?

One thing that seems apparent to me over the years is that the mountain bike industry has gone full tilt capitalism, more so than in the past.

I get it. They need to sell bikes.

Here’s the issue, though: bikes nowadays hold up longer/don’t fall apart like they used to. Research and development, new technologies, the progression of engineering adds up to bikes that will/can be around for a long time. Take care of your bike and you’ll have it for a while.

Enter into the mix: “downcountry” mountain bikes.

WTF is a “downcountry” mountain bike?

The industry says it’s one of the new bikes you need. You know, like the one they sold you as a “trail” bike years ago. Slap a new name on it and you got the next big newer version thing of the same ole bike.

And, well, I’ve said enough in this space about e-mountain bikes. They’re right for the right reasons and wrong for more reasons than they are right. The way I see it, e-MTBs have more to do with simply being another avenue for selling more bikes than they are about the right reasons for having e-MTBs on trails.

If maximizing profit is the goal of the mountain bike industry, what is the future of mountain biking?