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Define All Mountain riding?

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Define All Mountain riding?
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flag bigplums
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 7:33 Quote
guys i hear everyone talking about AM riding but can you give a defination of t please?
flag MonsterThirteen
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 7:49 Quote
Its in the name, all mountain as opposed to all urban. Not really a type of riding, i think all mountain refers to a bike that is competent in any situation you may find riding in the country side. Basically they seem to be a beefed up XC bike or a tamed down DH bike. Something that can take the hits but still be easy on the stuff inbetween.

Think thats about right..
flag RustyShackleferd
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 8:20 Quote
From Commencal's website:
All Mountain.  Its about escaping it all, going anywhere and everywhere on your bike... Climbing up to the start of an epic descent, riding the most technical singletrack, adventuring out into fantastic scenery.  Above all it's about having as much of a blast on a descent as you would riding a downhill bike.
flag bennett346
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 9:09 Quote
Just a marketing term. I ride along road then through country paths to a DH trail then do some street on the way home, does that mean i do a certain type of riding? Not really. Its just marketing referring to the bike to get you to buy it/ make it "cool" and the "in thing".
flag RustyShackleferd
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 9:49 Quote
In your mind perhaps. To me it sums up what all mountain means. One bike to do it all on.
flag bennett346
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 10:00 Quote
RustyShackleferd wrote:
In your mind perhaps. To me it sums up what all mountain means. One bike to do it all on.
Except you could do pretty much any riding on pretty much any bike. 120mm bikes are labelled XC but you could do any riding on those, albeit slower. But this is the case with "All Mountain" bikes too. They will descent faster in the right hands but climb slower.

All Mountain is not a type of riding, it is a marketing term for expensive mid travel bikes.
flag RustyShackleferd
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 10:11 Quote
You have a valid point...I do agree it's a clever marketing term but there is some trails that suit the mid range travel bikes better than an XC. On my local trails there's some gnarly stuff that I wouldn't ride with a XC bike and I damn sure don't wanna pedal my DH bike up the XC stuff. This is where the AM bike works well for me.
Beer cheers
flag LawsonRaider
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 10:15 Quote
I would reckon AM is what you get when a downhill bike breeds with a XC bike. The bike is heavy and has enough travel to go downhill but light enough that you could ride XC with it -- although uphills tend to be more exhausting.

I have a Yeti AS-X which clocks in around 45lbs give or take... It was my primary bike for 2 years and it served me well -- the bike loves downhill slopes, chunk, about anything you can toss at it... the only downside is uphills and portages.

After riding down the Ribbon Trail in Grand Junction last September, I found out how fun it is to portage a 45 lb bike (can't imagine if it was a full on downhill bike) up 400 - 500 ft up to the road...yeah, it was a joy! Big Grin

Anyways, I added a XC bike to the fleet when I got back, 2011 Trek Fuel EX5, which gives me a light bike for pretty much most of the trails where I live and the AS-X for the techinical rippy trails.
flag bennett346
Posted: Feb 17, 2012 at 10:57 Quote
bigplums wrote:
guys i hear everyone talking about AM riding but can you give a defination of t please?
Honestly i wouldn't get too hung up on it. Some people define a certain type of riding as AM, some use it to define a bikes characterists, anywhere in between xc and dh.
flag JoeeeCunningham
Posted: Feb 26, 2012 at 15:36 Quote
A beefed up xc bike with more travel , the stupid thing is you can descend on a xc bike anyway
flag mcmbike
Posted: Feb 26, 2012 at 15:42 Quote
Everyone has their own version of it. Some people think it's a cool name for XC when their not racing, others use it to describe long, epic rides. For me it's more like the original definition of freeriding - pedaling yourself up to the top and then ripping techy descents that a lot of people won't touch on a DH bike.
flag lurchh
Posted: Feb 27, 2012 at 9:38 Quote
It's basically xc but with more emphasis on descending
flag PLC07
Posted: Mar 2, 2012 at 3:00 Quote
It's pretty much a compromise / middle ground between dh and xc. A light freeride bike pretty much.

You can pedal up but not as well as a xc bike but much better than a dh bike...

Less travel than a dh bike but more travel than a xc bike.

Slacker geometry than a xc bike but steeper than a dh bike.

Why? You can ride pretty much any trail on any mountain bike but this "class" of bike is pretty much a jack of all trades. If you only want 1 bike to do it all it could be the bike for you but it does nothing as well as the other types of bike can. So yeah, a middle ground, a compromise.

Some call them glorified xc bikes, some call them mini-dh sleds. The name doesn't really matter...
flag shikokukichiguy
Posted: Mar 2, 2012 at 11:44 Quote
bigplums wrote:
guys i hear everyone talking about AM riding but can you give a defination of t please?
OP asked not about bikes, but type of riding that is considered AM.
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