Define All Mountain riding?

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country
Define All Mountain riding?
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flag venturavin
Posted: Mar 2, 2012 at 20:15 Quote
bennett346 wrote:
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.

You could also race in a minivan, so why on earth do they call race cars race cars if you can race any car? Cause the name is to tell you what it is built to be best at.

It's not a marketing gimmic it's an super important label that refers to a massive chunk of the mountain bike market. When something exists you need a name for it.

And all mountain riding is riding that has fun, fast, tech downhill riding but is pedaled up. For the most part I would say the rules are you have to pedal up it for it to count, but there can definitely be exceptions of course it isn't set in stone. Obviously you can go on an XC ride that has sweet downhills, but if you're lucky enough to have the trails (or motivated enough to build them) the descents on an ideal all mountain ride will have some freeride-esque features like drops and jumps and be steeper than a 2-way xc trail.

And in my mind the thing that makes an all mountain bike more fun than an XC bike to go down is lower center of gravity and slacker head angle mostly, and of course a little more travel. I think the difference from a DH bike should be pretty obvious. They are NOT cross country bikes and NOT downhill bikes and NOT freeride bikes so they need to have a name.
flag PLC07
Posted: Mar 2, 2012 at 22:11 Quote
Ironxcross pretty much nailed it.
flag vr6ix
Posted: Mar 2, 2012 at 22:19 Quote
"All Mountain", also known as "mountain biking":

- the ability to crawl-up steep climbs without getting off the bike and walking, even if XC racers leave you in their dust
- the ability to blast through technical trails, where those same XC races are forced to slowly tip-toe though the ruff stuff
- the ability to rail on the gnarly downhill sections, often taking air and obliterating those XC-racer fools on the same kick-ass trails

when the bike is too big to climb the hills, it's called "FreeRide" or "DownHill"
when the bike is too weak to gap the jumps and rail the tech, it's call "XC racer"
when your bike falls apart on stupid-steep and hard stunts, you should have gone with "FreeRide or DownHill"
everything else is called "all mountain", also known as Mountain Biking.

it's more than just your bike: it's how YOU ride YOUR trails on YOUR bike.
flag bennett346
Posted: Mar 3, 2012 at 2:13 Quote
vr6ix wrote:
"All Mountain", also known as "mountain biking":
My point exactly, so why not just call it mountain biking? Sigh, the point will get across sometime....
flag nightflame159
Posted: Mar 3, 2012 at 9:21 Quote
bennett346 wrote:
vr6ix wrote:
"All Mountain", also known as "mountain biking":
My point exactly, so why not just call it mountain biking? Sigh, the point will get across sometime....

But isnt xc also mountain biking? And downhill bikes are certainly mountain bikes too.
I dont understand all the rambling about naming different kind of riding. When someone ask me ''hey dude what music do you like?'' Will i answer music? No ill say rock or heavy metal or pop or rap or whatever...its same with riding. A xc bike is not the same as a trail bike or an all mountain bike or a downhill bike...it seems its pretty clear to me.
flag PLC07
Posted: Mar 3, 2012 at 10:43 Quote
bennett346 wrote:
vr6ix wrote:
"All Mountain", also known as "mountain biking":
My point exactly, so why not just call it mountain biking? Sigh, the point will get across sometime....

You can say that but if you do they could picture you as a spandex loving xc racer or a fully armored downhill rider while you're neither... Or both. Might as well be clear.
flag bennett346
Posted: Mar 3, 2012 at 11:49 Quote
PLC07 wrote:
bennett346 wrote:
vr6ix wrote:
"All Mountain", also known as "mountain biking":
My point exactly, so why not just call it mountain biking? Sigh, the point will get across sometime....

You can say that but if you do they could picture you as a spandex loving xc racer or a fully armored downhill rider while you're neither... Or both. Might as well be clear.
I wouldn't care either way. I ride on a road 4 miles to get to my trails where i ride up technical climbs then DH style descents, then a quick go on some 4X style jumps then some XC singletrack back to my house...

I wear baggy shorts and a DH jersey, but an XC helmet and AM backpack.

I fail to see how any of it matters tbh. Pinkbikers are so image concerned haha
flag PLC07
Posted: Mar 3, 2012 at 16:06 Quote
That's exactly why they coined the term all mountain, so you don't have to go like:

bennett346 wrote:
You can say that but if you do they could picture you as a spandex loving xc racer or a fully armored downhill rider while you're neither... Or both. Might as well be clear.
I wouldn't care either way. I ride on a road 4 miles to get to my trails where i ride up technical climbs then DH style descents, then a quick go on some 4X style jumps then some XC singletrack back to my house...[/Quote]

When you could just say you ride an am bike.

And it's not about image. You could be shredding down a volcano wearing a clown outfit, it still doesn't change anything to the fact that the term designates bikes within a certain travel/geometry range. What you do on the bike afterward only concerns you.
flag debonis
Posted: Mar 10, 2012 at 23:16 Quote
ironxcross wrote:
bennett346 wrote:
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.

You could also race in a minivan, so why on earth do they call race cars race cars if you can race any car? Cause the name is to tell you what it is built to be best at.

It's not a marketing gimmic it's an super important label that refers to a massive chunk of the mountain bike market. When something exists you need a name for it.

And all mountain riding is riding that has fun, fast, tech downhill riding but is pedaled up. For the most part I would say the rules are you have to pedal up it for it to count, but there can definitely be exceptions of course it isn't set in stone. Obviously you can go on an XC ride that has sweet downhills, but if you're lucky enough to have the trails (or motivated enough to build them) the descents on an ideal all mountain ride will have some freeride-esque features like drops and jumps and be steeper than a 2-way xc trail.

And in my mind the thing that makes an all mountain bike more fun than an XC bike to go down is lower center of gravity and slacker head angle mostly, and of course a little more travel. I think the difference from a DH bike should be pretty obvious. They are NOT cross country bikes and NOT downhill bikes and NOT freeride bikes so they need to have a name.

You win 1 internet.

Pretty much nailed it, lol
flag swan3609
O+
Posted: Mar 14, 2012 at 22:54 Quote
This..Its when you go ride a bike up a hill and then back down..

All out XC on the Mongoose Khyber Super

by swan3609
Views: 3,435    Faves: 31    Comments: 21
flag KOOL-HERK
Posted: Mar 15, 2012 at 3:00 Quote
ironxcross wrote:
bennett346 wrote:
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.

You could also race in a minivan, so why on earth do they call race cars race cars if you can race any car? Cause the name is to tell you what it is built to be best at.

It's not a marketing gimmic it's an super important label that refers to a massive chunk of the mountain bike market. When something exists you need a name for it.

And all mountain riding is riding that has fun, fast, tech downhill riding but is pedaled up. For the most part I would say the rules are you have to pedal up it for it to count, but there can definitely be exceptions of course it isn't set in stone. Obviously you can go on an XC ride that has sweet downhills, but if you're lucky enough to have the trails (or motivated enough to build them) the descents on an ideal all mountain ride will have some freeride-esque features like drops and jumps and be steeper than a 2-way xc trail.

And in my mind the thing that makes an all mountain bike more fun than an XC bike to go down is lower center of gravity and slacker head angle mostly, and of course a little more travel. I think the difference from a DH bike should be pretty obvious. They are NOT cross country bikes and NOT downhill bikes and NOT freeride bikes so they need to have a name.

So where does Enduro fit in to all of this?
flag venturavin
Posted: Mar 16, 2012 at 10:12 Quote
Enduro is a racing discipline that is essentially competitive all mountain riding, but the name enduro caught on instead of "all mountain racing" which is probably for the best.
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