Boldfish

Yeah but most really good long travel bikes now, like the Nomad, climb very well. So there’s no penalty to having a bike that is perfect for the gnarliest trail you might ride even if it’s only a handful of times a year. One bike does it all. I can take my Nomad on a nice easy flowy trail with a huge climb to the top. And I can also take it to a bike park and ride the nuts DH tracks. They all cost the same roughly. So unless there’s a big penalty for riding something with “too much” travel, why not pick the one that won’t leave you hanging when things get a bit rough? You say that short travel bikes are so capable these days, I assume you mean at descending. But by the same measure, long travel bikes are so capable of climbing these days. I favour faster down more than I favour faster up. Each to their own. But I don’t think comparing it to a douchebag lifted truck in the city is a fair comparison. It’s a bike!

Well yeah. But. This survey was a survey of most people.

Cost gonna be the cost. Just like everything else. But check out the relative cost of bikes and parts now compared to 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. It’s cheaper now. And the tech on the lowest end parts these days kills anything from 10 years back. Everything is better now than it was.

@rockandride6: 37 year old Boomer! How dare you! I’m 42 and I ain’t no Boomer, pal. I ride my Santa Cruz Nomad like a boss. And I have a gravel bike in the garage that I use to build legs you can only dream of at your age. Whatever age you are.