whoozh

I disagree as well that mountain biking tech is in the early stages. Mountain biking was (to some, including me, still is) a totally mechanical thing and it relied on a person's physical fitness to be good at. I think back to that specialized advertisement about the Golden Age of Mountain Biking, and that has now passed. Mountain biking as a sport is in a transition phase to a whole different sport. Its dirt biking light and will continue that way. All the new tech is feeding this new sport. No effort to climb, no work put in. Its going from a high level physical activity to a passive no work activity. And many will argue with me about how hard it is to ride a dirt bike, but as a casual dirt biker, I can't even tell you how many grossly fat smokers ride dirt bikes. Sidetrack....but yes you still have to descend and yes, that's work and takes "fitness" but in a very different way than climbing- and its not mandatory. I think people stop riding ebikes altogether because now they lack the fitness to ride down the hill and its uncomfortable - But at that point its a very small jump to ride dirt bikes. My dirt bike is so comfortable suspension wise, I can just sit on my seat and happily bounce my way down a trail if I wanted to...and that's exactly how I see these overweight smokers with 6 packs strapped to their seats with their enduro straps riding their bikes on flat flow trails. Either way, the tech for a physical, mechanical experience has topped out and passed on. Suspension keeps getting better (New Zeb...so good). But everything now is aimed at taking the effort out of the experience. But this is all just happening because of how society is as a whole, so its not surprising. Once the market shares get to a certain point, the majority will take over and pedal bikes might not even be sold in 20 years or less. I think DH bikes will survive (thank god) with World Cup being popular and that we will still have bike parks...maybe... I see more and more E Bikes popping up at Whistler.

Doesn't matter what the laws are. People don't think rules apply to them anymore, or it doesn't click that they are on a motorized bike, they just see that the non motorized rule doesn't apply to them - These are people that have been riding pedal mountain bikes on trails for years and now that they have an ebike, they can still ride the same trails. There is no enforcement, no accountability. I am actually guilty of it too, until I realized what I was doing. I don't ride my dirt bike on mountain bike / hiking trails, so why would I ride my ebike...just because it doesn't LOOK like a dirt bike yet? The other day, I saw 3 kids on 50cc's on my local track. They said there were mountain biking. There is nothing to stop these people or hold them accountable, and their bikes are just getting more powerful and faster. I'm scared where this is going to end.

@mikekazimer: same was said of 26 oh so many years ago....how many purchasing options do you got now? Or even a full 27.5 bike? It can even be argued that trails have changed to go along with the new wheel sizes. Tight corners are a thing of the past, as most people can't corner anyways, but bigger wheels need wider corners. It would be neat to dig up all the old articles of past wheel sizes and what people said back then.

I agree. At first it was neat. I watched the highlights and cheered Richie on. But then enduro tried to be too much like DH racing, which it can never be. I think Enduro is just a way for people to create local races to make money off of people who want to race locally- for both mtb and moto. Its fun (I race both DH and Enduro locally and have fun). Enduro just doesn't have a place in the pinnacle of world bike racing. Same with XC racing and E bike racing...like wgaf about that? I don't give a flying weasel's stinky shit about how hard someone can pedal up a hill, let alone with a motor. But I do agree that fitness SHOULD be an aspect of DH racing. Getting off topic a bit....I'm done. DH rules....and so does Rob!

Good edit. Possibly the best one yet.

The bigger issue that is brought up here is left lane camping. This is the crisis we should we focusing on. Talk about grinding my gears.

haha, totally! When I looked at the thumbnail on PB, I instantly saw Kona and can't get it out of my mind. I'll probably be calling the Trek team the Kona team this whole year...and wondering where Connor Fearon is.

They should change the name to Rampaved. It doesnt even seem they're riding the terrain anymore. Riders like Brendon and those that hit the gnarly chutes are the only ones riding the real terrain there and even then its smoothed out and cut in. They're doing what my local trail building crew does - Build roads through the woods (which just sucks) I understand why, but its like, you could just build this course from scaffolding and ramps at the fairgrounds. I didn't watch the crash footage, cuz that's just bad for you. (all in favor of doing away with Friday Fails, raise your hand) and that might have been actual terrain riding...but I'll never know. I miss the early days of Rampage, but that might just be me being old and salty. haha. Its going the way of slopestyle and Ive lost interest. I didnt even watch the event...which is a first. Downhill and Hardline is where its at. Rip me apart internet armchair riders, I don't care.

Takes me back to the days of North Shore Freeride, Digger and Dangerous Dan days. What goes around comes around...always. Dang, that means we'll be trying to wear goggles with half shells again...Oi.

What? No in frame storage? WTH.