Talk:Mountain bike
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Who invented it?
This question is the subject of frequent debate. Some will say that development happened nearly simultaneously, others will argue for the recognition of thier favorite choice. The two men who are generally (separately) given recognition for the creation of mountain bikes are Joe Breeze and Gary Fisher. In truth it was likely the influence of a number of friends and the two men above were the forces that built and guided development of some of the first mountain bikes. This is an excellent question. I'm not sure there is a simple, neutral answer that fits in wikipedia. Anyone want to take a shot at this? --Speedeep 16:40, Jul 24, 2004 (UTC)
Why is it popular?
To those who ride mountain bicycles, the answer is obvious. For many riders, it's a form or freedom that you don't get by doing other types of activities. It's like hiking, but only faster and has more of a rush to it. Many people find mountain biking a great way to have fun and stay in shape. Others enjoy racing and being competitive. With newer trends like downhill and freeriding, a younger generation of riders is adding a more aggresive style, some call it Extreme, to mountain biking. It's a great way to have a lot of fun. Manual63 19:31, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Surely someone has a better photo than a sad old bicycle by a fence? With a cyclist and preferably a mountain! Gdr 16:47, 2004 Jul 25 (UTC)
What does freeride mean?
Freeriding is a form of more aggresive mountain biking. The term freeriding, an industry term carried over from the late 90's, is kind of misleading. In BMX they call it freestyle, which is generally BMX riders who do tricks and ride ramps and jumps on their bicycles. Mountain bike riders are taking on a more BMX style of riding and it has been termed freeriding for some reason. With gears and long travel suspension bicycles, freeriders are able to go faster and do bigger drops and jumps than BMX riders (BMX bicycles don't have any suspension or gears).
Basically freeriding is going beyond the normal boundries of mountain biking, which is mainly riding on packed dirt trails called Singletrack. Some places are opening freeriding parks, similar to skateparks for BMX and skateboarders, but with huge dirt and wooden made structures. NSMB Check out this link for more info. Manual63 19:31, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Use of the term "Aggressive"
This term seems to be used on the Mountain Bike page (and above on this page) in a way that is not strictly related to the standard English usage. There is reference to "aggressive" riding and "aggressive" bike design. I have no idea what this means, in real terms. At best, it may be a "term of art" that those already familiar with MTB's and MTB'ing understand. At worst, I suspect it is a meaningless buzzword and that even those writing it would be hard pressed to say exactly what they mean by it.
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[edit] Page name
Is "mountain bicycle" the best name for this article? "Mountain bike" receives 100 times as many Google hits. - SimonP 22:01, Dec 21, 2004 (UTC)
Downhill/freeride bike photos are needed -zeeexsixare
What is a reference for a CVT internal hub being available? I don't believe there is. All that is found on Google is failed attempts or possibilities in the future. http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3816 describes why it hasn't worked, and probebly won't.
Use of the term "Aggressive"
The word Agressive refers to the early concept of All Mountain Riding. Aggressive Cross Country riding is a style of cross country riding which introduces some of the technical challenges of free riding. Aggressive Cross Country (Aggressive XC) is usually performed on 3-4 inch dual suspension cross country bikes. This style is now more commonly recognised as the spectrum of riding between cross country racing and All Mountain riding. Many riders prefer to consider Aggressive XC part of the Trail Riding or All Mountain style of riding.
[edit] History section
The disc brake discussion seems very very random. The history section is entirely comprised of the history of the sport/bike itself, and then there is this random blurb about an obscure technical aspect of modern mountain bikes, the fact that most now have disc brakes. By that tokin you should then be going on to explain about front suspension, rear suspension, gas shocks, air shocks, the adjustment free headset etc etc etc. Long sotry short it should be in a seperate section, or even have its own article.
"The French Velo Cross Club Parisien (VCCP) comprised about twenty young bicyclists from the outskirts of Paris who between 1951 and 1956 developed a sport that was remarkably akin to present-day mountain biking." -This needs expanded. From what I have heard, these guys used to cycle around bomb craters from the Second World War. Bombing sounds like a very quick way of building a skate park! I remember seeing a photo of the event, but that was about 12 years ago so I wouldn't know where to find it again.
[edit] freeride definition
I don't beleive i'm wrong in saying that that the description of free-ride bikes is very off. Freeride bikes are often the toughest, most expensive (with the exceptions of competition grade downhill, full suspension cross country bikes, and titanium or custom fashioned bikes) bikes and are most certainly *NOT* adept at being rode uphill. They often are made up of the most durable (and therefore heavy) componentry and often weigh over fifty lbs. Nobody that i am aware chooses a free-ride bike if their terrain is typically uphill, does not involve stunts and isn't heavily downhill oriented.
[edit] Impact and Relation to Road and Utility Biking
Mountain Biking has had a huge impact on Road and Utility Biking. In areas where rough roads, rails, and other obstructions may be encountered Mountain Bikes may be more practical than traditional Road Bikes. Because of this flexibility Mountain Bikes are tremendously popular for Road Biking and many never get anywhere near a mountain biking trail. -- M0llusk 20:13, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Too wordy
The "Modern Bikes" section is far too wordy, cites no sources, and seems to lack a NPOV on certain subjects. I really think it ought to be broken up, or at least cleaned up a bit.
It may also be relevant to show pictures of various mountain bike designs; to a person without any prior knowledge, the section on frame styles would be hard to visualize.Thegsrguy 17:57, 8 August 2006 (UTC)Dan
yes plz pics would be very helpfull to understandBarry White 02:47, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] frame matierals avalble?
It would be nice to talk about the pros and cons what the frame was made out of e.g. Titanium, Steel, aluminimum, carbon,ect....Barry White 02:49, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
