Mountain bike forum?

TestTransmission

So,yah.Im guessing this might be sacreligious in here but are there any MTB peoples here?
Used to do it a few years ago (not competitively) and well hoping to get back into it.My last bike got robbed after a week so that was the last of it.

Any suggestions,links,etc?
What's the chance of a subforum?Seeing as Boards is such a great resource it's weird this one sport is not catered for.

ollietrex

One place

http://www.madmtb.com/

uberwolf

It had occurred to me. I would like to provide a home for MTBers - because we don't presently, but not at the cost of being divisive

TestTransmission

uberwolf wrote: »

It had occurred to me. I would like to provide a home for MTBers - because we don't presently, but not at the cost of being divisive

That's the thing,this forum is such a wealth of information for experienced and novice road users it would be great if there was another forum for anyone wanting to get into/experienced in MTB,I can't imagine it being divisive.

Look at how well the motoring forums are split up,all catering for specific needs and wants

niceonetom

I don't see the need for a sun forum. MTB'ers should just post away here. The divide between MTB and road is a bit of a myth anyway, anyone who really loves being on a bike probably does a bit of both in some capacity.

I've no idea why there are so few MTB threads here though...

Diarmuid

From what I've seen the mtbers are more active on their club forums than here. The opposite with the road bikers.

DirkVoodoo

There is nothing stopping people chat about mountain bikes or biking, indeed a lot of roadies have mountain bikes. I think Diarmuid identified the reason though, the likes of MAD and EPIC have very active forums and while some of them post on boards I think they do most of their serious discussion on those forums.

This isn't a road bike forum, it's a cycling forum and nothing is stopping you talking about mountain biking. If you don't get any replies then it might mean that the audience simply doesn't exist and I don't think a dedicated forum will change that. You need only look at the many "games" sub-cats and see how empty some of them are. You can post about strategy gaming but might get more replies posting in the main games forum.

Super Freak

Way OT but:

21:15 Eurosport tomorrow night (8th May)

MOUNTAIN BIKE
Mountain Bike: Lisboa Downtown (75min)

One for the MTB guys (and maybe even general cyclists) to watch.

Bluefoam

From my point of view: I only come here for general stuff - leisure cycling, light mountain biking conversation, maintenance, general chit chat about places to lock bikes, facilities etc. etc... For anything more MTB specific I use club forums, but its nice to have some level of it here. On the plus side, I get exposed to other areas of biking I'm not involved in, such as road racing and track stuff.

If you fragment the forum people like me wont benefit from that exposure.I like it the way it is and don't feel a great need to change it.

blorg

Just post away. Plenty of MTBers here but as others have said there are excellent club forums. As a roadie with a MTB I would like to see more MTB stuff posted here if possible!

Lumen

Mockler is here, and that's enough for me.

There are also a few underachieving Mockler-wannabes (Ryan Sherlock, Enduro etc) but I think they have a few things to learn from the master.

zil

TestTransmission wrote: »

So,yah.Im guessing this might be sacreligious in here but are there any MTB peoples here?
Used to do it a few years ago (not competitively) and well hoping to get back into it.My last bike got robbed after a week so that was the last of it.

Any suggestions,links,etc?
What's the chance of a subforum?Seeing as Boards is such a great resource it's weird this one sport is not catered for.

www.madmtb.com
www.epicmtb.com
www.imbrc.com

Epic are doing a beginners day tomorrow at 10am in Djouce woods, see the thread on their forums for more info. Mad are doing a beginners day tomorrow week in 3 rock, I don't think they have any more info up on it yet but I'm sure it'll be there in the next few days. I know your not completely new to this but of most of the clubs ask you to come along on a beginner spin so they can get to know you and make sure you end up on the correct paced club spin.

If you've got any mtb related questions go ahead and ask away, there's a few very experienced guys who hang around boards but wouldn't be on every day.

billy.fish

we're all cyclists, but some more than others.

Bring the cross season.

WORCie

gman2k

uberwolf wrote: »

It had occurred to me. I would like to provide a home for MTBers - because we don't presently, but not at the cost of being divisive

I hear what the other guys Blorg and Lumen are saying - Post away etc...
but the reality of the matter is - for the casual browser - that this forum is a road based one.

EG, look at the images of beauty thread - it must be well over 90% road bikes, and it is the road bikes that get the thumbs up from other posters - that's not a criticism, it's just the reality of the situation. (Some MTB pics don't get any thumbs up) - I know FUGLY is the issue here;)

From an optics point of view this can throw a barrier to the potential poster, who may feel he is better off posting topics on one of the external sites.
I know that there are MTBers on this forum - who are knowledgeable, but frankly it's poor form (from a Boards point of view) to point out immediately your 'rivals' site as the place to go. If this was a business venture - carrying out a similar excercise - i.e. redirecting potential sales to your competitor would not be an option.

I'm a member of the SE cycling club, and we had a similar situation, but recently a dedicated forum was set up for the club, with a direct MTB section, and has produced immediate results. Previously, MTBers didn't bother posting on the blog, as they 'felt' that it was all road orientated.

The creation of a separate MTB forum would not be divisive, but would merely give a bit of breathing space for MTB topics away from the myriad of 'Recommend me a new bike' or 'which wheel is best' type threads

So to summarize - I'm all for it

gman2k

niceonetom wrote: »

The divide between MTB and road is a bit of a myth anyway, anyone who really loves being on a bike probably does a bit of both in some capacity.

From my experience of being in different clubs, I would have to disagree Niceonetom.
There are a lot of roadies out there who would never even consider going out on MTB spins. Trying to encourage roadies in my own club is a difficult proposition - even offering out loans of bikes brings no results.
I'm not sure of the reasons, but for many they view it as an alien concept, and they may perceive the image of the sport differently from MTBers. (you'll find much less 'Euro' awareness going on in the MTB world)

Gavin

There are so many various active mtb club forums, it would be nice if there was a central forum the various clubs posted on. For example, racing results/notifications/photos etc span the various clubs. Boards.ie could be that forum, but I think it would take a dedicated forum to achieve it, if it was even achievable. It would also mop up the general "what mtb" etc.

Could be run as a test.. Have a mtb forum and re-evaluate after 6 months. If it's not active enough, just move everything back into the main forum.

Drapper

I love lamp

and my 2 mtbs :-)

kevvhayes

From a personal point of view im someone who is just getting back into cycling after a number of years away from it. as an underage and junior i cycled road but have decided to give mountain biking a go this time round with the intention of maybe getting back on the road next year. i have a love for both mtb and road and dont really see a problem with both codes being discussed!

Bluefoam

If there are so many roadies on here, why don't we have a dedicated road forum and a general forum for everyone else. I don't see the point in creating a new sub category here for a market that doesn't exist here and is well served elsewhere. A successful forum needs a dedicated few to make it attractive to others. Also, mtb forums seem to thrive on the fact that there is a pre existing community outside of the internerd. Something that isn't as prevalent here.

DualFrontDiscs

I would like to see the forum split as follows:

Cycling

Sub forums
->Cycling for fitness
->Cycling for fun
->Cycling for medals
->Cycling for environmental reasons
->Cycling for lycra
->Cycling for commuting/ utility
->Cycling for thrift

Each sub forum should then be split by VO2 MAX, AGE, value of your most expensive bike in USD, the ability of your bike to carry passengers and shopping <- very important.

Finally, each post must be accompanied by an image of your cycling computer' accumulated kms. All posters will reset their computers every Sunday at midnight.

If you post when a quorum of other posters believe you really should be out cycling, you'll be banned from the forum for 24 hours.

Apologies for the delay in posting this, but I just wanted to dig out the highlights from the new order charter that I've been working on.

DFD*

*Destiny'sFutureDirection.

PS. I have some other ideas, but I thought it best to get everyone back on track before this thread went off the rails.

blorg

gman2k wrote: »

(you'll find much less 'Euro' awareness going on in the MTB world)

Indeed

Rachel Atherton on losing the Australian round of the 2008 world cup wrote:

Tracey [Moseley] is so strong and you know that she is willing to wear skinsuits and the like to win. ... Fair enough to Tracey if she wants to do that to win, but for the sport and the longevity of the sport, to wear cool race kit [baggies] and to make an image for yourself is more important than the odd win here and there.

UCI, being UCI, proceeded to ban “tight-fitting clothing” in downhill racing.

Zascar

Hey guys, forgive me I'm a very new poster in this forum but now that I'm getting back into mountain biking I'm sure I will be posting a lot more.

I actually think a mountain biking sub forum would be great. I'm guessing the majority of activity in here is around road cycling - so mountain bike related posts can get lost. Having a separate forum would encourage more mtb posting and almost build a complimentary community.

I do think it is a great idea, anyone with me?

blorg

I think having a separate forum would just fracture the community. I don't think the volume overall is so great here that a separate forum is required. I often miss stuff in the Training Logs and Adverts forums; although I can see that segregating that stuff off makes some sense.

I wouldn't say this forum is just road cycling either; there is a hell of a lot of stuff with regard to commuting/utility cycling, touring and for want of a better phrase "cyclists rights" - politics, legal issues, interactions with motorists, etc.

The content you see on the forum is dictated by who posts, so maybe there are more roadies posting here- but I don't think people posting MTB queries/issues get a lack of interest shown in them. There is a "what mountain bike thread" posted yesterday with 16 replies already. Having a separate forum would only serve to reduce the exposure IMO.