Another D2 observation

[merckx]

The current popularity, and proliferation of dirt road events like D2 has inspired a new class of bicycles. Fat tire road, and even disc brake machines are now everywhere. Road bikes are looking more like mountain bikes. As a matter of fact, the types of the roads on the D2 route are the exact type of terrain that inspired the development of mountain bikes. Does anyone else see the irony here? Is the circle being connected?

[icepick_trotsky]

These sort of developments make me wonder if the early days of mountain biking could have gone a totally different direction, equipment wise. What if Charlie Kelly and company had modified old road bikes with large tire clearance instead of cruisers? What would the MTB industry look like now?

[merckx]

Interesting thought about the potential for "dirt" bicycles to go in a different direction than what actually occurred. I do think that a mountain bicycle as we now know it would have eventually evolved. The mountain bicycle certainly has had a direct aesthetic and technological influence on the road bicycle.

[MattTuck]

Interesting thought. What if they had just ordered some CX bikes from Europe? (I think CX was going on in Europe at that time).

Given they ride road bikes over some pretty nasty cobblestones at speed, I'm not convinced we need as many types of bikes as bike manufacturers would like us to believe. For MOST people (non mountain bikers), a road bike that can fit 30mm tires will get you over 99.9% of the roads you'd want to ride.

The bike industry is a big supporter of the n+1 philosophy.

[merckx]

I think the paradigm shift occurred with the introduction of suspension. That technological development was the definitive line in the sand.

[gdw]

Riding road bikes on dirt roads and trails isn't a new phenomenon and some of the mtb pioneers were doing it well before designing their first fat tire bikes.
http://ritcheylogic.com/content/news/tom-ritchey-a-tribute-to-jobst/

[merckx]

Riding road bikes on dirt roads and trails isn't a new phenomenon and some of the mtb pioneers were doing it well before designing their first fat tire bikes.
http://ritcheylogic.com/content/news/tom-ritchey-a-tribute-to-jobst/

Yes exactly, but rather than go in the direction of an all-road machine with drop bars for dirt, they went with a flat bar "motorcycle" rig.

[FlashUNC]

Tomac did it. Everything changes and nothing changes...

http://d7ab823tjbf2qywyt3grgq63.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/John_Tomac_at_1990_Worlds-web2-250x396.jpg

[guido]

Not-biz issues are at play here too. You would need to have your head in the sand to miss the perception of increasing danger of riding on the road. This could be hostility, inattention or whatever but it certainly is nice to do a dirt ride and see maybe 2 cars vs the constant stream most of us ride with on the streets...

[merckx]

Not-biz issues are at play here too. You would need to have your head in the sand to miss the perception of increasing danger of riding on the road. This could be hostility, inattention or whatever but it certainly is nice to do a dirt ride and see maybe 2 cars vs the constant stream most of us ride with on the streets...

I couldn't agree with this more.