Quote:
Originally Posted by Pastashop
I lived and rode in Bay Area in the '90s and early '00s, and interacted (mostly online) with folks on wreck.bikes... The terrain is different there than a lot of other places, that's for sure; that and the prevailing culture at the time were instrumental in allowing the kind of experimentation that lead to the development of MTBs, for example.
One of the issues that Jobst would bring up regarding MTBs is the attitude a lot of those riders brought with them, and how property owners would react to that. Not that people were necessarily super-open to bikies traipsing through private property to begin with, but it was less threatening and off-putting with skinny-tired road bikes, as opposed tractorized aggro-sleds. Yes, you can "dominate" the terrain that much more with full suspension and fat tires, but the ethos doesn't necessarily help expand access.
Jobst also objected to throwaway culture and noobs with more money than sense (dot-commers), whose ability to afford shiny new things for the sake of them being new / different / expensive drove out the more mundane, practical, and economical products.
Jobst also applied good engineering judgement, which is rare in the bike industry, on account of it being too small to attract top materials and mechanical engineering talent versus, say, the automotive, aerospace, energy, and other industries.
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There are a ton of challenges with trail access for diverse user groups in the Bay Area - a lot of them have to with the use of charged language like "tractorized aggro-sleds" and the hate and fear that come along with that, along with a sense of entitlement felt by certain extremely vocal equestrian and hiking groups.
These ideas have strangely persisted in the "progressive" NIMBY-ish SF Bay, though thankfully other places are far more welcoming, and a great trail access culture for all has been built up in places like Tahoe, Oregon, Washington State, and many other places, where all user groups are considered and interests are balanced, without having to bring victim-blaming into the equation.