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Is this still the "Downhill" forum?

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,918
1,213
I understand enduro has taken over, and DH is pretty well dead from a sales and financial-relevance standpoint, but there's some clashing happening here with many irrelevant replies being posted in DH-specific (or EWS-specific) threads.

We also have the "XC / All Mountain / Trail" forum which rarely gets used, understandably, since XC is very different from enduro these days. That forum would be currently flourishing if it was named appropriately, but instead it's just confusing.

"Freeride" obviously dates back to an era of huge hucks and bomber girls, so again it just adds confusion for the current generation of riders.

Could @Sandwich or someone clear up what goes where and/or suggest some forum name changes to the admins that don't date back to 1999?

Not having a go at anyone specifically, just feel like some updates might make things better for everyone.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,065
10,630
AK
People tell me that they take their trail-bike to the bike park and ride the trails.

I still never see those people riding the actual DH trails, or if I do, they are creating a hazard for man, other riders, and bears.

Not that I'm using a full-on DH bike there anymore, because I can't justify it here with only one marginal park, but I'll still maintain that a DH bike is the best weapon for a DH park. When I go to Keystone, I rent a DH bike, because I want to have fun, not fight the bike all the time.

Now that I think about it, the people in the first sentence above are probably the same people that tell me they are faster on their fatbikes...
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,503
1,719
Warsaw :/
I wanted to ask the same. You beat me to it,

On a less serious note - can we change the freeride forum to mini-dh forum? We all know those were the same people.
 

Electric_City

Torture wrench
Apr 14, 2007
2,047
783
Fwiw, I mainly post here for 2 reasons -

1) my bookmark takes me directly to this forum.

2) DH riders are more mechanical and knowledgeable (which fork has issues, which rims are shit, which tires are the shit, how much oil for my 1999 SID dual crown...)

3)We're generally more knowledgeable because we ride all aspects - DH, endurbro, XC and some even road. Ask in the XC forum what a good 27.5 x 2.5 tire for a hardtail is and expect a wrath of shit from "Wayyyyyy to much drag" to
"That will kill your Strava time!" to
"That tire is 23 grams heavier than the" X" tire" to
"Why the fuck are you on a 27.5 and NOT a 29'er? Asshole!"

I'm not gonna lie. I post stuff here that probably shouldn't be, but what's it matter? These forums would have to be so heavily regulated. Look at the one I started asking What inner rim width. By the 10th post I replied something like 'between 30 and 35mm, should I go with imba or STC'.

Maybe there should be a DH forum, a Trail/EndurBro and an XC. The XC forum is on its own cause it's for the weight weenies.
 

amishmatt

Turbo Monkey
Sep 21, 2005
1,265
397
Lancaster, PA
I've considered it the "downhill riders and former downhill riders" forum for years now. Sure, lots of posts about non-DH stuff, but most of the [useful] conversation is from a DH rider's perspective, which is entirely different than from an XC rider's perspective, so it still seems appropriate.
 

Electric_City

Torture wrench
Apr 14, 2007
2,047
783
did we ever determine if there is anything better?

edit - for trail tires of course.
Yes.

Kenda Nevigal,
ti248a03-black.jpg


Panaracer Fire XC Pro,
Panaracer-Fire-XC-Pro-0-orig.jpg

Continental Cross Contact,
co_cc_lxsport_mobpdpcrop.jpg


Panaracer Smoke and Dart,
item-1131612099.jpg


Michelin Country Dry2,
download.jpeg


Giant C1285 MTB Sport
giant-mtb-sport-24621-1-11-1.jpg

And even these are better
PD_0071_917_407755X427.jpeg
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,779
7,044
borcester rhymes
I love you people. Some of you people. I like a few of you people. One or two of you are OK.

You'd have to pitch a change to BV. That's not something I really want to control. In my opinion, there should be basically two forums. Random crap (the lounge + PAWN), people who ride (DH+XC+tech+road) and then I suppose the regional forums can stay. I'd rather have people ask about bike related things in the places people visit (when's the last time y'all visited the repair forum?) than have things overly-categorized, as they are now. I'll be honest, there isn't a whole lot of traffic here, and the over-compartmentalization keeps a lot of people from interacting. I honestly can't remember the last time somebody posted about a DH bike here.

What way would you rather have the forums organized?
 

rideit

Bob the Builder
Aug 24, 2004
24,579
12,414
In the cleavage of the Tetons
I just posted a thread about ultra short stems in the xc forum because I didn't want to incur the wrath of UDI...but if I really needed an answer I would have posted it here for the eyeballs.
 

atrokz

Turbo Monkey
Mar 14, 2002
1,552
77
teedotohdot
Meh, this forum is pretty active and it does involve plenty of DH related discussion esp when race season is on.

Should be noted that DHers are typically hands on and with more experience so you'll get more questions here. DHers also tend to travel tons, ride many destinations. I know one person who went to BC to race XC for a week and dozens of people who went to ride whistler. The passion for sport is massive in DH and that won't change, regardless if your bike has a single crown and 150mm or a double and 200mm

Also just because one rides a shorter travel bike, on DH runs, doesn't mean they aren't DHing. If I enter a moped into MotoGP I'm gonna lose but I'm still racing.....
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,779
7,044
borcester rhymes
one forum for shitpositing, another one for Serious Business™ (ie no shitposting).
you mean one for shitposting and the other one for shitposting?

I post everything in this forum for the same reason that other people have mentioned. People who know their stuff hang out here. I care a lot more about what kidwoo has to say about tires than anybody over on MTBR or even pinkbike. I know he rides harder than I do, so I can trust his opinion. Same with udi on brakes or suspension. I could post in the XC forum, but then I'd get advice from people like westy or gary, and nobody wants that (HEAVY SARCASM IMPLIED)
 

'size

Turbo Monkey
May 30, 2007
2,000
338
AZ
so i just went through the list of all forums here for the first time. holy shit why?

this place should be:
forum 01 - having to do with bicycles.
forum 02 - not having to do with bicycles.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,490
6,377
UK
I didn't even know RM had an xc forum until today nevermind there being people like me (and Westy) here.
Did you send the imposters there as punishment @Sandwich ?

Aww... thanks.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,784
5,601
Ottawa, Canada
I've considered it the "downhill riders and former downhill riders" forum for years now. Sure, lots of posts about non-DH stuff, but most of the [useful] conversation is from a DH rider's perspective, which is entirely different than from an XC rider's perspective, so it still seems appropriate.
:stupid:
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,824
5,201
Australia
I agree with @amishmatt - even though I'm concentrating on racing my enderpo bike this coming year, I still come from a DH background and have a trail preference and riding style (I use the term style loosely) that reflects that. I'd prefer to bounce ideas off guys from the same background because they relate better. The forum moderation is pretty loose - pretty much any thread turns into the same in-jokes and derailment within a few posts, and you have to filter through but there's some good feedback in there as well.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,918
1,213
It's just lame when someone asks a question about their downhill bike, people who still ride DH regularly give an up-to-date answer, and then a bunch of long-retired people shut down those answers based on information from about 2007 when they last rode DH bikes/parts.

By the same token, it's also a bit silly when people jump in the single EWS thread and tells everyone how lame enduro is.

If you don't ride a discipline, you shouldn't go in and be a dick to the people who do, because it potentially prevents people from getting the correct information.

I know for a fact that a number of (useful) people have quietly stopped posting here because of this kind of thing, and I think that's a shame. For some unknown reason, this RM subforum has been a hub for some really cool MTB "people" in general over the years. I know it also picks up a lot of lurkers who don't post much but read it for the tech info.

I honestly think this kind of thing should be moderated (even just socially, not formally) before a few harmless pictures of clothed bomber girls, because it affects the usefulness of the forum for everyone.

Maybe I'm wrong though, in which case it's time to delete my own bookmark.