Are Mountain Bikes Too Expensive? The Inside Line Listener Response

Welcome mountain bikers! Thanks for tuning in to The Inside Line podcast. If you’ve been listening, you know that I've taken a stab at getting direct feedback from you, the listener, and I’m really stoked with how it’s taken off. As a result, I’ve decided to split up the alternating weeks with our normal guest interviews while adding shows dedicated to listener interaction. Instead of taking away from our guest interviews with listener response questions at the beginning their shows, let’s just do two separate styles of The Inside Line. Today, we’re going hear the responses after I asked “are mountain bikes too expensive?” It seems to be a pretty relevant and hot topic these days and there was no shortage of quality replies from you out there, so thank you.

Before we get into the responses, the next question in our listener response series will be “Is mountain bike design as good as it gets?"

Have we topped out with quality, geometry, suspension, materials etc? I had a Santa Cruz Nomad in 2009. I said to myself, out loud at the time, “I’ll never need another mountain bike again. this is perfect.” I looked at a photo of this bike a few weeks ago and chuckled. The bike had 26” wheels (nothing wrong with that), triple chainring, no dropper post, and obviously geometry that's quite a bit different to today's bikes. But, at the time, I was convinced I never needed anything on my bike to change. I feel that way about the bikes in my garage right now, too. Keep in mind, I’m never one to think that the bike itself is responsible for the joy found on a ride. Any bike can be a fun bike, and if I didn’t work with in the mountain bike industry, I’d probably still be having fun on my 1995 Gary Fisher Tassajara because I’m such a cheapskate.

So, besides adding motors (if you want to discuss that can of worms, please do), Is mountain bike design as good as it gets? What will mountain bikes look like 10 years from now?

Please record your answers using your phone’s voice memo function, and I’ll play it on the next show. If you’d rather type a response, I’ll read those, too.

Send your responses to [email protected] by Sunday March 8th, and the answers will go live on our March 11th show. If you send in an audio response, you may be a lucky recipient of a limited-edition Inside Line t-shirt.

As mentioned in the last show, we had a bunch of bikes launch in the last few weeks that went well past the $10,000 range. Some were e-bikes, but so many comments on a bike launch announcement, in communities like YouTube or Instagram especially, express anger or disbelief at bike prices. Vital conducted a $2,000 mountain bike comparison a few months ago that we labeled “Budget Mountain Bike Review,” and many comments were “What?! 2,000 is budget?!” Clearly, there are plenty of opinions on the matter, so I’m honored to play the thoughts and insights from you listeners who addressed this question.

Thank you to all who responded and enjoy the show!

Thank you - Maxxis Tires
A big thanks goes out to Maxxis Tires as they continue to support The Inside Line.

Thank you - Jenson USA
JensonUSA.com, supporter of The Inside Line since day one, has a special warehouse sale going on now. Hit that link to save big on bikes, parts and riding gear.

Thank you - Paydirt Fund
The Paydirt Fund is giving away $1,000,000 to trail projects over the next 3 years.