“At what point does the cost of the bicycle exceed the ability of the rider?”

It's time to get back to being dirtbags

The bike industry is in trouble.

Don’t deny it because you know it is true.

Shimano’s sales are down and people are sitting on a fuck ton of inventory that isn’t moving. Prices even for mid range bikes have also skyrocket putting them out of reach for a lot of riders.

Perhaps we’ve reached peak bike?  You know, too many bikes, not enough customers. Don’t be surprised if you see more big name bikes being cleared out either online or through mass merchant outlets like Costco or Wallmart.

Don’t be surprised if you see some smaller brands either getting absorbed by bigger ones or sinking under the waves entirely.

Even of some people go under don’t expect prices to come down if anything they’ll go up due to the lack of competition because, you know, capitalism.

After seeing all the economic turmoil during the last seventeen years I’m coming to the conclusion that if I want to keep riding I’m going to turn my back on the industry.

Chasing new formats, developments and trends are for chumps.

My buddy, “Deep Bike” asked the question, “At what point does the cost of the bicycle exceed the ability of the rider?”

Giving an average rider a pro-level bicycle is like giving an average drive an F-1 car. The number of people that can use a $9.4 million F-1 or $12,790 Cannondale Black Inc to its full potential is extremely small.

Disposable technology is going to kill the industry and does little to attract consumer interest.  If "buzz worthy" features do attract interest at all it  attracts the interest of  fist adopters, trendsetters, tastemakers, and trade publications not Jane Average Rider. 

It would be very interesting to see what would happen if a significant number of riders would either start reusing older bikes they have languishing in their garages or simply do what the original mountain bikers did and modified older bikes to suit their needs.

I'd like to see more modify regular clothing and repurpose them as bike gear. Charlie Cunningham was famous for riding with corduroy pants, flannel long sleeved shirts and gardening gloves.
I used thrift store Hawaiian shirts for a long time.

Shit, I found a box of them on the side of the road and I had cycling shirts for years.
Bontrager used to go to thrift stores and spray his logo on button front shirts using a stencil and spray paint.

Personally, I think mountain biking will slowly die when people are no longer able afford to do it. Mountain biking will surely lose popular support if it becomes seen as an elitist pastime.

It's time to get back to being dirtbags before its too late.