OPINION: The Future of Mountain Biking is $1500 bikes
Perhaps we need a solid shift away from emphasising $20,000 eMTBs which totally excludes millions of frothers on a budget who also want to have a rad bike.
Words: Daisy Day
Photo: Colin Levitch
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of thoughtful promotion of more affordable mountain bike options for beginner riders – or those that simply cannot budget in that $5000, $3000, or $1500 purchase.
The social inclusion element of sustainability empowers those that have less access – it helps build resilient communities, which in turn makes institutions, industries, and companies accessible and accountable to people. It may sound like a stretch to include affordable mountain bikes in this category, but I truly believe that the more people (of any social standing) that can enjoy a sport that helps them enjoy the natural environment in a low impact way – can only be a good thing.
It won’t necessarily be an economic loss for brands.
Having quality, entry level mountain bike options will benefit businesses in the long run. It helps drives brands to build a lifetime relationship with their customers, and like all good relationships, it will feature quality bikes. The more demand for well-made, durable, innovative, and affordable products, means that there is more impetus put on brands to offer bikes that are just that: well-made, durable, and innovative.
This demand often has the effect of creating competition in the industry – e.g., one brand makes friggin’ excellent entry level options, thus making welcome a customer with a firm budget, who, when the time comes may go on to upgrade to their next (perhaps higher specced) bike with the same brand. Brands that do this well, have the opportunity to build lifelong relationships with their customer base.
In my opinion, a few examples of brands that have nailed this are Merida, Marin, Polygon, and Giant. There are a LOT of people on the trails riding Trance Advanced that started off on a Talon or even at ATX870. They offer mountain bike options in the $1000 – $3000 range that do absolutely everything that you would expect of your mountain bike.
Let’s have a deeper dive…
For the sake of thorough research, I jumped on a couple of well-known online bike stores to read the reviews of those that had purchased an affordable dual suspension mountain bike that I randomly picked – the 2022 Polygon Siskiu D5 Dual Suspension – which retails in and around the $1000-1500 price point. (Note: I’ve never ridden one, but I sure as hell could afford to own one!)
So, what do riders of said Siskiu have to say? What really stood out to me was the STOKE. It pretty much got 5 stars (out of MANY reviews). No, they weren’t always about the superior quality (unfortunately, but we can’t have it all), but they really captured that “first-pretty-capable-bike-I’ve-ever-ridden” vibes that I KNOW all AMB readers have felt before. It may have been 30 years ago, or 2 months ago – I don’t think it matters. We all remember it!
What I didn’t find much of were really well considered reviews or bike comparisons of entry level options. Perusing well trusted online bike reviewers, I couldn’t help but notice that what was considered entry level and affordable, was upwards of 4 grand. That’s actually a joke.
Basically, what I want to see, is more bums on bikes, and by bums, I’m thinking about the days of Daisy being at university living off cornflakes level bum. And more demand from bums on a budget for quality, entry-level bikes will *hopefully* mean more brands making good quality, entry-level bikes that won’t just end up on hard rubbish in 12 months’ time.
Perhaps we need a solid shift away from all the time, energy and media sponsorship emphasising $20,000 eMTBs, and handcrafted carbon wheels (which are obviously not shit, but I’m making a point here), which totally excludes millions of frothers on a budget who also want to have a rad bike. Those people need people like us at AMB to do some time on the $1500 bikes and give some good insight into which is the top choice – or why spending that $500 more on the next level up is worth it in the long run. Because not everyone has a whole lot of choice when it comes to bikes – they are simply priced out of the “good stuff”.
In saying that – I’m just not sure that’s entirely the case given the hectic fun those thousands of reviewers are having on a Siskiu right now. Go forth and shred!
