8 Phrases Cyclists Can’t Hear Anymore

In short

Phrases cyclists can't hear anymore: 8 MTB clichés about carbon, e-bikes, clipless pedals and trail etiquette every rider knows.

Two young cyclists riding a mountain road across high pastures on the Bike Travel Camp

Who doesn’t know? Typical clichés about mountain bikers or e-mountain bikers. And these clichés always lead to the same annoying questions or sayings. Even mountain bikers like to tease each other. But there are a few phrases that you can’t hear anymore because they’re thrown at you on almost every tour.

“Hop Switzerland!”

I’m also on my weekend lap and not on a mountain bike race. My goal is not to get to the top of the mountain as quickly as possible, and maybe I’m not Swiss at all (but I am). Then save your “Hopp Schwiiz”.

“It looks exhausting”

Not really? I’m just pedaling down the mountain, what did you expect? That it will be a leisurely walk on Sunday and that I have legs like Nino Schurter? I even think he’d sweat.

“Real bikers: Inside, pedal high”

Argh, I don’t hear that sentence anymore. And why are you sitting in the gondola again? Real hikers always go up, don’t they? So, does the rise in power distinguish good bikers from bad ones? I don’t think so. Touring cyclists go up the mountain, downhill skiers go down it.

“Is it carbon?”

Yes, you’d like to have one too? Carbon is no longer a rarity and the material doesn’t say anything about my fitness or does Nino Schurter still ride on a steel frame?

“With tubeless, this wouldn’t have happened to you!”

I drive tubeless, banana. But even with a tubeless setup, you sometimes get a flat tire. Tubeless is good, but not the holy grail.

“Do I still ride a Biobike?”

What are you trying to tell me? Most of the time, this statement comes from people who have never had the pleasure of an E-MTB. Here you can find out why buying an e-bike is worth it. Personally, I think e-biking is really cool, but bio-biking is also a lot of fun. So let’s stop thinking of ourselves as biobikers or e-bikers. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: to ride a bike.

“Is it an electric bike?”

A question that is mostly asked by bold drivers time and time again. The down tube, which becomes thicker, is often confusing. Since the shock absorber is integrated into the frame, the Bold Unplugged is often mistaken for an E-MTB.

“Clipless pedals are much better”

Are they really? Have you ever ridden with flat pedals? Do you know the pros and cons of clipless pedals? So let this article enlighten you.

“I used to ride mountain bikes when you were still in your diapers”

And how does that make you a better person now? Or does that mean you have more rights to the trails than I do? What if I have more trips than you or have walked more difficult trails than you? Let’s just ride a bike. The trails are for everyone.

“Always those damn bikers”

Yes, we’re a bad bunch. Overtaking everyone at full speed, having no manners, taking away the seats of the mountain restaurant, destroying nature, cluttering up the ski lifts, annoying the drivers: inside and and and. Horrible, those damned bikers. But there really are those damn bikers. I’ve met them myself and I’d like to stick a stick between their rays. Those who tear, pull and shred wherever they can, with no respect for nature, animals and people. There are track rules that we respect. If you think these rules don’t apply to you, you should stop mountain biking, we don’t need people like that on the trails.

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Written by

Pierre Martin

Young Explorers Club

Writes the Young Explorers Club's guides for parents.

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