What does /out/ think about lifting the mountain bike ban in

>>818513
fuck them
they are hard on the trails and dangerous to hikers

the only thing worse is mule trains

I don't trust the senators sponsoring the bills but mountain bikers are the least impactful on the environment and the most dedicated to trail maintenance so as long as there isn't any pork barrelling I'm for it.

Seems to me that a bunch of mountain bikers with chainsaws kind of runs counter to the whole idea of "wilderness".

>>818513

The whole point of wilderness areas is seclusion and safety from humans. Wilderness areas are usually minute areas in different forests that are incredibly protected from noise and general pollution. They're kind of the last refuge for wild animals so that they don't all stray into campgrounds and whatnot.

>These bans drive cyclists away even as the Forest Service admits it cannot maintain trails and needs volunteers to do the maintenance it no longer performs."

I can promise you that the only reason why these men are doing trying to push this bill is because they're probably getting kickbacks or funding from outdoor contractors that will get the federal government to pay them to "fix up" trails in these areas.

Honestly, mountain bikers aren't really too much of an issue (as long as they pack everything out). The issue now is that these fucking contractors are going to be allowed to bring their chainsaws into sensitive areas. I guarantee that if this passes, they'll start allowing ATV and UTV access for these contractors to do their work. At that point these wilderness areas will be no different than anywhere on the forest. The delegates of Utah are fucking morons.

>>818513
I am against lifting the ban.
In my experience these people have horrible culture, give a shit about nature and other people.

Next thing it would be electric bicycles and then motorcycles. Fuck that.

I think the reason that bikers tend to be douches over hikers is because you have a lot longer range on your bike, so they can go from town to town or whatever and still get pretty deep in the woods.

>>818574
Clearly you don't know mountain bikers. They hate ebikes. Ebikes are banned on nearly every mtb trail.

>>818576
I know how this shit works and how one thing leads to another. The current petitioners may be against ebikes, but once the ban is lifted you'll start seeing them as well eventually.

>>818556
>muh flow trails

but in all honesty a trail is a lot safer if it's >2 feet wide and well maintained, and heavy equipment makes that job a lot easier

>>818581
>a lot safer
fuck that
It's a Wilderness area, not a sidewalk

>>818528
i think you're getting "cyclist" confused for MTBer. Cyclists are the ones who wear nothing but gay ass fucking spandex with their pointy helmets and razor thin tires that destroy the trails.

you can see their fucking ruts in my local singletrack and every time i see one i will harass and mock them for being so god damn stupid and faggoty. i especially love coming up from behind real close and screaming ONYERLEFFTTT right in their ear.

Yeah lifting the ban would be stupid. Even in my small local park there are hiking/mountain biking trails and 50% of the bikers can't follow simple fucking rules. They ride when there are big red "NO BIKING" signs out after it rains, making giant fucking ruts that suck to fix. They don't follow the directional signs and some have collided with each other doing so.

Some of them are cool, but most are elitists who ruin the fun aspect of it for everyone else, hence why I still only ride out there casually.

>>818576
not that it matters one bit electric bikes are only faster uphill downhill it's all the same.

>>818580
Then you should want to ban hiking or any trespassing in the wilderness.

>>818513
I don't know how it works in Utah, but from my experience in the southeast, most trails that allow mtb are maintained by volunteer organizations who operate solely on donations and local government funding. It just so happens that a large portion of the volunteers happen to mountain bikers. Again, idk how it works out west, but mtb-ers are an integral part of the trail community. However, a lot of trails tend to be either owned by the city or are private property, and as far as I'm aware there aren't too many mtb-accessible trails in state parks and similar wilderness areas.

If mtb-ers were suddenly allowed to access these kinds of areas, most (at least those who are remotely passionate about it) wouldn't bother with common hiking trails, cause they offer no real challenges.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but the idea that mtbing causes more damage to trails is actually just an assumption with no real research to back it up. In fact, I just found an article highlighting this issue (i'll put it at the end).
I didn't even get started on the fact that there have been known cases of hikers sabotaging trails in an attempt to injure (even kill) mtb-ers. (neck-high wires, sharpened stakes, sabotaged structures, etc.)

Finally, i doubt that allowing trail crews to use heavy equipment is at all related the lifting the ban. I ride trails no wider that a foot all the time. MTB doesn't require wide trails. At the same time, every single hiking-focused trail I've ever hiked or biked (there was one in PA which allowed mtb) was at least 6ft wide, with most of the roots removed and tree limbs cut back.
I'm not hating on hikers (I hike as well), but the larger population requires that hiking trails are more accessible.

Sorry for the wall of text guys, I feel really passionate about seeking to resolve this bs turf-war. Anyways, here's the article:
http://www.americantrails.org/resources/ManageMaintain/BikeAMC.html

>>819081
Also, this is a great video on attitudes towards e-bikes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ap_7TPZ_rY

The video-creator may seem a little weird at first, but he gives an honest opinion and explains the mtb community's stance.