How does modern marketing and late capitalism affect bicycles and cyclists? What does the future of all-terrain cycling look like? Ronnie Romance discusses these questions and more in his recently released presentation from the 2021 Philly Bike Expo called “Post Gravel, Back to the Roots and Rocks.” There are a lot of good takeaways here…

Photos by Ronnie Romance (@ultraromance)

With the roadification of gravel racing and UCI sanctioning on the horizon, and the “moto-fication” of the mountain bike industry, what does off-road alt cycling look like moving forward? “Inventive all-terrain bicycles and ethos borrowed from the pre-motofication of the mountain bike just might be the answer,” says Ronnie Romance, self-proclaimed square-taper monogamist. There are a lot of great points in his hour-long discussion titled Post Gravel, Back to the Roots and Rocks. Many of us here can certainly understand the East Coast ATBing perspective. Another quote that resonated, and makes us proud to remain independent and mostly member-supported: “Everything that a cyclist looks at and the news sources that they rely on for unbiased testing of a product, are [mostly] owned by the entities that are being advertised and sold within this sub-genre…”

“The bicycle as it sits is pretty much unchanged for decades… because you don’t need to do much more to it. But, that doesn’t make the bigger brands any money.”

  • Ultraromance Philly Bike Expo 2022

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