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I want to use this thread as a dedicated place to track which MTB companies are relying on AI for their marketing and public communication. My opinion is that if a human can’t be bothered to write it, then I shouldn’t be bothered to read it.
This post was inspired by Trek’s questionably titled “age is just a number” post from yesterday, which seems to have been written with heavy assistance from an LLM.
“Some stories in mountain biking aren’t about podiums or KOMs — they’re about dirt, sweat, and the people who’ve been shaping our rides for decades”
“But they didn’t just scratch a few fun lines into the dirt—they helped breathe life into an entire valley.”
“And they weren’t just moving bikes—they were moving the culture forward.”
“Their work didn’t just put Molini on the map—it lit a spark that helped ignite one of the most iconic MTB destinations in the world: Finale Ligure”
“No Matter the Age isn’t just the name of the video—it’s a reminder that passion doesn’t fade”
In case you’re unfamiliar, the syntax “it’s not just X—its Y” is something ChatGPT and other LLMs continuously come back to, especially when separated by an em dash. Interestingly, the version of this write up that’s on Pinkbike has been edited to remove the em dashes, I think with the specific intent of obscuring the use of AI.
@grok is this real?
Here’s another one from Rossignal I noted a few weeks ago:
“More than just a collection, it represents a mindset”
“This isn’t just a trend! It’s a way to carry forward Rossignol’s legacy”
“Not by revisiting an old bike, but by reinterpreting the spirit of an icon”
“The Super Project returns, not as a replica of a past frame, but as a bold tribute to the legendary skis”
“This collection isn’t about nostalgia — it’s about rewriting the rules with style”
And again with Bosch over on the other site, though this one is more subtle. Like the pinkbike version of the Trek article above, this reads like a person went through to clean up some of the AI prose.
“The future of eMTB isn't about how much power we can pack into motors – it's about preserving what we could lose. With our technological foundation spanning automotive electronics and power systems”
“building higher-power motors isn't a technical challenge; it's a choice”
“creating uncertainty that could impact every eBike on the market, not only for eMTBs but commuter and recreational e-bikes as well.”
“But simply building more powerful systems isn't innovation – anyone can add watts.”
“The real constraint isn't what can be engineered – it means protecting the current status of e-bikes”
Fucking LLMs will be instrumental for accelerated enshittification of absolutely everything.
This website, AI overdrive
https://thenukeproof.com/
I meant to go back and find this one too! Worst offender I’ve seen by far
Dear Bike Brands,
Employ real humans writing real words and creating real images to paint the picture of what your bikes will give to us.
If you don't, we won't buy from you.
Period.
I wonder how much of the Trek writeup is the result of actual writing being filtered through an AI translator. I’ve never used one so I have no clue to what degree it would make grammar decisions for you
Man I dunno.
So much ad copy was already so damn shitty, I’m not so sure I care. Especially in mountain biking, where I’ve already got my vibe figured out. I’m not looking to be sold the lifestyle or whatever. I’ve got my factors I’m looking for in products and the copy was never high up there.
If you can’t write better copy than a robutt I certainly don’t care.
Of course these guys are using ai to make cheaper bikes, right??
😂
I’m okay with a supercomputer designing the bike so I feel like I have to be okay with one pumping out garbage copy.
I’ll definitely reward a company with life changing wordplay. I guess.
Man I dunno.
The use of the em dash (—) is a dead giveaway of AI generated copy. The reason is that sites like CHATgpt have trained their models by heavily relying on The New York Times, which historically uses em dashes. Even in everyday work you can spot who is using AI to write their emails and copy by the abundance of em dashes.
In my opinion AI is a tool that is here to stay, but it is only a starting point. The human touch must complete the work, and those that cant even remove the em dashes are as lazy as can be.
Does anyone read the marketing copy for bikes at all?
If I were looking at a bike company I knew nothing about, I’d filter model by desired travel, scan photos to look at suspension design, and then go straight to the geometry section. I feel like this is the case for most experienced riders.
Completely naive (I mean that in the sense of new and uninitiated) riders are going to feel overwhelmed by all the dumb jargon the industry has created and zone out of most marketing copy also.
I think this is about the most harmless application of AI you could come up with. I don’t even really think it took anyone’s job, because only writing marketing copy in a niche sport should never have been a job. The use of AI for this probably lets either product managers go back to actually working on bikes, or actual marketing creators go back to creating image and film content. Probably a win all the way around.
Hard to argue with this—and I was a copywriter in the bike world.
I appreciate good writing, but not enough to buy a bike I don’t want.
Yes! And pay those humans a decent wage they can actually live on! If it means you need to raise the price of your bikes then thats cool too 👍
It's not so much "I need a company to tell me what to think of their bikes."
It's more "I won't support a company who has THAT low of an opinion and that little regard for their customers."
I work in an industry that is flooding with AI. I won't use it. Clients are coming to me because of the unique thing I do (which is me enabling and helping them do the unique thing THEY do). I literally care more than my competitors which means my results are better than my competitors (when the currency my clients are holding most valuable is their uniqueness and their artistry).
As above, so below.
If you can't be bothered to care enough about your messaging and your branding then you can't be bothered to care enough about your products and I can't be bothered to care enough about your brand to support it.
Just to avoid Nukeproof looking like they're associated with this, this is purely a link farm:
"The site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program,an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com."
The address is 125 Bates Brothers Road, Westerville, OH which is nothing to do with Nukeproof as far as I'm aware.
Interesting. I started using the em dash in place of commas and semicolons years ago. I don't read the NYT, so I don't know where it came from...
I understand that you are cuing in to some things that LLMs may be known for, but they do these things for a reason. I feel like the "it's not just X - it's Y" thing has been around for a long time in marketing. Maybe it just feels lazy now, or tired, but not just because of LLMs. Also marketing is generally not as good these days as we remember from when we were younger. And again, whether that's objectively true I don't know.
As another point, Microsoft Word automatically changes a hyphen to an em dash when used that way. And I think marketing has a habit of using punctuation to make a visual point.
I guess I'm saying that LLMs are trained on what they see, and they surely see a lot of mediocre marketing, since a lot of what is online is mediocre marketing. It may not be that the marketing department is lazy and using LLMs to do their work, but instead that they are lazy - or just not good - and not putting much effort into their writing.(not written by an LLM, those dashes are the wrong length for their purpose)
This might be a bit pedantic but by default, MS Word turns spaced hyphens into en dashes (–) rather than em dashes (—). By default it will turn two consecutive unspaced hyphens into an em dash, but if you type like that you probably intended it to do so.
LLMs are in fact trained on what they see. The problem is the majority of what they see these days is other AI slop
MTB has always felt like a community-driven space, so when marketing starts sounding like it was written by a robot, it kinda kills the vibe. That said, I’ve seen some brands using AI more for backend stuff (like SEO or translations) rather than the core message, which seems fair.
I’ve used Hotmart for selling digital content before, and they push AI tools pretty hard for marketing, but even they recommend keeping the human touch when it comes to engaging your actual audience. MTB brands should take note, riders can spot a copy-paste AI blurb a mile away.
Funny this thread just got bumped; I published my thoughts moments ago // Substack Link
In short, I think the outdoor industry (and MTB specifically) is going to be a fascinating litmus test for generative AI content. My hunch: outside of press releases, which were already tough enough to read, the “AI slop” will get rejected hard. Push too far over the line, and it could actually damage a brand, almost like a form of digital doping.
That said, smart companies will find ways to use AI subtly, stretching the mileage of a single photoshoot, or quickly testing campaign variations that never would have been A/B tested before because of budget or time. Done right, that could be a form of leverage without losing authenticity.
...interesting times afoot.
I'd almost rather see AI marketing than whatever the hell 'meme-based marketing' Ari is doing...
As well as the content stealing 'marketing' that kids Cased.US protection brand is using. That's REALLY suspect lol. Just posting known viral stuff like Hart's 2011 run or Gwin's chainless run to get views... For a brand neither are associated with. It's really weird and like... I mean somebody owns those rights (Red Bull? WBD?) so also illegal I'd assume lol
But ya the incoming strategy of putting in in effort and effectively stealing other peoples ideas/content for marketing is very wack and is a blacklist concept for companies for me. (Not to mention the Ari astroturfing thing.)
I'd probly start blacklisting any brand using AI stuff as well. But again it is somehow more tolerable than what those other 2 are doing. There's an argument it could be 'used well' or 'not used well' (Whereas I can't make much of a defending argument for the above strategies.)
Local (most popular) marketplace/"ebay" website:
low line guy will surely hang on and pass stretch armslong on the mini wheel(s?)
Excellent image!
Regarding your section on "Your Feed = Possible Trashcan" , I feel like YouTube hit that point at least a year ago. The feed there, even when filtered to "Downhill Mountain Biking" is mostly just crap tailored to show up the YT feed algorithm. And that's without AI generated slop.
No kidding, the whole thing feels like a humiliation ritual. To bring it back around, the emphasis on “content creation” over product creation is certainly a big contributor to the demand for AI.
Honestly I think the "community" people are the ones who need to embrace AI tools - unfortunately the big tech companies have created a world where the mention of things like AI are terrible but they can be used in really good ways (they just choose the worst/most exploitive options). I feel like we are long past the point where we can get along with "vibes" only and there is a chance for big companies to swoop in and chew up the established MTB brands and the new digital tools will be one thing they use. I thought it might be bosch but now I feel like DJI is more likely to dominate things in a few years.
But AI can be used to maximise productivity and deal with the repetitive inefficient tasks that small company either wastes a lot of time on. Its not hard to use it only when and where needed and save your time and energy for the actual creative and skilled tasks
To quote my favourite show - "I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them"
Not a company, but I'm starting to get some MTB AI slop in my youtube feed, when so far it was only related to cars (a much larger audience). I wonder if we're gonna reach a point where the internet is just useless slop with some actual informations here and there
It's been mostly useless slop for at least several years. There's been some good articles on Ars Technica & the like on how Google's lack of care on their part to fight SEO results gaming, focus on maximizing number of sold ads (even if they're on slop sites), and lately the AI summaries (which just recycle the slop) are to blame for the enshittification of the internet. It's pretty telling that what was once the gold standard of search is now the worst user experience if you care about getting useful information. There is apparently looming tension because if they focus purely on AI summaries, and users just read those and don't click on websites or page 1 ads, then companies are going to buy less ads.
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