Memories of Mountain Biking

seamus

I haven't gone mountain biking in aaageeessss....but all the aul memories came back to me, such as,

pre '95 Mountain Bike technology hadn't changed a whole lot from the first mountain bikes, and it was only after that, that changes started being made.....

Cantilevers came as standard on every bike, no matter how cheap it was.

Decent front suspension was in production, but an air sprung/oil damped system with as little as 2 inches of travel could cost you upto £800.

Cross country was the done thing - spending 4 hours of your sunday with burning calves and dehydration. Downhilling was only just the part of cross country where you were heading off home.

Then came a huge change. People like Steve Peat and Jason McRoy left their bikes in a permanent state of 'downhill' - saddle fully down, bars fully raised, suspension tweaked to give maximum travel. Suddenly everyone was discovering that you could be a mountain biker and unfit at the same time. The Pros were going out and getting hammered before races, getting a lift up the mountainside (no climbing for them), and then hurling themselves down at mad speeds. Mountain Biking suddenly became a sport for bums, akin to skateboarding and bmx, and no longer was where road racers went when they needed bigger thrills. Then sadly, Jason McRoy, poised to be the best downhiller ever, was killed in a motorbike accident.

But within 2 years, downhill had consumed the Mountain bike industry, and technology advanced in massive leaps. By 1998, every pro was riding what was pretty much a motorbike without and engine. 6 inches of travel front and back, disc brakes, 52 tooth chainrings and 2 1/2 inch tyres.

The jump in brake technology was one of the biggest, with highly powerful brakes becoming very cheap, such as Vbrakes, Magura hydraulics and discs.

I remember the period where manufacturers were trying any combination of anything, just to see if it might work better. Hydraulic derailleurs, hydraulic shifters, front and rear suspension linked together, and even dual wheel drive systems....

But cross country technology did change quite a bit. Shimano were constantly pushing the limits of tolerance on their parts. 9 speed blocks, with only mm's of clearance between moving parts, drum brakes, and the biggest of all was the use of titanium. Almost any part could be made and bought in titanium, down to the smallest bolt, in the quest to make a really really light bike. A bike shop in England built a bike that weighed just over 16lbs, and cost more than a brand new mini.

I just find it funny, that looking at the stuff now, nothing has changed dramatically since I left the scene in 1999, but the entire scene was turned on its head in that period of four years 1995-1999.

Anyone else?