1996 & 2012 Olympics mountain bikes: Weapons of choice

[02gf74]

Re: 1996 & 2012 Olympics mountain bikes: Weapons of choi

God, are they all going to look the same???

surely that is evolution - there is only ever going to be one best design. i would tout F1 as an example where all the cars look the same (there are also rules that comne into play but it should be possible to design a totally different looking car tht still meets the rules) - in the olden days, even up to the 70s, cars would look quite different.

whilst there are many different and wonderful retro bike designs, consider them the dinosaurs that did not make it.

some may say that is a bad thing, others say it is a good thing and the rest say what was the middle choice.

 

[t-stoff]

I suppose there is no rule about the boring white stickers on a black frame

 

[24pouces]

In 1996, I remember Thomas Frischknecht, in first place for a lot of laps, with a very classic steel ritchey bike ! Only a RockShox fork

No carbon fiber and ugly 29". Sunn's Martinez was titanium made an Brentjens was aluminum

 

[oldscholar]

just watching it now on the red button, nice to see the Swiss rider sporting amberwalls! Who makes them in 29er size?

 

[t-stoff]

I got stuck in the 90's how can you see the diff between 29rs and 26? Are the first 5 all 29 ?

 

[Tazio]

It's on BBC2 if you can't get the red button stuff to work.

 

[Anthony]

In 1996, I remember Thomas Frischknecht, in first place for a lot of laps, with a very classic steel ritchey bike ! Only a RockShox fork

Two equipment points to note:

1. the Judy SL looks like a 97, which makes sense as they were about to go on sale in August 96. Although you say it was only a RockShox, it was probably the best fork available at that time. Having said it looks like a 97, the 96 was lighter and it could actually be a 96 with 97 stickers, which would have made him popular with the RockShox marketing men!

2. he has canti brakes, even though Vs had been out for a year by then, but I believe I've read that was a personal preference of his.

Thanks for the photo!