Huge 80s frames

[BlackCat]

Was just perusing an early Peugeot bike in the Sales section. Got me reminiscing about my first ever mountain bike (or “ATB”, as it was in this instance).. A fluorescent pink and black Peugeot Trail.. That was hell of a Christmas morning - I’d never seen a bike as cool as that in my whole (brief) life. In fact, would probably need the Fat Man to deliver me a new 992 GT3, with Scarlett Johansson and Megan Fox in the front seats, having a pillow fight in their underwear to get an equivalent Christmas morning buzz these days.. Anyway. Digressing..

Maybe it’s just a microcosm of my childhood.. but I seem to remember everyone getting mountain bikes in as giant a frame size as possible. I mean.. it would make sense if it was just kids doing this (room for growth, and what have you..).. but this was definitely a thing for adults too.

I mean were 5’8” men teetering on 22” frames in the late ‘80s just more optimistic about late growth spurts than we are these days or what?

Why were frames so huge? Why did everyone buy them so big? Was it a road bike cross over thing, maybe.. with your saddle slammed on the top tube?

 

[vtwinvince]

LOL, I'd be more interested in a 993 than anything liquid-cooled, but anyway, I'm restoring a couple of '80's bikes right now, and the frames are big, 20-22".

 

[hookooekoo]

I think that was just the general fashion back then, to throw your leg over the largest frame physically possible. As you correctly observed, it was the same in the road world, with large frames and as little seatpost showing as possible. In the '90s, the fashion kind of went in the opposite direction. Perhaps people realised that falling off was more common when riding off road, and hurting your nuts on the cross bar was best avoided. The only problem was that the fashion was to keep the stem slammed as low as possible, leading to the well known '90s MTB head-down bum-up position. I'll admit to being in that camp myself back then, and it was a while before people saw sense, and started playing around with riser bars and riser stems.

I'm sure someone will be along soon to correct all the errors in the above, and tell me it's all total bllx.

 

[torqueless]

it was the same in the road world, with large frames and as little seatpost showing as possible.

I think that was about 1948. I wasn't around though. Twenty or thirty years later, the quick formula was: "inside leg minus nine inches"
(Edit: Think it must've been "inside leg minus eleven inches")

 

[grey-beard]

My first "mountain bike" was a British Eagle Inferno, from around 1989? I think? I bought it myself, I was 19, the bike shop fitted it for me and it was huge! No standover room at all. It looked and felt like a road bike frame with knobby tyres.

 

[BlackCat]

LOL, I'd be more interested in a 993 than anything liquid-cooled, but anyway, I'm restoring a couple of '80's bikes right now, and the frames are big, 20-22".

993 pricing these days is beginning to make GT3s seems reasonable!

 

[jimo746]

People were much taller in the 1980's, as I recall it my dad was over 8ft, so that's probably why frames were so big...
My 80's mtb is a 22" frame, fast forward a decade and almost no one even made frames that big anymore.

I compared my 80's bike to my 90's Kona the other day... hilarious!
I think the 80's bikes were designed for riding off-road in a manner befitting a Gentleman, not for ballz out racing and shredding.

 

[BlackCat]

I remember being taken into Chain Reaction (which at the time was a local bike shop with a floor area of maybe 10’ by 20’) to get our first ‘real’ mountain bikes. This year Santa very kindly hooked me up with a ‘95 Pine Mountain, and an Eldridge for my little bro.

My Mum instinctively tried to order us 21” frames (I’m 5’10) and had to be convinced by the proprietor that only pro basketball players ordered frames that big!

 

[legrandefromage]

September 1986, I was presented with an 18 inch mountain bike with panniers, bullmoose bars and everything

Unfortunately I'd yet to receive any sort of growth spurt whatsoever so it may have well have been a mountain sized mountain bike.

by 1990, it was too small

 

[BlackCat]

Well.. it’s probably still out there somewhere, 10 owners later. In some RBer’s garage. Without the original handlebars.