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Some people are happy in their 'bunker', away from the serious BS that seems to affect cycling. MTB is such a fractured and now quite small niche, theres not the guaranteed returns in bringing out product X every 6 months. Buyers are no longer falling for it.
Unfortunately the internet is killing off the history with short lived facebook groups wiping away what was what 20 years ago with only a few groups like this huddling together keeping what actually happened 'alive'
The MTB came into being to traverse natural landscapes and trails. The first 5 years of MTB was to negotiate all day trails that you couldnt reach on your road bike. The 'modern' bike is a result of an arms race between manufacturers and trail centres, each getting more extreme. Trail centres are basically theme parks, contrived thrills. A 'retro bike' simply was never designed for the man made trails, the stutter bumps from 29'er even giving 27.5 users headaches.
I'm quoting here, SRAM are lazy, they didnt want anything to do with Shimano's front mech patents and some clever marketing later we have 1 x 12 systems which people now swear by. Despite the physics, gearing is now back to front with weight savings not on the 'unsuspended weight'.
Uphill riding is almost impossible on a soggy suspended slack angled heavy modern MTB, the physics of the bike simply doesnt allow it, its designed for speed going downhill.
Older suspension designs mimicked rigid bikes of the day to eliminate pedal bob and such like. Now the bigger bars, slacker steering with the longer trail 'forward geometry' are there to smooth out as much as possible, enabling the rider to point and shoot which feeds back into the use of trail centres, man made thrills to generate commercial income.
A modern bike is no longer designed for a 20 year life span, its an arms race, manufactures have absolutely no interest in longevity.
Trail centres are the golf courses of the cycling world, sanitized and safe organized thrills where the score at the end of the day is what counts.
'natural' trails are boring, a retro bike is boring but it is the most capable of way getting you from A to B via that lovely scenery over, just near that forest on the other side of that big hill.
Just my random cobbled together guff as usual but theres a lot more to be said.
''Horses and kit kats''
Unfortunately the internet is killing off the history with short lived facebook groups wiping away what was what 20 years ago with only a few groups like this huddling together keeping what actually happened 'alive'
The MTB came into being to traverse natural landscapes and trails. The first 5 years of MTB was to negotiate all day trails that you couldnt reach on your road bike. The 'modern' bike is a result of an arms race between manufacturers and trail centres, each getting more extreme. Trail centres are basically theme parks, contrived thrills. A 'retro bike' simply was never designed for the man made trails, the stutter bumps from 29'er even giving 27.5 users headaches.
I'm quoting here, SRAM are lazy, they didnt want anything to do with Shimano's front mech patents and some clever marketing later we have 1 x 12 systems which people now swear by. Despite the physics, gearing is now back to front with weight savings not on the 'unsuspended weight'.
Uphill riding is almost impossible on a soggy suspended slack angled heavy modern MTB, the physics of the bike simply doesnt allow it, its designed for speed going downhill.
Older suspension designs mimicked rigid bikes of the day to eliminate pedal bob and such like. Now the bigger bars, slacker steering with the longer trail 'forward geometry' are there to smooth out as much as possible, enabling the rider to point and shoot which feeds back into the use of trail centres, man made thrills to generate commercial income.
A modern bike is no longer designed for a 20 year life span, its an arms race, manufactures have absolutely no interest in longevity.
Trail centres are the golf courses of the cycling world, sanitized and safe organized thrills where the score at the end of the day is what counts.
'natural' trails are boring, a retro bike is boring but it is the most capable of way getting you from A to B via that lovely scenery over, just near that forest on the other side of that big hill.
Just my random cobbled together guff as usual but theres a lot more to be said.
''Horses and kit kats''
