Retro racing thread

[Stick Legs]

David Baker!
Rigid british bike, genuinely nice bloke too!

Met Paul Hinton more than once, a real gent! These guy's were real pro's and only talked to me 'cos I had a Dyna Tech Ti and wore my Dyna Tech Racing tee when I went to big races The things they went through for a corporate image :roll:

 

[Rich]

Yeah, the early 90's were ace, I was at the Bladford Forum race (season starter) in 1991 and 1992 and went to Newnham in 1992. Highlight for me was going to the National Championships at Malvern in 1991, met up with Sam Humprey (Junior Trek rider) how had unforunately broken his collar bone a few races before, but still chatted and rode around (maybe because I was riding the same 8500 as him...hmmm, there's a pattern forming here.

Fav rider was Tim Gould...but had a soft spot for Richard Thackery, Junior Pace rider, who pretty much won every Junior race in 1991...

 

[novekili]

Fave team was Yeti. Fave rider was Ned Overend

this is not coherent! But then, my fave team was Yeti and my fave rider was JT (raleigh)


Hey does anyone own one of those crazy double clamp rigid titanium forks the raleigh team sported on their metal matrix blue and yellow team rigs? I saw Clarke racing on one in Elba Island near my house. 94 I reckon Ned won on JT. Brilliant, especially when JT passed everyone following a line outside the track while all the others proceeded in a row. On a contol tech built Raleigh with an incredibly noisy Disc Drive.

 

[walleater]

You could get a good idea of what worked and what didn't by looking at what the pros rode

Really? The 'Peugeot' Team rode rebadged Chas Roberts frames with Campag stickers all over the place despite riding Shimano nearly all the time. The 753 road tubed frames lasted about 3 races! There was the possible urban myth that the Raleigh Dynatech frames were in fact Orange frames with imitation lugs stuck on etc.

 

[Stick Legs]

Urban myth territory I know but apparetly Raleigh Team bikes were so often changed spec wise it is hard to say. I do remember that some riders (Hinton) rode Ti MT3 frames rather than the Ti MT4 as the MT3 has a complete cro-mo rear end and was stiffer, also that the MMC tubed bikes were often Ti tubed, but not the plain gauge rolled 'chemical piping' Ti (as used on the production bikes) but drawn butted Ti from Raleigh USA (possibly via Merlin).

Discuss

 

[colin959]

I wasn't saying Overend rode for Yeti just saying he was my favorite racer. Didn't some of the team Raleigh Ti frames get made by X-Lite?

 

[jez-4-bikes-max]

Caroline Alexander was a fave of mine.

Scant has a wicked story about her...

Go on Mate..

 

[LTS Biker]

I have been to the WC in Houffalize several times, one of the fist times was really great. We stood near a school and there was a sort of ramp. We the riders came along, they jumped a little.
The top riders came by, nr one cheers of the croud, nummer 2, cheers, nr 3 little less cheers, and after 5 riders they hardly cheered. Then after about 15 people very loud cheers and going louder, someone special had to pass. suddenly a big jump from the ramp, and all camera's flashing.
That was the audience Tomac rode for. That was really great to see.

 

[kingroon]

I'll join the Tomac Fan Club.. Awesome racer.. Favourite race? Cactus Cup!

When I started watchin the Grundig, followed racers like Kluge and Kloser..

Raced a couple of Sussex Nutters.. Big gap.. Then raced a couple of races at Aston Hill just before I came over here, loved the course.. And a race out Thame way, forget whereabouts exactly.. Actually, it wasn't Thame, but it was out West [of London] somewhere..

Done a couple of Enduros over here, sense of achievement was awesome..

 

[andrewl]

Done a couple of Enduros over here, sense of achievement was awesome..

Nice Lid

Didn't really follow the racing back then as I live in a relative backwater on the world stage and other than magazines top level MTB didn't get a mention.

In our current local club races I do get the opportunity to race against a guy who was part of an Aussie team who raced the world cups etc back then. From memory he just missed out on gaining Olympic selection in 96 (He's still ultra fast now).

I can't really say I have a hero from back then though as I've never seen them actually ride/race other than photos, and thus they really didn't make an impression as such.