Aluminum played a huge part in the costs obviously and i think this thread shows how we remember things, I fear/love, for the most part we remember with rose tinted glasses.
Sometimes I think we all need to refresh our minds to what was actually going on at this point bitd.
by 96 in our area, there was a serious development of interest in DH, Dual Slalom, Street, and having one bike to do it all, by 98 it was a huge market, Aluminium was cheap to manufacture, in abundance.
Kids/Us were were all pushing the boundaries and limits of the machines we were riding, none of which were being used for its real intended purpose, Cross Country. Frames where changing rapidly, Gear hangers, Wall thickness, Gussets everywhere, all were starting to become common place.
Check out the Sprung video, and watch the Sessions, (a few minutes in), Milan really captured our local Scene, Escalators, Bus Shelters, Drop offs, Jumps the music etc, Look closely at the bikes, Aluminum even Hazel riding his Small Bontrager, i know its a steel frame but again just showing what guys were doing with there bikes.
A great Video even 25 years later....
rigid for me, happy to try sus but I like the simplicity rigid provides. I like far east stuff, usually very accurate, well made and keenly priced. As you say USA built meant something mid 90s though.
