What didn't you know about Retrobikes that you now do?

[Once A Hero]

Since getting my old bikes back up and running I've re-learnt what I once knew, but I've also become aware of a lot that was either before my time, or must have simply passed me by whilst I was busy picking my lines on the XC or DH courses.

Steve Potts
Cunningham
WTB
Chris King
Repack Riders

These are five names/brands/things that spring to mind for me that I have little to no knowledge or memory of from 'BITD' (which for me was c.'89-'97), yet they appear to be held in very high regard. There are more I'm sure, certain models of bike for instance that I never knew existed during my active period, and it feels very much like the world of mountain biking was/is a lot bigger than I was aware. Perhaps the above were marginally before my time, but it does seem like I have plenty of history to read up on when I have some spare time!

Anyone else feel the same?

 

[Double-E F]

Absolutely; my list of brands/riders that I did not know before joining RB is probably much longer than yours, especially regarding the British scene..!
A lot of memories have been brought back too, most prominently of the Yeti C-26, when I witnessed the first one on here: goose bumps !

 

[rwm1962]

Just about everything. I'm 57. Always had a bike (Dawes, Raleigh, Kona, EBC) but had other outdoor interests & never into any scene or brand until about 5 years ago when my teenage son got into racing on a team supported by Orange through a local dealer. He had a 2016 P7 & I got into the Oranges. I knew a bit about them but not much. Enjoy riding much more than I have at any time in my past & get involved with marshalling races.

 

[jimo746]

Re:

Although i knew of Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey, Joe Breeze etc For some reason i never connected them to the birth of modern mtb as we know it, or Repack, maybe there wasn't as much nostalgia for that era back in the early 90's.
Or maybe my teenage brain was more focussed on the UK scene and the American riders and bikes hyped about in the mtb magazines of the day.

5 Things i didnt know/can't remember, but know now...

Repack.
Trimble.
Zinn.
Charlie Cunningham .
Overburys.

 

[Once A Hero]

Absolutely; my list of brands/riders that I did not know before joining RB is probably much longer than yours, especially regarding the British scene..!
A lot of memories have been brought back too, most prominently of the Yeti C-26, when I witnessed the first one on here: goose bumps !

I must admit that the C-26 is one of those bikes that I have very little memory of, mostly because it wouldn't have featured at my local bike races when I started(!), and I didn't pick up a bike magazine until it would have been old news. Yeti as a brand though I was fully aware of.

 

[Once A Hero]

Just about everything. I'm 57. Always had a bike (Dawes, Raleigh, Kona, EBC) but had other outdoor interests & never into any scene or brand until about 5 years ago when my teenage son got into racing on a team supported by Orange through a local dealer. He had a 2016 P7 & I got into the Oranges. I knew a bit about them but not much. Enjoy riding much more than I have at any time in my past & get involved with marshalling races.

Excellent! Never had an Orange personally, but a mate of mine had a rather fancy polished ali one, an 'Elite' maybe?

 

[Once A Hero]

Re: Re:

Although i knew of Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey, Joe Breeze etc For some reason i never connected them to the birth of modern mtb as we know it, or Repack, maybe there wasn't as much nostalgia for that era back in the early 90's.
Or maybe my teenage brain was more focussed on the UK scene and the American riders and bikes hyped about in the mtb magazines of the day.

5 Things i didnt know/can't remember, but know now...

Repack.
Trimble.
Zinn.
Charlie Cunningham .
Overburys.

I'd say Trimble is the oldest brand I can remember from the time, and I lusted after one for a short while but I don't feel the same urge now.

 

[retrobikeguy]

Re:

I'd say RetroBike, they were just retro bikes some guy liked before they were a thing.

Seriously tho, I have learnt too much too list over the past few years that I've been here, but most of all is that we are probably the first group of people that will call this retro, a lot of mountain bikings founders and hero's are still alive in our lifetime on here in this community, Tell your grandchildren that!

 

[velomaniac]

To be frank BITD if it was not available in a local bike shop I did not know about it.
Anything exotic or high end has only been made known to me by Retrobike.
Chatting about some bike related question I had with Charlie Kelly as just another forum member was a WOW moment.

 

[M-Power]

Re:

Agree with OP. Although i was into high end US imports early on, many of the background details of the growth of the sport were not well known in the UK at that time. I bought all the US import mags from my fav shop in TCR. Import prices were not cheap then either and finding rare parts was usually quite a hassle.