When did it lose it for you.....

[Kevhl]

Never lost it, riding bikes is great, modern bikes are great.

I have a nostalgia thing with early/mid 90s bikes, love building them, looking at them and playing with them but if I'm going out "mountain" biking I'll pick up my modern hardtail or full sus. (In a nod to ToManyOranges post that would be either my Stanton or Transition!) the retro stuff can stay hung up looking pretty unless I'm going on a chilled out family ride.

Lots of great memories of riding and racing in the 90's, but most of them include having to fix (bodge) something in order to finish the ride.

 

[Supratada]

Probably just as well. All the old techniques from BITD just don’t work with modern geometry. Modern bikes are a lot longer and more stable, but need bigger weight changes to get them to do what you want. That’s why people from here try a friends modern bike and just don’t like it, it takes time to adjust. Give it time and you’ll be flying in soon enough.

That’s true. The difference in size between my Turbo Levo and my P7 is immense. There’s certainly no chance of shouldering that up Roseberry Topping. I have to say though, when I rode it at the shop, the first time I’d ridden a post 90’s bike, I loved it. The P7 feels so skittish and nervous now, though that might be me. Being an e bike of course, it’s at least 10kg heavier. That’s almost a whole other bike.

 

[Kevhl]

That’s true. The difference in size between my Turbo Levo and my P7 is immense. There’s certainly no chance of shouldering that up Roseberry Topping. I have to say though, when I rode it at the shop, the first time I’d ridden a post 90’s bike, I loved it. The P7 feels so skittish and nervous now, though that might be me. Being an e bike of course, it’s at least 10kg heavier. That’s almost a whole other bike.

Is the Levo heavier than the San An though?!

 

[2manyoranges]

No, it doesn’t. It really doesn’t. They say you never forget how to ride a bike but all those skills and finesse I had are gone. I can’t bunny hop, endo-turn. I can’t do drop-offs or step ups. It’s really weird. At first I blamed it on the extra weight of both me and the e-bike, but it’s technique I’ve forgotten.

Sorry….I see the words E-bike combined with bunny hop and endos-turns. Never seen that before. Usually the word E-bike goes with the words speed, braking bumps, and more speed. Danny M can wrangle agility out of an E bike but he is an alien in human form.

I genuinely think it’s very tough to wrangle agility out of contemporary geometry ebikes. I wouldn’t be overly self critical; you will need very careful choice (Ragley, Stanton, Cotic etc) to get a ready bridge to the skills you had….

 

[Supratada]

Is the Levo heavier than the San An though?!

Oh yes. It goes in this order…
Levo. “Christ! My groin!”
San An “Ooh, that’s light”
P7 “where is it?”

As opposed to when I finished the San An when I thought “ blimey that weighs a tonne”

 

[Supratada]

I genuinely think it’s very tough to wrangle agility out of contemporary geometry ebikes. I wouldn’t be overly self critical; you will need very careful choice (Ragley, Stanton, Cotic etc) to get a ready bridge to the skills you had….

Actually, last time I trundled up the street on the P7, I did do some track-standing and a few manoeuvring hops and turns, so it must still be there a bit. I’ve gone from no fear to more fear though. It’s a natural part of ageing, considering one’s own mortality etc. Things I would have danced over now have me stopping and walking.

 

[Supratada]

i've been slowing loosing interest since suspension was fitted. Now with the big wheels, disc brakes, dropper posts, tubeless and now e-bikes i've lost interest totally. MTBing has totally gone wrong.

See, I’m the opposite of that
29”, droppers, tubeless and disc brakes are all fantastic. If it weren’t for e-bikes, I wouldn’t be cycling at all.

 

[troje]

Same here. Droppers posts are the best invention on a bike since wheels. Modern geometry is relaxed, fun and gives me confidence. Brakes have become fantastic and I really don’t need three rings up front, just one is enough. Oh, and try a rough downhill with 150mm at the back. A whole new world opens up. Cycling is emotion and fun. Whichever bike you ride.

 

[2manyoranges]

Actually, last time I trundled up the street on the P7, I did do some track-standing and a few manoeuvring hops and turns, so it must still be there a bit. I’ve gone from no fear to more fear though. It’s a natural part of ageing, considering one’s own mortality etc. Things I would have danced over now have me stopping and walking.

Excellent re retrieving skills.

My son was raised in the McCaskill era and so gets air everywhere. I was taught to keep the bike on the ground, and getting air is anathema to me after 30 years of doing that. I have very slow progression but at 64 I am getting a lot more air than I used to. A lot more. I don’t find myself being unable to progress thank goodness....

 

[Supratada]

Having read through the thread, it seems a common consensus is that people went off MTB in the latter half of the '90s. Some for personal life reasons, a bit like meself but also a change in aesthetics. I feel the same too. Bikes, both off and on-road became a bit ugly, a bit lumpy. I stopped watching road racing like TdF post 2000 partly because of Armstrong. I just felt something was iffy about this whole she-bang, but also, those lovely thin steel road bikes when all heavy looking.

I was just looking in Pipmeisters thread and decided to pull these two images of the same bike to illustrate...

Not that different to the untrained eye. They are still both diamond frames, wheels same size but the post 2000 one could be a bargain bike BSO if one didn't know better. No disrespect to Pip as he's done a great job on it and (or but) it is true to its form.

I think current bikes look OK now. They are so different in size and geometry to earlly MTBs as to be a whole new thing. the graphics are starting to be pared back too. Once upon a time it seemed like bikes were an F1 car, so space must be left without a logo or graphic of some sort filling it.


They don't do a Kilauauauauaua now but here's a 2022 hardtail. I know I'm not gonna convince many here, but I like it, and I'm a fervant Oranngeman (not like that, I'm not going to march through your garden in a bowler hat)