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

[fearfactoryüberalles]

After 8 speed at the rear all seemed pointless and pure greedy for the sake of the stock holders. Who the fx#k needs more than 24 speeds, honestly?

M900/M739/Suntour XC Pro/Comp. Maybe V-brakes were worth it, if I'm in forgiving mode. End of story.

So until '96 or so and the attraction is gone.

 

[ultrazenith]

For me the period 92-94 was the most interesting: fluorescent paint jobs, barends, and everybody basically doing some variety of XC riding all together. I also recall an amazing and infectious spirit of adventure, going out and discovering routes on Dartmoor that were rideable on the MTBs of the time, or showing your friends the new trails you've found out, linking them all up into superb all-day routes, etc.

After 94 I started to feel the shadow of DH hanging over the MTB scene. before that, our group would go out on rides together and the routes had something for everyone: those who liked tough climbs, those who liked fast downhills, and those who preferred the roughest downhills, drops, etc. Once DH separated from MTB, XC rides became a bit lonely because the DH-oriented guys preferred to spend their Sundays building berms and doing jumps in the same patch of woods.

In 96 I left home and ended up spending the next 7 years in a region without any real hills and no wild areas to explore, and after a couple of years my interest waned, the bike got stored back home and forgotten. Fast forward to 2011 when I moved to Portugal from Mexico, and I was surprised to see people riding round the city on what looked like long travel DH bikes with 100mm forks, disc brakes, risers, etc. I still ride a 90s bike with PACE forks, because it makes me smile and it works for the gravelly trails we have over here. And I think if I coul reach back in time and pick out any bikes from any period, they would be Raleigh Dynatech MTBs from the 93 or 94 catalogues, which for me were the pinnacle.

 

[Roasted]

Never lost it for me, just got frustrating.

It's all the changes in standards and lack of support for old tech that annoys me, but it's not put me off yet. And most of the stuff that the bike media are raving about now has been done before and dismissed. Wide bars were dismissed for feeling too vague, slack head angles for giving handling like a wheel barrow, high pivot pulley for adding weight and complexity.

The thing that really does put me off is the price of new bikes and parts, definitely keeps me in the secondhand market.

 

[clubby]

Never lost it for me, just got frustrating.

It's all the changes in standards and lack of support for old tech that annoys me, but it's not put me off yet. And most of the stuff that the bike media are raving about now has been done before and dismissed. Wide bars were dismissed for feeling too vague, slack head angles for giving handling like a wheel barrow, high pivot pulley for adding weight and complexity.

I agree to an extent, but you can still get parts to fit the most common older standards. For example 7 & 8 speed, you can still easily get all the parts you need. What you won’t get is high end parts, but if you firmly believe that less cogs is better there are options out there.
There are companies who specialise in making adapters and brackets to make mismatched components work.

What I find unforgivable is big companies who just stop making service parts available. I’m looking at you Fox suspension. There’s just no reason to stop doing seal kits for forks and shocks. Can’t remember exactly how long, but I’m sure I read they stop doing them 5 years after the product line is updated. I’m sure there is stock is around longer than that for common parts but there are 7 year old Cannondales with bespoke Fox shocks that can’t be serviced anymore rendering the whole frame dead. That’s just immoral from a consumer and environmental point of view. Rock Shox manage, so why can’t Fox?
Also, a big up to Hope for keeping doing small parts for lots of their back catalogue. Have heard that some stuff is now out of production and won’t be remade but they are a lot better than most.

 

[Fatbrad]

MTB probably around 2013 when I got my first road bike and realised that I could ride to work and back. Plus living where I am without a car Mountain biking was a ball ache or really boring. Then when I finally learnt to drive 2 years ago I bought another MTB and that was it. I have a road bike, a Gravel bike and 2 MTB's and I love all of them. But the feeling of battering down Penhydd or Y Wall on an FS bike is just brilliant. Although not as much fun as Blue Scar on the Gravel bike.