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

[brocklanders023]

I began lusting after MTB's around 88, when I was 10 and kept riding until the mid 90's when I started playing Rugby League. Reckon the last year I really spent hanging around bike shops and paying attention to the models available was 93 though. Agree with plenty of the above, bikes became less interesting when the colours became boring and full suss came in at a price I couldn't afford.

Got back in to it when I packed in Rugby, around 2005 and have kept riding since. I really like the modern trends, geometry and style of riding and am getting out more than ever before.

 

[Gtpulse]

I think it's all been said here already, that late 80s, early 90s rush of the new, coinciding with the time in our lives when we were so open to this new excitement.

Bit like when a new band breaks, cool insiders at first, momentum builds, break out, hit singles, cool and mainstream for 18 months then the haters and it all fades out a bit

I used to be involved with the veteran cycle scene - I’d include the late 70s to the early 10s - of the 1800s to 1900s that is!!

It’s interesting there is a bit of a parallel - as a family we were interested in the stuff from the first rideable bikes (hobby horse etc not really something you could ride far) from the boneshaker through to Penny farthings, the first safety cycles and roadsters probably up until the stuff just before the first world war. Out on a ride with others that era had a certain cachet and compared to the later stuff there was a very different look and quality to the machines. The thing both this and the early era of MTB have in common I think is to some extent the impact that mass production had on quality and the individuality of designs. The earlier stuff being much closer to the influence of the original maker than once it is being churned out to the masses.

I do think we’ve been going through another period of innovation and I’d love to have a go on a top end full suspension bike as well as a decent e-bike. To be honest I’m a bit scared of the downhill stuff and it was never something that interested me. Watching the summer action on a walking holiday in Morzine kind of cemented that thought as I watched one after another have what would be bone breaking crashes!

 

[Thias]

@tintin40 Why would you say that? It diversified. The kind of biking we seem to like here is making it's come back with gravelbikes (at least that is my interpretation). You can still buy a new steel or titanium frame to basically the same specs as your 80s or 90s Mountainbike. But then you can also go on very different route if you choose to do so. Thats not a bad thing, is it? To have more choice.

 

[Woz]

From around the mid/late-90s I didn't follow any bike tech. for a good 10 years or so and did little in the way of cycling.

Getting back into it though, an horrific experience going into a bike shop and looking at what MTB had become and the niche sub-markets, with their own language and hype and equipment. Suddenly, if you didn't want to launch yourself off the Grand Canyon with a bike resembling a Moto-X without a petrol engine you were offered a low end Hybrid. A wank Hybrid at that with dreadful generic no name parts without substance. That's when I lost it for good.

But, at the same time, also gained dusting off my old 1994 Kona AA and joining this site. I couldn't accept the replies from all the bike shops that the Kona was a) useless b) obsolete with parts unavailable and c) not as good as a something new.

 

[Woz]

 

[legrandefromage]

Never actually fell out of love with cycling itself but cynicism towards the new arrived around the same time as working at a bike shop and seeing what really went on

Favourite rides are from 86, 94 and 2014 with a few sprinklings in between

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

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.

Surely this greater choice is a good thing?

You don't have to buy bikes with those features if you do not want to, so the solution is incredibly simple - dont buy one.

The fact that they are available to buy for those who do want one is an excellent state of affairs, and not remotely lamentable. If you don't like it then you can still buy quality bikes without those features, often at surprisingly keen money from even custom builders.

I don't have a mobile phone. I see no need for one, and do not desire one in the slightest. Neverthelss, they are out there, and even cheap ones have a ridiculous level of sophistication, yet I cannot say that personal communications has totally gone wrong just because they don't tug my rug. As long as we still have the right and ability to choose then things are very right, not at all wrong.

 

[Once A Hero]

Not so much to do with a particular loss of love for a brand or any of the parts, but mid way through the '97 race season I had the realisation that I couldn't make a living out of the sport, or compete at a high enough level consistently to secure adequate sponsorship, and I couldn't continue to rely on others to fund me, so it was time to hang up my helmet and get a job.

Still, I'm happy to have been there through the era of fast but sometimes clumsy MTB development where as every year went by, a yearly new bike was always a leap ahead of the previous one.

 

[trailwright]

Got into it in '87 after 'ATBs' became more mainstream, and then really started the obsession with stuff after buying an MBUK mag mid'88 and lusting after proper gear. Interest vanished in 2000 along with my time, and I began to get my offroad kicks through trail and fell running instead. This site over the last couple of years has got me interested in the nostalgia of the early days, especially when compared to the modern bike developments which, while I'm sure are good, just doesn't do it for me.

 

[BlackCat]

Maybe I’m a bit younger than some here - I can’t speak with confidence for the 1980s - for me MTB manufacturers gave up trying to create cool, differentiated bikes in 1998.

As far as I am concerned, Vs and Bombers didn’t spell the end (both were leaps forward), but visually bikes seemed to become bland for me after that.