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

Chopper the ex Copper said:
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.
Click to expand...

I feel very grateful that I have zero interest in buying any of the modern bikes I have seen. I definitely don't need more bikes I desire!

If just from a selfish point of view, I would want as many people as possible to focus on modern bikes, in the hope it made the bikes and parts I like easier to find/cheaper. However, from a sustainability point of view, it bothers me that people buy (probably the cheaper end of the market, I guess) modern bikes with an acceptance of them becoming obselete. This is far from unique for bike, phones, as you mention, are another excellent example.
 
I think 1998 was the last year of classic MTB for me. My original MTB's were a 1992 Kona Fire Mountain - awesome as a teenager's first proper bike and then a 1998 Kona Kilauea - whilst it wasn't quite as iconic it was a significantly better bike, not just being higher up the range but having V brakes and bombers meant it could actually stop and hit big lumps.

Both have long gone, my retro love has been rekindled with a 91 Cinder Cone (and I will one day get those old Explosif's I lusted after). However, whilst it's a laugh and brings back teenage biking memories there is no way I'm taking it down a Welsh mountain trail. I'll do that on my Orange Five Evo - I get the issues with new bikes in that they are too complicated and many standards etc., but a modern Five, whilst not cheap has some of those retro quirks, it's hand made up north and looks it, simple suspension with one big pivot, threaded BB and most bits I can sort myself and I pretend the 27.5 wheels are just 26 with a bit of weight put on, much like me.

I did get grumpy though when I realised I needed get another new BB tool to take the thing off...
 
Got interested in '88, lost interest in about '94 after having too many bikes nicked from uni.
I think the rise of dh also played a part - I just wasn't interested.

Bought a '98 Rockhopper new and kicked around on that, but didn't use it much until my interest was reignited by becoming fat and middle aged.

Started off by buying a modern version of what I had before - a Boardman actually. But then got interested in the various niche steel British brands (cotic!) and it's snowballed from there.

I've got modern bikes which I love for their capability, but still aimed at the cc/trail side of things & old mountain bikes which I love for their versatility.

I'll also admit to enjoying the thrill of the hunt for old components, but I think I'm satisfied with what I have right now:

1) old bike that's ridiculous 1990 spec - rigid/ thumbies
2) old bike that's "modern" spec suspension, v brakes 1* drive train
3) modern hooligan hard tail
4) short travel carbon Full sus wonderbike
 
I lost it all when I had a bereavement in the family in 1994 and then spent too much time with non-MTBers…and then had two kids. But when my son was nine I built a very lightweight rig for him (under 9kg) and everything started up again - in 2015.

I had Ti from the 90s and Bonty Race etc but when starting to build again i realised that things had moved on. I have written on here before about how my 90s bikes climbed like goats but descended scarily. I think design was all over the place for a few years in the early 2000s - heavy rigs that would not climb at all…single purpose designs…floppy frames with terrible pedalling bob…things which broke.

I think there was a time when things were not improving fast and some real duds appeared.

…but something happened in the years just before Lockdown….some fabulous ’new classics’ arrived…the Cotic SOUL mutated and combined its genes with the BfE to give rise to the extraordinarily capable BfEMax 29er, the 26 ti Stantons became 27.5 and then amazing 29ers. Ragley (Brant R) did their ‘disruption of thinking’ thing - the Mmmbop shifted thinking a lot. These things go up climbs which I did thirty years ago…but better…and they ram down descents I did thirty years ago…but better. Really much better. Transition shook up the whole industry with SBG - finally responding to the call we gave for steeper seat tubes and longer reach in the 90s. Well that only took 25 years.

As fun as it was to mend four punctures per ride, with nice relaxed chat and amusing reflections, tubeless is pretty darned handy. Brakes … they used to give an illusion of slowing you on a radical descent, now they actually do. As beautiful as my Marin Team Ti and Marin Team were 9A200AE0-4FE1-4E24-AB70-30F9F220071B.jpeg , the geometry on the latest hardtails is extraordinary. Anti squat and ramp and everything makes suspension more than just a bouncy complication.

I’m back on the trails again and building hard. I love the seminal designs and the history. But whilst hacking a rock garden near Machynlleth or slogging up an endless grass ascent on the South Downs I still feel the spirit of the sport moving me…and all whilst I’m on something designed last year and built this one.

I do like to take in the view…I mean just look at that headtube badge….
 
Last edited:
I reckon retrobikeguy has spoke on my behalf, yet i can open up more on the marin thing. I recall 1993/94 and realising marins have become a silver over-dose. Almost totally lost that 90's neon zest i was drawn to in the first place.
That issue, for me, didnt recover until 1997 and the mount vision/ pro (flat bars) were on the shelves. Kinda looked badass and dynamic.
And by that point i wernt arsed with bikes anymore. Heavy again and had base prices at £400+ for say, a hawk hill with alivio. Where 1992 bolinas ridge was £295.
Therefore....
-------->1993...eyebrows raised but i was accepting of progress.
-------->1998...i aint getting this now.
Everything after that...im forced to hunt down retro junk. No bad thing though!
 
marc two tone said:
I reckon retrobikeguy has spoke on my behalf, yet i can open up more on the marin thing. I recall 1993/94 and realising marins have become a silver over-dose. Almost totally lost that 90's neon zest i was drawn to in the first place.
That issue, for me, didnt recover until 1997 and the mount vision/ pro (flat bars) were on the shelves. Kinda looked badass and dynamic.
And by that point i wernt arsed with bikes anymore. Heavy again and had base prices at £400+ for say, a hawk hill with alivio. Where 1992 bolinas ridge was £295.
Therefore....
-------->1993...eyebrows raised but i was accepting of progress.
-------->1998...i aint getting this now.
Everything after that...im forced to hunt down retro junk. No bad thing though!
Click to expand...

I felt exactly the same about the Marin colour schemes. They’re cool again now though!
 
I lost it when our second pregnancy turned out to be twins and there was no way in hell I was going to be able to take 1/2 a day to go riding at the local trails. That was around 2006.

It was around that time that I started looking more seriously at old steel mountain bikes for a winter / back up commuter and picked up a Rocky Mountain Hammer Race and fell back in love with old classic fully rigid steel bikes and discovered this place. It was also about that time that my collection of bikes exploded and I got back into road riding as well.
 
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