When did it start going rubbish?

[Tazio]

Disc brakes. Replace a design concept that's been around since the Oxford safety bicycle that a blacksmith/gifted amateur/idiot could fix and replace it with something that weighs more, is irrelevant and overkill under 15mph and required specialist parts, care maintinance, wizards and chemists to fix.
Think I'll go have a lie down now.

I'm sure disc brakes are a marvelous thing if you are into chucking a 35lb bike down serious inclines but do most people really need them?

I fitted a set of XTR M960 V's a couple of weeks ago, set them up how I have always set up V's, went for a ride and had to back them off a bit when I got home as they were so sharp. I couldn't imagine needing discs, but then again I am a bit of a featherweight.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Disc brakes. Replace a design concept that's been around since the Oxford safety bicycle that a blacksmith/gifted amateur/idiot could fix and replace it with something that weighs more, is irrelevant and overkill under 15mph and required specialist parts, care maintinance, wizards and chemists to fix.
Think I'll go have a lie down now.

I'm sure disc brakes are a marvelous thing if you are into chucking a 35lb bike down serious inclines but do most people really need them?

I fitted a set of XTR M960 V's a couple of weeks ago, set them up how I have always set up V's, went for a ride and had to back them off a bit when I got home as they were so sharp. I couldn't imagine needing discs, but then again I am a bit of a featherweight.

Will you feel the same in February, when your rims are iced up, and your brakes have been ground down to a stub by muddy grinding paste?
Of all the "improvements" in MTB design and componentry, discs are the only ones I could not now forego, particularly in winter.

 

[Defender]

Yes, I know what you mean, and on a different subject - if it was me I'd be looking at the Salsa El Mariachi (with the matching rigid forks).
It looks a really sweeet bike and I like those "Black Cat" style dropouts.

Thanks, I'll take a look at that, Salsa have always seemed something a bit special to me, so hopefully they'll be one to see at the Cycle Show next month?

 

[zigzag]

I'd rather bleed a caliper than setup a canti, replace a set of disk pads than a set of canti pads, replace a worn rotor instead of a rim. I like one finger braking, knowing that a buckled wheel isn't going to affect my brakes and brakes that work irregardless of conditions.

No real experience with Vs, but can you tell I hate cantis

 

[suburbanreuben]

I tootled round a Brass Monkeys XC course, last winter, on my old P22.
It outclimbed any modern bike, out handled any modern bike, and was quicker on the flats. On the downs though, it was just plain scary, with the old cantis. With discs, on a sothern shandy drinkers XC course at least , it would have been unbeatable.

 

[Defender]

Yes...but more generally stated as:
When all mountain bikes seemed to have been designed for flying over obstacles with a Red Bull in your hand and an Ipod in your shorts, rather than ridden around with a bit of tactful finess, with a water bottle cage on the frame and a paint job you wanted to care for.
Seriously, when DID mountain biking stop being simply about riding a bicycle in the woods and instead become more about building fake loading dock drops and teeter-totters and 'shredding' instead? I blame X-Games and dicks like Shaun Palmer and Travis Pastrana and their ilk, and the marketing machine that they represent.
Missy Giove team downhill bikes from the past could be confused with cross country bikes of the present. Whenever that became the standard, that moment, is when it all went bad for mountain bikes.
That and flat black paint on everything, even spokes. :roll:

I think you have a point here, specially about the black paint, my '6066 is mainly black, it's started to come off the wheel rims and looks very unsightly, not sure what to do about it though, it's not as if the rims will wear out as it runs discs!

 

[Tazio]

Cantis are indeed the devils work for most things apart from aesthetics.

My point about discs is that everything has them now pretty much, and a good set of discs is still pretty expensive so how much better are the cheap discs than well set up V's?

And if my rims are iced up then I go home as it's clearly too bloody cold to be tootling around in mud

 

[Fairyglass]

The moment it all went bad for me was when it suddenly became about the equipment you had, and the brand names, rather than the cycling. If you didnt' ride an XT or XTR equipped latest model, or wear the right Oakleys, you somehow weren't a "proper" cyclist. Back in the day, I used to tour, and the enjoyment for me was being in tune with my bike, on an open road, and giving a wave to other like minded cyclists. Fast forward 15 years and I'm on a start line of a Masters XC race, and everyone's examining everyone else's bikes and judging the rider on the kit.
Personally, I couldn't care less if the bike you ride is 1 month, 1 year or 3 decades old- if it works for you, and makes you smile, it's all good. It's the freedom a bike gives which makes it special, not the manufacturer.
Phew!

 

[Neil]

All thats happened is the same for most on here. As you get older you get more set in your ways as brain cells die off and dont get replaced. Your ideas, points of veiw, behaviour etc. just become more hardwired into the system with less capacity for new ideas.

1. I'm not convinced it's a biological effect
2. I felt the same in the early-to-mid 90s...

;-)

 

[Neil]

When Kona got chunky.

Yes...but more generally stated as:

When all mountain bikes seemed to have been designed for flying over obstacles with a Red Bull in your hand and an Ipod in your shorts, rather than ridden around with a bit of tactful finess, with a water bottle cage on the frame and a paint job you wanted to care for.

Seriously, when DID mountain biking stop being simply about riding a bicycle in the woods and instead become more about building fake loading dock drops and teeter-totters and 'shredding' instead? I blame X-Games and dicks like Shaun Palmer and Travis Pastrana and their ilk, and the marketing machine that they represent.

Missy Giove team downhill bikes from the past could be confused with cross country bikes of the present. Whenever that became the standard, that moment, is when it all went bad for mountain bikes.

That and flat black paint on everything, even spokes. :roll:

And that is probably unpalatable to some, but I agree with it completely...