When do you think we reached "peak" mtb?

[slackboy]

I think it very much depends on when your personal interest peaked. For me its the 1990-1994 time frame - when I was regularly reading magazines and lusting over bikes. I also helped that there was so much innovation.

But I also think that the last 5-6 years has seen massive improvements in bike technology , but that also coincides with me regaining interest in the sport.

 

[GTLoz]

Yes, some of it is definitely nostalgia. Many of the modern frames all look the same to me.
But yet look at the mid- to late-90s. You had totally weird, vastly different frame designs.
That was certainly a peak of creativity in design as far as I'm concerned.

If any of you are wondering about myself, I picked the year 2007 as that is around the year I bought my last bikes/frames.
Having said that, I put a fork from 2017 on one, and now last years' cheapest shock (monarch). Rides like a totally different bike. I feel like it's the best of both worlds that way. I think we're going to see more of that; people putting new shocks on old bikes in order to2 transform them [somewhat].

Agree about the mid to late 90s being peak variety with manufacturers competing to work out latest materials and suspension designs. For me 1995 to 2007 was my time of peak interest and ability. With 1997 to 1998 being my peak period for nostalgia and focus of my current interest.

 

[novocaine]

I went with around 2005, everything had settled down and crazy but crap designs had started to fade out, suspension design had pretty much settled and strength to weight was about right. really in my mind it's somewhere between 2000 and 2005 so I went later.
it's also pre 100 million standards for everything, just about, we had external BB shells that could take the abuse but still fit older frames, disc brakes had settled on post mounts with IS starting to decline but again post mount could be adapted to suit old stuff, brake's were actually effective too unlike early attempts. we hadn't divided the market in to a million niches yet either.

 

[clubby]

For me, things keep getting better.
Bikes are better than they’ve every been.
Can’t deny weight has gone up but equivalent bikes are so much more capable. The Yetis are a perfect example. New one has suspension that actually works, bigger tyres that don’t puncture every two minutes and a dropper post (adds at least a pound, but worth every bit if it).

There have been good and bad bikes every year along with peaks and troughs. Saracen went through a bad patch but are on a bit of a high again with success at highest level of DH.

There are still plenty of crazy designs, but the mainstream has settled on very similar designs for a good reason, they work.

For the handmade fans, there are plenty of small UK builders to chose from, albeit at a price.

All that said, I still love old bikes.

 

[Imlach]

I quite liked the stuff that was churned out from 05 to about 15, a lot of budget stuff that was very capable. And still a lot of older standards being kept pre '15, so I chose 2015.

 

[BerthaPog]

1998 for me. These were the last bikes that were designed in the retro era (would have been designed in 1997), so therefore must be the best.

 

[Tootyred]

Im saying 93....lots of companies with the original driven owners and staff, producing some great spec kit......weight had come down, engineering quality was good........then the accounts took over most of these by mid 90s and jiggered them. Quality down, number of f***ks given down, replacement of branded bits with " special" own brand kit. Its also about when shimano started to cut quality and the sad death of the real suntour.

 

[greencat]

There have been peaks and troughs. Some lovely bikes in the mid to late 90s before suspension became ubiqutious, and some crap ones in the early 2000s/2010s.

I think future peeps will look back on early 2020s as a golden age too.

 

[hamster]

"Better" how? Visually I think the 90's mtbs were "peak".
Performance wise then who knows what the future holds? But current beats older, hands down, and it keeps getting better each year.

My view is that while bikes became more capable, they also became more niche for specific tasks and the all-rounders vanished.
The re-appearance of gravel bikes (or shall we call them tourers?) which do nothing badly suggests how far things had lost their way. As their geometry is almost identical to mid-90's MTBs would suggest that was perhaps the high point - sensible bikes that fulfilled most peoples' needs most of the time.

 

[Lucidone]

The re-appearance of gravel bikes (or shall we call them tourers?) which do nothing badly suggests how far things had lost their way. As their geometry is almost identical to mid-90's MTBs would suggest that was perhaps the high point - sensible bikes that fulfilled most peoples' needs most of the time.

I've lived this journey, I bought a MK1 Fairlight Faran (then described as an adventure bike) and found it boring, cumbersome (toe overlap being my biggest annoyance) and generally of no benefit over my late 90's middle of the range M-TRAX. Sold it, bought more 90's mountain bikes!