petitpal":1qtceyg3 said:Again though - if what some ppl on here have said is true and modern XC courses are getting flatter then I can imagine that a fit, skilled rider on an early 90's, fully rigid, canti bike is going to be faster than an out of shape non-rider on a 7K modern thing.
To quantify the difference between retro and modern performance though you have to keep the rider common, and thus fitness and skill can for the large part be removed from the argument