Who would you say are the most skilled and capable,well-known, mountain bike riders of all time and why?

My choices would be: –

Danny MacAskill – for making me reassess what is truly possible on two-wheels (for others not for me!)
Nicolas Vouilloz – his ability to find new lines on a DH course, total smoothness and for making immensely fast riding look almost slow. Also being head and shoulders above the competition.
Tim Gould. His climbing skills and fantastic uphill pace. I only saw him once in the flesh and he was so bloody fast!
Anne-Caroline Chausson. Has there been a better female DH rider since…? I don’t think so. Amazingly fast and so, so committed to getting the most speed out of every single section.

GW

Tracy mosley XC dh and enduro victories
Steve peat being at the sharp end of dh for 20 years or more

Obviously not an interesting thread for many then!

Probably Nico, but my vote is Akrigg… he’s just the best by miles. Danny MacRedbull is rubbish by comparison.

[video]http://vimeo.com/65855392[/video]

“All time”? It’s quite a new sport, isn’t it? And there’s still a lot of time left yet, isn’t there?

Tomac – Faster than you on any form of two wheeled transport. XC, DH, BMX, Road, MX.

At the end of the day, Akrigg has been riding for waaay longer than Danny Megaskills, so he’s had more time to develop and showcase the full diversity of his skills~ Danny is still working towards his potential, so it’s a bit soon to judge~ you have to remember that Imaginate is his 1st project after coming back from a nasty injury.

Both amazing riders though~

I’ve always really rated Aaron Chase and Bearclaw as well…

Darren Berrecloth basically raised the bar to bring about slopestyle as we know it today.

Don’t know that many riders tbh, but watching movies and stuff over the last 5 years or so, a few names stand out as having an abundance of skill and style. Cedric Gracia, Brian Lopes, Danny Hart and Curtis Robinson.

I remember Tomac from his (and my) BMX days – i take it he changed to mtb then?

Yes he did Euro. He also did some road cycling as well.

Brian Lopes.

Because… have you seen him ride?!

Brian is amazing – one of the very best for me.

tomac.

Glupton.

Because he said so (and the dust).

Definitely Tomac.
Jerome Clementz is heading for legend status if he carries on. As is Rach Atherton.
Danny Hart for ‘that’ run.
Steve Peat for reasons above.
Hopefully Gee will get there.

Tomac–One of the best–saw him do a few races.
I ran into him and another guy on a ride up the Hermosa Creek trail near Durango, CO–tried to stay with them and within about 100 yards, they were out of sight. I slogged along and met them coming back the other way before I had barely passed midpoint. Not a great ego boosting event.

Richie McCoy
Elbry Sandland

@Wozza – Everytime I think Akrigg’s best Macaskill gets better. Of course we need to consider I’ve only ever seen slick edits of their vids** and they’re both ace.

I’d add Hans ‘No Way’ Rey in there. He was possibly the original OMG-y mountain biker.

** Incl Akrigg’s not so slick lob off the Cow at Ilkley.

Tomac
Lopes
Chausson

Just had a look at Elbry’s blog after the mention above. I see he now has sponsorship from GW Design. Any relation, I wonder. 🙂

Tomac here. Only because of my age.

EDIT: However, I seem to remember having a Tomac labelled Tioga disc drive which was nearly responsible for me getting blown into the sea off Torquay Pier.

In terms of pure skill, Akrigg is definitely one of the best. Others that have amazing skill and capability on a bike are:

Gee Atherton: DH, Red Bull rampage, dirt jumping. Pretty much excels at everything.

Brandon Semenuk: Amazing on a bike full stop. BMX to DH, he can do it all.

Kyle Straight: Hugely skilled on a bike. One of the few freeriders who is fast enough to compete at top level DH.

They might not be the most well known, but these guys are at the top of the game when it comes to skill on a bike.

For the guys that are legends of racing, it would have to be Peaty, Minnaar, Lopes and Graves.

Best overall? Probably Gee Atherton.

Vouilloz
Hill
Akrigg
Lopes
Chausson

Macaskill’s a bit different to Akrigg and Ashton… A great rider but also has a superior eye for what works in a video. Maybe a bit like Hans Rey from that point of view, it’s not just what you do but how you do it and who you do it for.

Anne-Caro Chausson for sure though, I like the ripples of fear that go around every time someone suggests she might do a comeback. Guess we’ll see if Rachel Atherton can stay on form, still don’t think we’ve seen the best of her.

Men’s downhill… Don’t know tbh. You can say Tomac but really there’s no fair way to compare riders of the past with riders of today, it’s not really the same sport… I’ll go with Gee Atherton as well, he’s been at the very top of downhill, against other genuine contenders to be the very best, but he can nip over to utah and hold his own against the best mentalists in the world at the rampage too.