Sticking a hard bit of metal on the bit of the bar likely to hit you when you come off also strikes me as a bit daft.

I always thought that……but the newer fangled single collared grips solve that. I’ve got Charge Griddles on two bikes ~ perfect!

V-Brakes.

I remember when they first came out. Virtually universal love.

I remember almost killing myself several times when I fitted a set of the original XT ones. Compared to the cantis I’d been using, the Vs were so powerful that endos were almost inevitable in sudden braking, until I got used to them. Of course discs came along soon after and are generally better, but Vs are so easy to set up and maintain, and even cheap ones offer decent stopping power.

My first bicycle had rod brakes with perished hard rubber pads. Technology’s great. 😉

V-Brakes.

I remember when they first came out. Virtually universal love.

Good call, V brakes and Aheadsets then.

Anything since the 1990s?

Disc brakes weren’t universally liked in the early days. Don’t remember anyone having a bad word to say about v brakes though.

Early discs were heavy, expensive, unreliable and few bikes had mounts. V brakes were cheap, reliable and would fit on any bike with canti mounts.

Rock Shox Pike forks!

Rock Shox Pike forks!

Not the new ones, managed to blow mine up on the second ride.

Rock Shox Pike forks!

I remember being distinctly unimpressed with the weight and performance, though I did come to them late.

Or do you mean the new murdered-out version?

In the ’90’s, purple.

Nope. All about the blue ano for me BITD.

In the early 90’s purple. In the later 90’s blue ano 😆

I was just sooo far ahead of the fashion curve, dahhhhhling! 😉

Or do you mean the new murdered-out version?

No, the old ones. They were pretty good when they were first released in 2005 (i think). They seemed to be a default choice for most

The new pikes are indeed awesome

Sticking a hard bit of metal on the bit of the bar likely to hit you when you come off also strikes me as a bit daft

you mean the bar made out of hard metal?

Avid Rollamajigs.
Mine finally gave up the ghost last weekend.

The bit of the metal bar usually covered in soft rubber?
Yeah, that bit!

you mean the bar made out of hard metal?

I was going to argue with rusty about this but then I remembered the yellowy blotch on my right knee, left over from crashing the other week, pretty sure it was the end of the grip that hit my knee, not the end of the bar, may not have hurt so much with normal grips

I remember almost killing myself several times when I fitted a set of the original XT ones.

XT V canti with PC7 levers made for a stupid amounts of leverage, saw a few of my mates go over the bars first time they had a go of my bike 🙂

I was going to argue with rusty about this but then I remembered the yellowy blotch on my right knee, left over from crashing the other week, pretty sure it was the end of the grip that hit my knee, not the end of the bar, may not have hurt so much with normal grips

less chance of taking a core sample from your thight/groin with a lock on that with a stuck on foam grip as the foam deforms and leaved the end of the bar exposed

How about… LED mountain bike lights. Practical, affordable, durable, effective… Can’t think of a single person going oh! If only I still had my HID!

Road lights for that matter, don’t see many people using DD-cell Everreadys any more.

How about simple LED cycle lights? Bright, noticeable, effective. Much longer battery run times, no more need for massive expensive cells which last a couple of hours at best.

There was as much argument about disk brakes as there is now about wheel sizes. V brakes certain took without a lot of fuss, but they were an easy evolution – no need for different frames/forks/rims/hubs to make the change. People took to hydration packs quite happily too.

There were very few dissenting voices when cake, jellybabies and hip flasks were all introduced

Oh dear. 😀
Wondered who it was.

ssimon, the foam grips still have plugs.

Old skool Pikes for the win! My hardtail runs a set, as does the missus’ Marin and stepson 1’s DJ bike.

I bought my first set in 2006 for peanuts (£329 for dual air U-Turn 454s) and even the most cynical Rockshox critic I knew was won over…plenty of travel, stiff, not nearly as heavy as they were reputed to be and any shortcomings in the damping department were easily upgraded away.

Plus a trained Chimpanzee can service them.

Clutch rear mechs?

Maxle style front axles? Solid, secure, makes the fork stiffer and still an easy tool-less operation to remove the wheel. (Then Fox ruined it by introducing the 15mm version 👿 )

Northwind – Member

How about… LED mountain bike lights. Practical, affordable, durable, effective… Can’t think of a single person going oh! If only I still had my HID!

Road lights for that matter, don’t see many people using DD-cell Everreadys any more.

Ah the days of being the envy of friends when you had two Everready DD cell lamps on the handlebars madly flapping away.

Shimano DX pedals or DMR V8’s or whatever the first platform pedals with pins in were

And before them, pedals.

Wonder Lights FTW!

Not really!

+1 for old Pikes. I have some newer Sektors and they just dont feel right like the Pikes did.

Aheadsets are a mixed blessing; Strong, simple, light and ideal when changing forks over but having your forks fall out and faffing with spacers when you want to adjust the stem up a wee bitty is a tad annoying.

QR wheel skewers were great on early rigid mtbs due to the frequency of pinch flatting.

Flashing LEDs becoming legal and therefore more widespread has brought significant benefits in battery life and making cyclists instantly recognisable as a group to other road users rather than just another steady light in a sea of vehicles.

Pedals.

The nut that holds the handlebars

Bearings?

The modern bushingless chain?

Onto page 3 and no mention of the original Z1 Bombers? Suspension that actually worked (even if it was a bit heavy)!

Air in tyres….the only time you hear folks whining about air in tyres is when there isnt any

Vee brakes were ok too iirc

Vee brakes were ok too iirc

They were an improvement in stopping but a backward step in terms of mud clearance. I can’t recall any time in the 12 years I was running cantilevers that my wheels stopped turning because they were clogged with mud whereas I’ve had that experience many times with v brakes.

original z1 bomber

Yes – just thinking that! Think it was about 97ish….from elastomer Judy’s to the Z1 was literally incredible

I was going to suggest that all the “universally welcomed” innovations happened to come from before the time of internet know-it-alls.

But I have to admit that modern LED lights fit the bill, so that theory’s blown.

They were an improvement in stopping but a backward step in terms of mud clearance. I can’t recall any time in the 12 years I was running cantilevers that my wheels stopped turning because they were clogged with mud whereas I’ve had that experience many times with v brakes.

I doubt mud clearance is ever an issue for the 99.99% of people whose bikes have v-bakes though.

Cartridge bearings for me.

A joy relative to the loose bearing numbers. Same for wheel bearings, headsets and anything else that contained the slippery spherical blighters.