Bar ends – OK, so some people use them, but the fashionistas have driven them underground. They just work. They make a huge amount of sense for lots of riding, and can’t really see why people don’t use them more! (Disclaimer – No bar ends on any of my bikes. Oops.)

All my bikes have bar ends
i ride them to be comfortable not to appeal to some notion of the fashion police who are now busy being fleeced and conned into getting buying 29 ers and 650 b….Am i really meant to care what those folk think

I miss empty trails – you need crap weather to find them these days

Lots of wide, flat (or nearly flat) bars around now

this. As forks have got longer bars have got flatter to keep the front end at a rideable height, none of this 2″ rise monkey bar action today.

Gee atherton.

Pretty flat, and no reason why that bar couldnt be completely flat and the minimal amount of rise accommodated in the stem. Keith Bontrager used to rage against riser bars as a retrograde step (any bent tube is weaker than a straight one) but began making and selling them as that’s what the market demanded.

^^^ are you sure thats Gee 😕

amongst other things looks to have a lot of hair.

I agree tho, flat bars have always been best

^^^ Thats more like Rachel Atherton!!??

A Wolf Guard !

– Grease ports! I know there’s still the odd one to be found, but they are rare because manufacturers don’t want to encourage positive maintenance to make things last longer…(the Pace RC80 being a good example)

– Pace Cycles. They have been very quiet the past year or two..?

– Rock Lobster frames on Merlin. Why no more, they were fantastic?

^^^ Proof! Flat bars give you moobs………… 😉

I rode for ages with a frame pack shouldering thing though, and also a bum bag.

Same here, and thinking back that was a pretty good way of carrying a few smaller things compared with the sweaty backed, over loaded joy that a “Modern” camelbak brings…

I’ve been trying to minimize the amount of crap I lug on my person and finding ways to place stuff on the bike more… A nice triangular frame bag would look awesome on my 456 I reckon…

Ron Hills.

“Zak Tempest” 🙂

Oh, and mtb races where you could have a few beers and be silly with your mates without being vilified.

Dynamos – surely it’s time for a comeback.
(I know Exposure do one, but I wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for looking at Mike Hall’s kit list)

Swinley Forest 😀

^^^ Thats more like Rachel Atherton!!??

I thought so after I posted the link, blame google images, and the point about the bars stands 😀

frame packs have made a come-back thanks to all the long-distance/multi-day events that have taken off. I can see a new version of the Hite Rite working, but the Flexstem was an abomination, unless you like riding with a bike that feels like its broken. The SoftRide cost as much as a sus fork, too.

Go on, tell me I’ve posted a pic of Carol Vorderman instead….

Happy news! THUMBSHIFTERS are alive and well. And I bought a triangular frame bag/carry pad last year.

Most of these things are still out there. I think a some people on STW just like to complain about how ‘useful things aren’t available now’ and ‘The Industry is forcing us to buy blah blah blah….’.

Try looking for the things you want instead. or do you then risk finding them? And realising that some things are best viewed through rose-tinted lenses.

flex-stems indeed!

Brahma Bars, a bar and bar end combo all in one !

Any one even heard if them

Here’s one that probably does not work well. Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure of riding one!

The original Z1 bomber – still the plushest and best forks I’ve ever owned, every one since has just involved a lot more faff…

I remember brahma bars, or possibly a cheap raleigh equivalent. The concept was so useful that variants only seem to be available for ‘trekking’.

trekking

german trekking

extreme trekking

bingo

still not quite the thing though….

Any one even heard if them

pretty much a bar, bar end and tri bar combo. Ahead of its time and ugly as sin.

The original Z1 bomber – still the plushest and best forks I’ve ever owned, every one since has just involved a lot more faff…

Lovely Tim – always lusted after some of them

All my bikes have bar ends
i ride them to be comfortable not to appeal to some notion of the fashion police who are now busy being fleeced and conned into getting buying 29 ers and 650 b

I’ll have you know that my next bike will almost certainly be a 29er, and I’ll be putting flat bars and bar ends on it. Mind you, my next bike is probably a long way off.

I’d go for the 44 RC3ti

Haven’t been able to fault them yet. Plush and reliable, superb damping. Not made any more (I picked up the last two sets in the country from Windwave)

Purely by accident my new wider bars are also ALOT flatter haha. 25mm rise I think. or 20mm.

Singletrack mag iPhone app

Oh no wait, that’s never worked I’ll try again – threads about bearings

Strangely the mag app has started working for me after 5 months 😆

i have to admit that i never owned/tried any of them,but i have always lusted after all of them. i know that kona have re-issued the explosif now,but it’s 27.5″ and it doesn’t have project two forks.

why the hell don’t gt start to do the zaskar again too (the re-issue doesn’t count as it was ltd edition)i mean have it back full time in their bike line up (just the frame only,that would be fantastic).

if gary klein also made a comeback (no chance) and made a modern version of his adroit/attitude e.t.c (with disc mounts) up to date aluminium tubing e.t.c but still with the over sized rigid forks and those awesome paint jobs.i would consider selling one of my kidney’s to buy one* 🙂

* metaphorically speaking

another bar similar to the brahma

(looks like old stock)

well having perused the rose tinted nostalgia fest, I’m fairly happy with my modern mountain bike and the kit on it 🙂

If we’re doing nostalgia, recently I’ve been riding my ’92 vintage Dyna-Tech metal matrix whilst my susser has been out of action – pretty much the same frame as Barry Clarke etc. rode back in the day. It’s kitted out with rather modern kit though – 8 speed gears 80mm sus forks and a front disk. Non-compact chainrings though. It rides like a bike.