bigyinn – Member

Rule #1 Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

Action have consequences, some of them unforeseen.

Rule n: you are able to purchase a bike/tyre/fork/saddle/brake/dog/watch/washing machine/hoover without first asking the internet.

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

I wrote the first set of rules for mountain biking in 1983. I had recently attended the national cyclocross championships, where some guys just showed up with a bike, while the reigning champion showed up with a half dozen bikes and a crew to match. He used different bikes for different conditions on the course, with his crew shuttling bikes back to the pickup points. The unsupported riders didn’t have a chance against this degree of organization. It was more a demonstration than a competition.

I wanted to level the field for mountain bikers, so an amateur rider had the same chance as he factory rider once the race was on.

So… No support on the course. If your bike breaks, repair it yourself or walk. That’s what REAL mountain biking is like.

Road racing has all kinds of rules restricting what the bike can be, but I wanted to encourage innovation, so my “equipment rule” was that a bike in a MTB race must have a working brake. Otherwise, if it rolls, you can race it.

Those were the two rules for riders: no mechanical support, and your bike must have a brake. All the other rules in the initial package had to do with the promoter’s responsibility to the riders, e.g. course marking, settlement of disputes, etc.

The rules were simple enough that someone had to mess with them

He used different bikes for different conditions on the course, with his crew shuttling bikes back to the pickup points.

where can I get me one of them? Light weight small geared short travel for the ups, heavy sticky tyred slack bike for the downs, sorted hardtail for the flat bits and a flyweight rigid SS for the hike a bike sections 🙂

Rule 10000.5, Sub section 6, Para.C:

Builders Bum Crack is not acceptable on Rides. Do what you like at home, be mindfull that when riding the cyclist behind you doesn’t want to see your hairy crack.

How about, thou (shortcut) shall not buy mavic wheelsets, then moan when they inevitably fall apart and the proprietory parts that make them up take months on back order?

They were pretty poor to be honest. Back on hope hubs now. Your crank bros pedals aren’t much better.

Shimano pedals now (2nd set of CB’s failed, and I binned the rest).

Rule number one should have been: If it’s made by Crank Brothers and contains moving parts, kill it, kill it with fire.

just read your forum rules DavidB, brilliant mate, very observant.