Things you’re no longer allowed to like in mountain biking

Thankfully I don’t think any young people from poorer backgrounds come to this forum looking for advice. I’ve been told twice in the last few months I’m obviously not riding challenging terrain because I don’t own a sufficiently modern bike.

Who knows what would happen if a youngster pitched up on here asking what trails they should ride on their 4th-hand hardtail from the mid-00s.

Ploughed fields.

“Tricked Out”…. does anyone do this now?

There was a time when a dash of purple Ringle skewers, an Atac stem and a garnish of white onza tyres made you the coolest kid on the hill. It was as if we were not happy with the tech (for example canti brakes are dreadful), so would buy things that made no tech difference, but somehow elevated the bike beyond an off the shelf.

Modern bikes are fine off the shelf. My 2021 Specialized got a saddle swap, and some comfier grips. But the grips are the £100 Rev grips… so maybe “trick” is still with us.

@tomhoward Yes you do, and your bike looked amazing when you visited ST towers. However the upgrades seemed to be functional. Needs more purple. 😉

I nearly bought a deore 1×10 chainset the other day. Then I remembered how heavy my 11 speed cassette was so I stuck to my 2×9.

I’ve been told twice in the last few months I’m obviously not riding challenging terrain because I don’t own a sufficiently modern bike.

Yeah, see that all the time. Utter shite.

The strange thing is in the 90s we were riding the same bridleways on rigid 26 inch bikes and we didn’t die.

I want to take my shitty old Diamondback Traverse down the blue at Fort William, I don’t think I’d be proving much TBH.

This kid obviously liked riding his bike and didn’t like obsessing about his bike.

It’s like the difference between folk who enjoy listening to music and hifi geeks. For one, the music is the experience but for the other it’s just a vehicle.

I’ve been told twice in the last few months I’m obviously not riding challenging terrain because I don’t own a sufficiently modern bike

Meh, you want to try being “overbiked” to really attract sneering snobbish comments from the riding gods.

…you’re no longer allowed to like… mountain biking… because… gravel bikes! #BiteMe

Riding my Five though I’m not sure you were ever allowed to like them on here.

Love an Orange 5. Obviously you’re not allowed to like them as they were too popular. I’d have another.

Don’t care – I’m gonna continue doing my thing which is basically good old fashioned trail riding on what ever trail I happen across. I shall continue to do mountain bike racing mainly stage races in different places all of which involve riding up hills and shall also continue moan about people on e-bikes, trails with jumps that have holes behind them and anything else I can possibly get grumpy about.

I do quite like a 120mm trail/xc bike though (is that downcountry?).

WCS foam grips 🙂 Loved them

My name is RT and I’m still riding a 2000 Spesh Stumpy HT.

🙂

PS XT Rear mech conked out today… only been on the bike for nearly 20 years…. rubbish kit.

PPS Good job I had my old faithful triple chainset 😉

@towzer

Although I never had an active/cycling family to share my adventures – I still do what I’ve done since a kid getting his first Raleigh, ie go out and explore from the door, throw in some road climbs, some rough stuff, coastal paths, fields, bridle-ways, towpaths, mountains, woodland trails, moorland, whatever comes my way. Stop to smell the wild garlic/pet the horses/marvel at tadpoles etc. And my bike is still rigid with cable brakes (but with bigger wheels these days).

In short – still like pushing self/single-speed up big hills just to see what’s over the other side. Essentially the same peanut butter sandwich wrapped in tin foil, same tap-water in a bottle. Also still have my first Nike ‘bum-bag’ – it’s just that the waist doesn’t match it’s 1990 counterpart

I blame crisps and beer/pub-stops. A welcome (if unwise) addition to my bikexplorating.

No need to revolutionise, just need to tweak the ratios from time to time…