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Zose krazy Chermans.
oh if i knew then what i know now. . . ... . .. . oh hang on i say that about girls too
I watched it and I didn't find it funny at all. As someone who has always preferred the gravity assisted part of riding I can assure you those guys were mainly pretty skilled. You really have to ride the bikes that were available then to realise that. I think that hill is a lot steeper than it looks, look at how the riders who crash can't help running down the slope as it's pretty steep.
Remember, there werent any downhill, slalom or jump bikes. No disc, v or even Magura hydraulic rim brakes. Toughest rim were mavic 281 (IIRC) which were just wider XC rims. Or you could use touring rims. Tyres were generally 1.95 in width. I used Ritchey Z Max tyres when they came out in a 2.1 size. Spesh did a 2.5" Ground Control Extreme tyre but they were pretty rare and they wouldn't fit in the chainstays of most bikes anyway. Quill stems,'single stem bolts, 25.4mm seatposts, 28/38/48 and 12-28 7sp cassettes. Brakes were the worst, I saved up for some black XT2 cantilevers and some Scott Matthauser blocks, which took 2 hours to set up with impossibly low straddle cables and close to the rim blocks.
Suspension? Forget it. Bikes were generally made stiff stiff stiff! Even wen suspension came out it was terrible. I had some UK made Shocktech forks with 50mm of elastomer travel. Elastomers crumbled into dust, no damping. I did the dual slalom at the Malverns Fat Tyre Festival on a fully rigid bike with flat BMX pedals and Vans Old School trainers on. I don't remember anyone else using anything other than SPD's!!
Also remember the downhill courses still had a lot of pedalling in them, so you needed your seat up.
It was genuinely very very scary. I dont get as scared nowadays, it's all so much easier I suppose. I can guarantee that pretty much anyone who has taken the mick out of that video has no idea what it was like and probably wouldn't even be close to some of those guys if on a similar bike.
I'm laughing & I've been there & raced DH on those bikes. I was the last guy at the local races still on a rigid bike, though I pulled the barends off & raised the stem to the limit line. Didn't help much, but I was never DFL.
Smart.
Fair play to the riders - some of those stacks hurt.
Plus ,the straight was steep.
I don't think they pre rode the course either.bonkers.
Ta for the vid.
This one gets me.
I think the video makes the terrain look easier than it is - that straight descent is probably quite heavily rutted, which is pretty scary at speed on a rigid.
As for the clothing, don't forget that in '92 people were wearing cycle shorts as casual clothing 😯
Fantastic!
Watching that I've realised that my riding technique is still firmly set in 1992 🙂
I have belly laughed in the office and now my boss is not happy with me....but showed him the vid and he said he would fire me if I wore stuff like this today!!
Awesum vid......absolutely insanse reminds me of long summer days on my Raleigh Apex fluro green onza barends and saddle all the way up.....and a Girven Flex stem for suspension....I thought I was the nuts!!
Loved every second - hilarious!
Also reminds me that I too wore purple lycra and did a few downhills on a steel Hard Tail with "big travel" forks (about 50mm) and the latest "V" brakes.
(I fell off too.)
I watched it and I didn't find it funny at all. As someone who has always preferred the gravity assisted part of riding I can assure you those guys were mainly pretty skilled. You really have to ride the bikes that were available then to realise that. I think that hill is a lot steeper than it looks, look at how the riders who crash can't help running down the slope as it's pretty steep.Remember, there werent any downhill, slalom or jump bikes. No disc, v or even Magura hydraulic rim brakes. Toughest rim were mavic 281 (IIRC) which were just wider XC rims. Or you could use touring rims. Tyres were generally 1.95 in width. I used Ritchey Z Max tyres when they came out in a 2.1 size. Spesh did a 2.5" Ground Control Extreme tyre but they were pretty rare and they wouldn't fit in the chainstays of most bikes anyway. Quill stems,'single stem bolts, 25.4mm seatposts, 28/38/48 and 12-28 7sp cassettes. Brakes were the worst, I saved up for some black XT2 cantilevers and some Scott Matthauser blocks, which took 2 hours to set up with impossibly low straddle cables and close to the rim blocks.
Suspension? Forget it. Bikes were generally made stiff stiff stiff! Even wen suspension came out it was terrible. I had some UK made Shocktech forks with 50mm of elastomer travel. Elastomers crumbled into dust, no damping. I did the dual slalom at the Malverns Fat Tyre Festival on a fully rigid bike with flat BMX pedals and Vans Old School trainers on. I don't remember anyone else using anything other than SPD's!!Also remember the downhill courses still had a lot of pedalling in them, so you needed your seat up.
It was genuinely very very scary. I dont get as scared nowadays, it's all so much easier I suppose. I can guarantee that pretty much anyone who has taken the mick out of that video has no idea what it was like and probably wouldn't even be close to some of those guys if on a similar bike.
And here Rob in 1993.... 😈
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4832989081/ ]GT3[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4832989359/ ]GT4[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4833597140/ ]GT2[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
Are those my Kona Equilibrium & Propulsion tyres you've nicked there?? 😉
This one gets me.
haha, that one's good. So many faceplants.
GT2 by PeterPoddy, on FlickrAre those my Kona Equilibrium & Propulsion tyres you've nicked there??
How is that last one not a pinch flat!?
Hob Nob - MemberThis one gets me.
Looks like they're having a right laugh 😆
I am so glad I wasn't into riding then. It's like someone tipped a cyclocross race onto a hefty angle.
Great stuff. I think that is pretty steep just by the way people are walking/jogging down in that tiny step way you do when its steep. Good to see some white onza porcupines!
I guess a lot of people here have never ridden a rigid bike, never mind a rigid bike with 19" bars, 15cm stem, high saddle and canti brakes. What year did Steve Peat win the downhill on a rigid Kona, must be 93 or 94?
robdob- don't forget the Panaracer Dart SC 2.2 - one of the first big tires. It was damn good too, well, better than a Smoke.
God I'm old.
How is that last one not a pinch flat!?
Very tough (And heavy) tyres those old Kona ones. Blackwall too, when everyone else had skinwall. I was using Spesh Ground Controls at the time becasue they were lighter. Campag rims, too!
[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/4833596644_4e01ebaf9a.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4833596644/ ]Kona4[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
My bike...
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4832985861/ ]Kona1[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
🙂
no pedals either in those days PP - you woz nailz.
lol, goes to show some people clearly have no idea what bikes were like back then! That long straight though heavily rutted downhill is a lot steeper than you think - BIG respect to all the riders for having the balls to ride it at speed - the brakes back then were shocking! BIG respect also for bouncing off stuff and jumping up and getting back on the bike only to find a bit of bike bent - those impacts were big!
seriously, riding steep angled frames, 130+mm stems, 20" bars with bar ends (because that was the way) with seats up (because that also was the way, and even DH races had flatish pedally bits), 1.9" tyres pumped up HARD, 'suspension' being at best 30-40mm of rubber bungs and only really at the front... with even the best brakes at the time giving you arm pump just from one corner is not easy!
[b]Those riders have WAY more skills than most of todays 5" fulls sus riding wanna-be's. [/b]
Amazing video, thanks for posting, LOL quite hard. 😛
needed cheering up this morning - thanks for posting the video. 😀
I would find it highly amusing to put a 'typical' modern day mtber, who has only ever ridden with suspension and disc brakes, on groomed trail centre trails, on an early 90's bike, and see how they get on.
What I find quite worrying is that I seem to ride like these people with suspension, disk brakes and a short stem 🙁
I have to say I don't think the riders were any better than today's, possibly a bit harder, you just got on with the bikes as they were the best available at the time and you knew no different.
5min 18secs in there's someone riding a flouro green and black marin...my first 'proper' mountain bike, being abused in much the same way mine was (fashion and riding wise)
...with much the same outcome 😀
Fab vid!
Hilarious on all counts; couture, crashes and some of the riders' hissy fits 😀
Minds are willing - bike technology isn't 😉 Never seen so many buckled wheels!
I watched it and I didn't find it funny at all.
Chill out ... nobody is saying that they dont have skills, just that its funny ( in a morbid way ). Whats wrong with looking back and having a laugh about how it used to be. Its pretty clear that the ground itself is extremely loose dust and dirt ... I dont think modern bikes would fare much better in those conditions to be honest.
Fair play to the riders that jumped back up. They were good spills at speed.
such a great vid! love it, minimal padding, maximum balls out style!
lovin the lycra colours too!!
That takes me back!!
My first DH race I had suspension.....a 130mm(long) flex stem!!!
I think i still have it somewhere..if anyone would like to recreate the event I could organise a hill, strictly retro bikes??
Bangin on
I think i still have it somewhere..if anyone would like to recreate the event I could organise a hill, strictly retro bikes??
If you do that......surely clothing must be pre 1995...maybe updated helmets!
I will record it and retire on the winnings of my multiple entries sent to You Been Framed???? 😆
I still have spotted orange shirts and shorts of the period too. What say we set a date?
I could lay my hands on a courier comp, an Orange Prestige and very early P7 so this could be a goer
I think I still have my 1992 Limar helmet, with fluoro mint sauce stickers somewhere. Ironically, with pisspots back in, it probably doesn't look as bad as it did. Still got my 'moab sunrise' Giro Hammerhead SC somewhere too!
Anyone got Tomac style drop bars and Tioga disc going on still?!
I have a 1992 Kona Cindercone 🙂
hahah what a cracking video, were bikes really that shite back in the 90's? admittedly i woudlnt want to fly down there on a fully rigid bike at speed, but if these guys were pro's in the day surely they should have been better riders 😆 again it may just be a fun event, but some of them look too serious to be just doing it for fun...
i don't think they were pros at all - looked like a local race.
'some of them look too serious to be just doing it for fun...'
Have you looked at some riders you come across these days???!
haha 😆
good point i guess.....
i didnt mean serious as in clothes etc, i meant serious as in 'i dont care if i die WHEN i fall off' types.....
the terrain really doesnt look harsh at all for modern day bikes, so i can only guess its solely down to shite bikes in the 90s 😆
those couple with rear wheels with covers on, i remember pepsi doing a bike similar to that in 90s 😆
truly shocking
I can see an evening of bidding on e-bay for the inagural 'riding HT rigids down a steep hill while dressed as prats championship' being down tonight......I wonder how much a raleigh 1992 :lol:Apex goes for on e-bay??
Aaah... Halcyon days. Proper downhilling. Non-technical (relatively!), steep and f-a-s-t.
None of this namby-pamby slow technical drop-off rubbish.
Makes me want to dust off my old fluoro Alpinestars Al-mega, along with non-hardshell polystyrene lid (fluoro helmet cover de-rigeur) and show the youngsters what it's all about. Or not.
a workman cant blame his tools ..but in this case............
.......and fast forwarding to more recent times 😀
Blasphemy! That my friend was a Tioga Disk Drive, objects of immense desire back in the day, if only for the noise they made.those couple with rear wheels with covers on, i remember pepsi doing a bike similar to that in 90s
Great vid....but did anyone pre ride the course at all?!! A lot of the riders don't seem to know what's coming up at all! Or is that because the bikes and brakes were so gash, ie, they couldn't stop?
i think the more you watch it, the more savage it actually looks as a hill, i mean some of them were hitting it at speed, and ok bike may be stronger/better made now etc, but a couple of completely bent wheels, handlebars completely smashed/bent over, and the way sheer amount of times people obviously crash on the same bit, they cant all be rubbish riders, they just clearly dont care about crashing, they are travelling at some speed on mega rigid bikes on probably quite rocky steep stuff with shit brakes, no grip on rock hard tyres etc etc....
i actually really like that video, some of those guys are 'well hard' just get up and want to carry on!
invisble hats off squires!
What year is that first clip, later than 1990 as one of the guys was riding an RTS GT...unless I've lost a few year sthey didn't arrive til after 94..
Cracking vid, that hill is steeper and nastier than it looks.