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I think it was somewhere like 2008?
YMMV but in my mind that was the end of purely functional bikes , and into the shareholder upgrade cycle*
I note a few of my less faddy mates holding onto bikes from that era. Me too, a rockhopper. HS 33 though, yikes
How about you?
*sic
Oh I could add I also have a Yeti AS-R and 575 from about that time . And I used to have a MK1 Blue Pig too, which was a little later but was also a bit of a throwback in many ways
Late 90s for me - when Marin properly nailed the cross-country full suspension bike and disc brakes where becoming main stream.
Marzocchi bought out the Z1 Bombers (are derivatives) which were so much better than anything else on the market at the time.
And then there were the fabulous Mavic Sunset rims...
I thought the question was going to be about when the scene was best. If the question is when were the bikes best, the ancer is undoubtedly now! (Though most people are over bikes - a 170mm FS with mazzgrip Assegais might be the fastest in a steep Enduro, but dragging it about day to day isn't fun!)
The question is about whatever you want it to be 🙂 but I was talking bikes I guess.
I build the Blue Pig on NOS 321 Disc Ceramics, but those sunsets looks cooler
I thought the question was going to be about when the scene was best.
I thought that too but it depends on which "scene" you're referring to...
In the late 90's, XC MTB was huge. I remember some events being so oversubscribed in the Sport category that they had to split the field and have two races (each with 150+ riders)!
XC died off quite dramatically but 24hr racing was big for a while, the days when folk would download the Mountain Mayhem entry form at midnight and cycle or drive to Pat Adams' house at 5am to be sure of getting an entry!
Then that died off a bit but gravel is now big...
It just goes in cycles (no pun intended).
Same in road - road racing has died off massively, Sportives were huge for a bit and are now just ticking along at a sustainable level, maybe some folk have transitioned to gravel...
Bikes - now
DH racing - also now
DH racing coverage - a few years ago
Now. No matter what kind of riding you enjoy. I'm ignoring racing... I think it's increasingly a separate thing from "mountain biking" these days... and I can see why many people miss the days when you'd be racing the same course as the pros, often on the same day.
With my rose tinted glasses on 2012. Reality 2025.
mmm... interesting one. I'd say it has to include tubeless, as pre-tubeless is a bit old-school (even though I still run tubes). Reluctantly I guess it's the 29" era, in which case it should be a bit more recent as geometry really improved after about 3-5 years of 29ers being a thing, and suspension really stepped up to the next level.
But pre-gravel, and pre "90% of blokes at trail centres riding Ebikes". So what's that - 2017-2019?
Even though my preferred MTB era is 26", disc brakes, 2x drivetrains and the like - so about 2007-9.
For me it's when a decent* full-sus bike was available at non-silly money.
My '94 Cinder Cone was used for everything; XC, days out, DH races etc but was compromised by being a hardtail with elastomer forks.
My 2001 Stinky could genuinely do everything (not well compared to modern bikes) I wanted to and it didn't cost too much.
Every bike since has improved on the Stinky but in smaller and smaller ways.
So turn of the century for me.
1997.
Sometime when folk were happy to ride over wet leaves.
When Kranked 2 came out. About 2 years after Z1 Bombers were launched which was no coincidence. '98-99?
I think it was a sweetspot of media-inspired aspirations and skill reality not being too far adrift, bikes being good but not silly levels of tech/£, and it all still feeling relatively new and open as well as there being quite a few of us riding in any area, making trails etc.
I had a size L Chameleon with Z1s, Azonic bars and Kujo DH tyres, 1x8. It was an all-day XC/trail bike one day and did the jumps (they were a lot smaller back then) and DH runs another day. 80s MTB used to cover the whole range between XC and DH so that wasn't a new thing and you can get way better bikes that cover that range now, but it felt like the 'jumps + trails hardtail' thing was the first 'peak fun MTB' era.
Now. Been riding mountain bikes 30+ years and current bikes are bloody brilliant, even crap ones. Little local scenes of building cool tracks is better now than it ever was, trail centres, uplift centres/bike parks, pump tracks appearing all over the place. Best of all I still ride with mostly the same people I did 30 years ago.
Bike-wise, now but starting late 2010s for me. By then we had LLS, droppers, tubeless, 1x with a useable range. Most bikes were much better than they had been 5 years previous, now they're a bit better than 5 years ago, but really not much. Riding-wise I'd say now as well - so much variety in riding now.
Scene-wise. Well mid- late 90s was surely when it was at its cultural peak.
I enjoyed the 2010s era, I dropped out of uni, spent the last of my student loan on a second hand 2009 Specialized Pitch with the U-turn forks, adjustable from 100-140mm travel, rode 3 or 4 days a week whilst unemployed, looking for a job. Scouring youtube for low quality vids of local trails which always had mr brightside as the song choice, the coastal crew were taking off and so were scott voltage bikes, I enjoyed it all the way through to around 2015 when specialized dropped the first levo, I bought a 650b specialized enduro that year and still ride it now, I definitely felt there was more than just a shift around then from MTB being a fun pursuit to becoming something else.
Nowadays trails seem bombed out, the old school trail fairies are no longer doing maintenance (Atleast near me) or building new trails and keeping them on the downlow/hidden to prevent the tiktok kids coming along and sticking a massive jump in the middle of it to take videos and get social media points. Speaking of social media, gone are the days of people just highlighting their local trails and riding spots, showing off trails etc, everything seems to be super wide angle canadians going at breakneck speeds off of 40ft northshore drops, berms getting blown out by schralpers and the rest just seems be a constant regurgitation of pulling whips and and seshing jumps.
I feel like MTB has gone from a collective of niche categories each with their own strengths and weaknesses, to a collective of categories of who can be the most extreme and out-do everyone else. And marketing departments have tried to capitalise on this with every new bike release including "confidence inspiring geometry" shpiel
Theres an old fart I watch on youtube, he just vlogs XC rides around north yorkshire, sometimes can be pretty boring, but I appreciate that fact because it's a slower pace and overall more enjoyable to watch, whereas watching somone like jono jones or tommy c hype in it's self is overwhelming showmanship and style points farming
In terms of (non E) bikes/tech I dont think anything meaningful has happened in about 5 years. Ignoring covid/evergiven shortages, I think you could buy everything on my trail bike in 2020ish, and I've got no desire to change or upgrade it.
But that doesnt mean that the subsequent years are worse, because all that stuff is still for sale, just that they have plateaued.
In terms of doing racing/events, I guess the ebb and flow are always going to happen, whether the type of event that fits your skill set and fitness and bike is popular may just be luck. If you love 24 hour racing or enduro or bike orienteering or having a single speed category in an XC race, I guess your options are more limited than in their respective heydays.
In terms of riding for fun, there is no way any time in the past could be better than now (or this summer, its wet and muddy right now); and next year will be even better. You just need to go to the right place on the right bike and that is easier than its ever been to acheive with more possible options to make anyone happy.
(Though most people are over bikes - a 170mm FS with mazzgrip Assegais might be the fastest in a steep Enduro, but dragging it about day to day isn't fun!)
You just haven't got enough bikes!
Too many peak years.
Probably 2011/12 on a Yeti ASR5. Barn stormin' bike for its vital statistics.
What @DaveyBoyWonder said!
I've had the good fortune to always live somewhere where there's good riding, and there's always been a bit of a scene - previously maybe more towards the xc/trail side of things.
However in recent years since COVID it just seems huge, particularly anything involving enduro tracks or jumps. Such an ace relaxed friendly vibe at all the spots I go to regularly, people of all ages and backgrounds having an absolute ball all together in the woods or on the moors or at the jump spot. It's brilliant.
Does there have to be just one "peak"?
I reckon there was a real buzz to he 90s as both the MTBs and the riding/racing were a bit new and novel. Early 2000 - 2010s everything had matured and the bikes were improving and events (both big and small) were a little more organised and less organised on the fly, plus the interwebs was making life easier generally, finding routes, places to ride, people to ride with etc...
Since then it's mostly been 'good' being an established activity has it's downsides now and both the creeping in of silly big-ticket bikes and "new-golfers" sometimes take the shine off, but that's not new.
I think MTBing (and bikes in general) follow the fortunes of wider society, while conspicuous consumption in gaudy surroundings are on the up shiny, overpriced bikes and sexy destinations are in the spotlight. As we're facing a bit of a global downturn I can see more scope for cheap thrills where Hipsters curating their bike-packing trip across Northumberland on a 90s MTB is still as interesting as Red Bull Swigging back-flippers to me, it's all bikes, it's all good.
Bike-wise I think around 2019/20, most things since then have just been tittivating an already great bike for marginal gains.
I think it's quite hard now to buy a bad bike at most price points (but still easy to buy the wrong bike!) and components are so good now that things just seem to work and keep working for the most part even at the entry level.
Scene-wise I don't know because I'm not really part of it/one but for the sake of argument I'll say around the same time because that was the last time I went to Morzine/PDS and it didn't feel too busy and full of people trying to be heroes.
I feel like MTB has gone from a collective of niche categories each with their own strengths and weaknesses, to a collective of categories of who can be the most extreme and out-do everyone else
To an *extent* I agree, or at least that's the most visible element ont socials. There was an article about Matty Active on here a while back, saying as much - that something is being lost (to gravel?) in the relentless sendification of the sport.
However
Sends are in fact a lot of fun. Fun to do, and fun to progress with - even if you don't ever get beyond mid pack mincer level like I am.
As I've got older and slower at xc riding, progressing my jumping or other technical riding skills is actually still something I can work on and see progress.
2018, just before my first child arrived 🙂
All day rides in the peaks, leaving at the crack of dawn, getting home washing the bike, dinner then bed are absolutely not a weekly thing for me anymore!
For the UK I reckon there was a really good spell around 2014, 15, 16 when the bikes were really getting good, there was still a pretty varied racing scene, entry level bikes and £1000 bikes were better than they'd ever been. UK enduro was still really doing its thing and being exciting and driving stuff forwards, kickass national series (plural) and EWS rounds, and more and more people embracing offpiste riding and such- like, none of that was new but it was becoming <normal>. A bunch of this stuff really started earlier but this was kind of it coming to fruition I think.
I know people look back fondly on the early days but I just always remember why I stopped. I'd go back to the riding world of the 2010s in a heartbeat but you couldn't drag me back to the 90s or 2000s, no thank you.
Biking (for me) has never been better than 2025. Bikes are fabulous, and the trails are just out of this world. I’ve been biking for 30 years, but have never enjoyed it as much as this year.
Full disclosure - I’ve mostly ridden my e-bike this year, which means ive ridden about 3 times more than any other year. I struggle to see a downside.
The thing is, mountain biking was different in the mid 80s. A great day out was the Purbeck hills from the sandbanks ferry, along the cliffs and barrows to corfe then back through the forest and heath. Fully rigid, 15 gears and you could still get away without sun screen. I loved it to bits and it was peak MTB at the time for me.
For me the next peak was the mainstream arrival of disc brakes, made super techy riding really fun and possible
Lastly the advent of light, reasonably priced full suss bike. For me the fsr120 was just bonkers good, I could ride somewhere like Torridon all day, it was easy to carry and I could ride everything I wanted, go fast enough to scare myself and still feel good at the end.
And it didn't make the Purbeck hills a slog or boring, I could put slicks on it and ride a col in the Alps.
I guess it depends how old you are and what exactly you're idea of a good day out is
Now. Bikes are great , eBike to help with getting older and me and my mates can afford more holidays.
I think it was somewhere like 2008?
Good, ****ing lord, no...
I'm not even convinced we've reached peak yet... And I've been riding since 1990...
I had a very interesting conversation at the Malverns Classic last year, whilst working, when a 3 decade long hero of mine came up to me and just started talking to me, and it ended up being 10-15 minutes of a 2 way reflection on just how much better Mountain Bikes are now than they were back then, and indeed have ever been... And that knowing how good modern MTB's are, and in particular eBikes, if he had to go back to those retro bikes from the 90's he'd, in his words, "give up and take up running instead"...
The industry legend in question...? The one, the only, Hansjorg Rey!
Coming back to the point... Yes, there is (and almost always has been) too much marketing bollocks around, and there's too many vested interests in planned obsolescence... But almost everything is better now than it has ever been, from tyres to geometry, suspension to drivetrains. We're just starting to see gearboxes genuinely challenge the established (and highly vulnerable) derailleur setups, especially on eBikes where they make even more sense.
Culturally...? Yeah, I'd argue we've passed the peak... I visited the FoD Pedalabikeaway centre the other weekend for the first time in about 8yrs as a rider, and my god things have changed! I used to frequent the place regularly, but it has definitely become more of a place to entice the families and the new riders in (not a bad thing) than a place for well seasoned riders to go and take a number of different trails in... I'm not a snob by the way, just have definitely noticed the trail centres are appealing more to the newbies and families than seasoned riders these days, as have some of the bigger MTB events too... Which, I guess, is where the money is, and they are businesses after all.
There are other things that I do miss, for sure too... When a "Mountain Bike" was just a Mountain Bike, and everyone rode together pretty much (even the sadists on singlespeeds!)... These days the fragmented visions of what actually makes Mountain Biking what it is to various different people, mean there's soooooo many different sub genres that according to the marketing men, never the twain shall meet! Thankfully, that's not fully the case (I'm off out tomorrow with a big group for a pre xmas ride, there will be full power eBikes, SL eBikes, unpowered conventional MTB's too) but riding has definitely splintered somewhat... I need to ask "what's the plan" before any ride with mates these days, so I can choose the most suitable bike to ride for said occasion... So I know I'm a part of that problem too... But... I still maintain that the bikes themselves are soooooo much better, and we still haven't reached the peak yet!
And then there's the Elephant in the room that is "Gravel" riding, which, let's face it, is just the MTBing we did back in the 90's that has gone through a fashion makeover to appease those predisposed with a love of lycra and deep section carbon rims...
So there's definitely an argument that the culture was better some time ago, as is often the case when such fringe hobbies mature... But I'd argue it was sometime before 2008 myself. The height for me was probably not long after the start of Singletrack mag and the forum, back when the 24hr races were absolutely everything (whether you were interested in racing them or not, they were the pinnacle of sociable MTBing in the UK at least)... I remember STW forum meetups for rides where we'd have to split into 4 or 5 groups (each still with upwards of 12 riders in each) with forumites meeting blind but then forming real life friendships to counter the anonymity of their internet personalities! But then I look back on the riding I did as a kid in the mid 90's too, with my mates, when none of us could drive so we'd ride a 20-30 mile round trip to get to the trails, and ride 15-20 miles off road too, fuelled only by Ginsters and Wine Gums purchased from petrol stations... And I'm sure the likes of Charlie Kelly, Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher, Ned Overand (no, not Ned actually, he's made FAR too much money out of the scene and off his former friends' backs) would argue that the culture was best back in the Repack days, when the bikes were as rudimentary and unsuitable as they could possibly be almost, but the scene was pure and undiluted...
Anyway... Enough of my musings...
For me probably somewhere around 2016-17, before geometry got too LLS.
For natural riding I think the peak is now - the local scene near me are building amazing trails. And places like Cannock are full of brilliant off piste stuff.
For trail centres - the scene was definitely better 10-15 years ago. Funding seems to have disappeared, and so many are looking old and tired, and getting destroyed by ebikes straight lining all the climbs.
I'm liking the thread
Mid to late nineties for me.
For natural riding I think the peak is now - the local scene near me are building amazing trails. And places like Cannock are full of brilliant off piste stuff.
Eh? Purpose built bike trails are now considered "natural riding"? When did that happen.
It hasn’t happened yet. Gets better every year.
I think it's today. Bikes are so good and there are so many places to ride.
In about 2004 I had a Merlin aluminium hardtail for my birthday. Deore, hydraulic brakes, coil forks. I think it was over £500. It still works. A similar spec bike would cost about £1,000 now, so that's not crazy inflation for 20 years if you want to keep that budget.
If you want an amazing trail bike that can be fun from a gravel bimble to a BPW black, you can get one. It will cost more, but it's better.
Balance bikes, shotgun seats and kids bikes are in another league.
If you want 20 year old tech and spec, you can still get one and it will cost a lot less.
My tubeless DD tyres never puncture.
My wheels never lose true.
There is so much riding. Trail centres, bike parks, overseas resorts are growing.
For me personally it'd probably be 1992. I was an MTB mad teenager and spent as much time as possible riding my bike, reading MBUK, hanging around the local bike shops and dreaming of going to The Malverns, dropping in to the bomb hole and hanging out with The Wrecking Crew listening to James. Genuinely felt like we were all in it together and felt the same.
Bike wise it's got to be post Charger Pike at the very least? Probably around 2020 before Covid whacked the industry?
Interest wise, who knows? Still plenty of kids riding around here, same for E-bikers. When was peak for racing (riders and crowds)?
For natural riding I think the peak is now - the local scene near me are building amazing trails. And places like Cannock are full of brilliant off piste stuff.
Eh? Purpose built bike trails are now considered "natural riding"? When did that happen.
How many trails have you ridden that weren't built by someone? How did the bridleways/paths in the mountains get there...