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Just having a moment...
My era is... Back in the day of Pace being the kings of cycling, everyone wanted an RC200, purple was the weapon of choice, Saracen was great, bunnyhopping was a skill, Mint Sauce was a legend, purple bolts were mandatory, renthal bars were aspirational, SPD's were new but amazing, smashing pumpkins 'Disarm' and pearl jam were our outlet and on Fridays we'd drink white lightening and cop off with, well, anyone, but we'd walk them home afterwards.
... Is there anyone here from that era, or am I alone?
I shouldn't need to say how old I am, if you aspired to owning anything owned by USE then you are.
You are not alone
No I sound far too old.
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I have an Saracen E stay from back in the day in bits in the garage. I'm pretty sure there's some purple bits. It even sure action at the Malvern Hills Classic.
Isn't everyone here "from that era?" The odd few that actually ride bikes that is.
No I sound far too old.
Drac, if you're serious you've missed out.
Drilling holes out of the chainset on your GT Tequesta to save weight, cutting down your bars, listening to binary finary while out with your mates who are a mixture of cyclists, in-line skaters and and skateboarders all totally mushed, at 2am around Torquay seafront, ready to get back to whoevers house at 5am and then continue the night?
THAT was cycling 😀
RC200 ?? you youngster!
I had a RC100 that replace my Team Marin and my Offroad Proflex ( with a flexstem 😀 ) when they were stolen.
Bought from Paul and DT at Stif's original place in Granby Street in Headingley.
The Pace had the Yellow bullseye cranks, Campag mechs and the original Hydrostop brakes and renthal bars, it was no 248 made.
I loved that bike and selling it was the worst mistake i have ever made! 🙁
Xlite ti canti bolts in blue annodised cups.... From Dave hinde....
puts up hand - yep i'm here.....
at least i think i am.....
#standsup# ok you found me.....but my experience makes me faster! :))
I had a girvin flexstem and a use suspension seatpost!
When I swapped my 1994 Canondale M500 with Pace Rc35 for an Exposif Pro I got the deal of the century, but still, nothing on earth was as light as my Cannondale!
And yes, X-lite ruled, bar ends were king ....also we had manners and although we would have a stab at anything that moved, we were gents and prided ourselves on getting our ladies home safely.
We were a bunch of Scott/Saracen/GT/ riding nerds, but I can't help but think we had something that no-lone else will discover, and this generation I see on STW, although in the main a decent bunch, are missing out....?
My first bike = Saracen Tufftrax 1987. Graduared on to decent stuff shortly thereafter.
OP you are not the only one worthy of mtb repsect on here.
Bula hats for slalom gate markers, isn't it? Wasn't it?
Is there a Date or a year to this ?
First MTB- Dawes Tracker in 1986. Exage Country Trail gears , Biopace Chainrings, Reynolds 501 tubing.
And it was a 21".
I was apparently going to grow into it.
I was 12.
26 years on, I never did grow into it.. - I now ride a 17.5"..
a few months before you got into it grantway 😎
Piemonster that bike is a thing of beauty, bring back crazy Flouro paint & panaracer smoke tyres!
[s]I've still got my m400 btw its in pretty good shape!
Drac, if you're serious you've missed out.
Of drinking white lightning in the park, no I think not. Did most of the rest though.
My first decent MTB - orange clockwork circa 1990 - it confused people as it was actually black! Handle bars so skinny they had one grip cut in half & shared between both ends.
Side mounted cable runs had a tendency to nip any passing exposed skin.
Bloody kids.
[i]Bula hats for slalom gate markers, isn't it? [/i]
That reminds me, I never did manage to get an Etto helmet...Jez Avery had one and I wanted one so I could ride like him 8) 😉
I was cycling in TQ from 15 onwards, I got my explosif pro in cack black resprayed in a turq blue and cycled back 10 miles with the frame over my shoulder and build it into my dream machine. I even got Kona Stickers that said "Kona Custom", which back in the day was a big deal!
It had a mixture of Suntour XC Pro and XT on it and chicks went mad for the groupset and when I table-toppped off Torquay seafront onto the beach!
It was the best looking bike in the SW and I sold it to someone random for £580!
Full Sus was something for...well, nobody's..!
Drac - ModeratorDrac, if you're serious you've missed out.
Of drinking white lightning in the park, no I think not. Did most of the rest though
Don't go all middle class on me!!
I had a dale m500, what a horrible ride. Looked good in the red white and blue. I am nearly 38. First proper decent bike kona explosif splatter paint job and track 2 forks. Dabbled with flex stem...
Only just retired some pink/purple Onza bar ends.
Ned Overend, Missy Giove and Dave Baker were hero's and we all wanted a Piranha necklace!
Walkers stopped you and chatted, amazed you could get a bike "up here".
Happy Days
In an age before anodising, at the dawn of Lycra I was still wearing Fair Isle.
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Don't go all middle class on me!!
Nope just too old.
Drac - ModeratorDon't go all middle class on me!!
Nope just too old.
You miss it though?
Being young not really, I turned 40 a few weeks ago and just love be another generation.
It was the best looking bike in the SW
I disagree.
Darren Tapp's GT's were always blinger than anything anyone else had.
I'm in! Good grief, this thread takes me back to the days when I used to long for the latest mag. to be published, long before the internet was easily accessible. First pair of spd shoes, Santini fluoro tops,Pro-circuit Racing at Thetford-was it really that long ago? Staring retirement in the face now.
Still riding my pace rc200, hence user name, my mate still has his orange p7 in purple with purple rims and rock shock judys painted purple.
The older we get the better we were!
My paper round income wouldn't stretch to anything by pace etc. almost saved up enough for a girvin flexstem once. I had to make do with and entry level diamond back whose forks had paint coming off near the top with stress from all the nose dived landings.
White lightning on the other hand was well within budget 🙂
[i]First pair of spd shoes[/i]
Found my first pair in the garage the other day...
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I had them SPD shoes too ^^
Always wanted an RC200, never got one though. Quite fancied an LTS too.
I had a Marin Attack Trail (still going strong) single pivot, coil sprung. Riding with mates on their Specialized Ground Control and Orange O2.
No purple, but I had (and still have!) Azonic World Force riser bars, they were the dog's danglies, everyone wanted some.
I remember elastomer forks, I had a setof coil & elestomer X-Verts, mates had RST 461s, better than 381s but not as nice as Mojo Pros, other mate had Z4s.
.
Actually I was the first person at school to get a full-suss (that Marin) It had disk brakes too. When I turned up on it I might as well have arrived in a UFO, no-one could quite believe it!
Bum bag, no helmet?
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I had a flex stem on my Saracen and aspired to a Klein Attitude (remember Dave Hemming riding one in the DH worlds the same year Tomac competed with drop bars)..
Yep, Saracen Traverse was my 1st mtb, found an old pair of farmer johns in the loft!
My first was an '88 Rockhopper but it's the Team Marin in purple and (so bright it can be seen from space) green that I kinda miss.
Always aspired to a Yo Eddy in aqua-fade & still do really, just not found one in decent nick for sensible money 🙁
Didn't the sun always shine, all summer, even in the Malverns?
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Proper Ground Control tread on the hat. Nice.
Drilling holes out of the chainset on your GT Tequesta to save weight,
Ha! I knew a bloke that actually did that. And his was a GT too. Was it you?
Used to ride BMX then got a GT Timberline in 1989 that got nicked at uni in Newcastle. Replaced with a Trek 970 and we did the NEMBA races that had a downhill then a xc race on the same day. Good times, but no different to today really, just much more capable bikes.
As for SPD shoes, I had those white with multi coloured splatters ones by Caratti. Only chucked them out a couple of years ago. They were, err, lush.