Pretty sure i’ve still got an original dvd from back in the days when I watched mtb videos.

Thank Christ for dropper posts, and short stems, and wide bars, and grippy tyres, and decent brakes.

Ahhh that’s great – it was videos like this and reading the early issues of MBUK that got me into cycling in the first place..

Things were so much simpler then – no worrying about dropper posts, full suspension, boost, tyre combos, electronic shifting, etc

just rock up at your local race with a bike and go… 🙂

I think this is why gravel biking is taking off because it harks back to a time when things were simpler

I got into MTB just as this era was coming to a close (1999).

To watch videos like this from the lense of the present really shows the ‘off-road roadie’ roots of the sport.

Fascinating and hilarious in equal measure.

Takes me Back!! I still have a ridged Diamond Back in the garage roof collecting dust. And brakes, what brakes!? Even with all your fingers pulling back you couldn’t stop in the wet!

Quite amusing.
Ahead of its time with the balance of male & female “presenters“!

6.23…the first Sick bike!

That was the first MTB video I ever got. Think it was a freebie on the cover of MBUK. Still got it somewhere and my Mum still has a video player.

I still roll like that.

Yeah, if you get rid of those comfy arm chair forks!

disappointing video title. was hoping those old gates would explode

Still riding one of these every day to work. Quite nice I think. Mine is 1996 though…

Was hoping for more titanium Konas.

Things were so much simpler then – no worrying about dropper posts, full suspension, boost, tyre combos, electronic shifting, etc

Magazines were still just as full of bollocks, people just obsessed over different things.

& no Dez an 80mm Fox doesn’t feel like a Judy DH.

Those forks are like BoXXers compared to some old Marzocchi XC51’s 😂

I was still at school in this era and remember dreaming about owning a Kona Lava Dome. I bought one a few years back and it came with those forks on it, I remember hurtling down Smith’s combe on the Quantocks on it wondering if they were going to snap before I made it to the bottom.

I swapped them for some Project 2’s not long after that!

Some dodgy advice in that film. Saddle height and pressure washing your bike at close range!

I’m considering going back to 9 speed.

Some dodgy advice in that film.

Even for the period! At 6:30 he should have turned the wheel before rocking to see if the headset was loose.

Happy days though 🙂

£30000 video camera lol!

I’m considering going back to 9 speed

Nine speed’s as far as I’ve got.

I doubt I’ll ever have as much fun as I had back then on mountain bikes. 93 was just about when I would have bought my first mtb. An Emmelle Classic. I worked at Charlie Browns and they are about the best bikes they sold back then! Lol

Then the regular Sunday morning rides started in earnest. No matter the weather, no matter how bad your hangover was. We would ride to an agreed point on the North Downs near the Medway Towns and then just ride till there was a reason to just have to head for home. Much delight was always had if someone had a niggling mechanical they just couldn’t solve. Nothing bad enough to ruin the ride. Just annoying. A randomly dropped chain would fit the bill… particularly if it happened to a rider that took such things far too seriously.😆

Learning to maintain the bike, the fact that every trail was new to us and riding with a bunch of mates that had just come into the hobby as well. I remember being well chuffed when a mate gave me his cast off Kevlar bead Smoke. I owned a FOLDING tyre! I don’t think anyone I rode with used anything other than Smoke or Darts.

Halcyon days.

I suppose I am remembering that time of my life with huge fondness as much as the biking. The biking helped though…

These early days of riding ensured that even when I didn’t have a bike for years at a time I always knew it was a pastime I would return to as I was a “mountain biker.”

The only other hobby that had ever grabbed me like that was metal detecting.

I’ve learnt that the common denominator is the countryside and the friendships made in both of those pastimes.

Happy days and thanks for posting op.

Yes indeed… whole days out in the countryside, every single weekend without fail, no matter what the weather. Arguments with my mate that we remember fondly now, cos he’d planned too long a route and I had a cold! Or cos we’d laughed at a crash the other had had, where they’d actually hurt themselves.. 😂 Wonderful times.