You loved those bikes because you were young and impressionable and the magazines told you to.

Hey, slow down there. I’m still impressionable and buy stuff because magazines say it’s awesome.

After having a go on an e-mtb earlier today for the first time … I will have to say 2020 because I will be getting an e-mtb very soon.

Proper exciting times for mtb-ing in 2020

After having a go on an e-mtb earlier today for the first time … I will have to say 2020 because I will be getting an e-mtb very soon.

Proper exciting times for mtb-ing in 2020

Hmmm, to paraphrase the Lion King (I have 2 young kids, so sue me 😘)

“If this is where MTB is headed, count me out!
Out of riding, out of shorts – I wouldn’t hang about…
This shit is getting wildly out of hand.”

Before anyone slates mooman for being lazy his name is absolutely plastered all over the sharp end of Strava round here!

got to be year 2000ish when dh bikes started getting alright fs and Anne Caro was racing dh.
CRC used to be super cheap too with free postage and next day delivery

2002, freeride changed me and my riding

It’s now, the bikes just keep getting better, and there are more and more places to ride.

E bikes will revolutionise mountain biking,like disc brakes did, like suspension did, like dropper posts did, like better geometry did etc etc.

I got my first mtb in around 1995, a rigid claud butler, used to ride it round the peak. Then it got nicked in around 1999, and I didn’t replace it until 2007, when I bought a 150mm travel full sus specialized enduro. Everyone on here said I would be terribly overbiked, they were wrong it was awesome.

your last lot of pics from GMG was probably my most exciting period of mtb.

Can’t really peg anything really. MTB now seems even more about the equipment than ever, and I say that as a massive gearwhore. Plus it’s all ridiculously incompatible. I’ve got an emtb with plenty of squish, dropper and all that shit. It definitely goes faster than my rigid 26 SS, but wouldn’t say it was more fun. If I was forced to choose, it would be the mid 2000’s, with the Collective, Roam and subsequent stuff proving how far away from being a good rider I was 🙂

Now – bikes with sorted geometry.

Entertaining content on line and mags like Singletrack still giving us a decent print mag. E-biking seems to be a white male thing but other than that there seem to be a lot more families or mum / dad and… riding. Seems to be a healthy gender balance. Ethnicity still seems to be lagging. Trails are coming on in, well, leaps and bounds. Good grass roots advocacy and development work.

Although for the reasons Ton mentioned earlier the late 80s early 90s were good. Late 90s – for the trail centre riding. Early noughties for the steel hard tails – thanks to Cy and Brant. Seemed to me full suspension at this time was still for the most part emperors new clothes.

No doubt there’ll be some idiotic trend that will pull the whole thing off course but for now it seems pretty sorted.

Now – bikes with sorted geometry.

people keep going on about this, but I’ve never ridden an MTB and thought ‘you know what, the geometry is all wrong’….

I’ve never ridden an MTB and thought ‘you know what, the geometry is all wrong’….

Try going back to an old school cross-country bike with a steep head angle and 100 mm stem.

people keep going on about this, but I’ve never ridden an MTB and thought ‘you know what, the geometry is all wrong’….

Have you ridden any new-ish bikes with longer geometry?

It’s become very popular because it genuinely works better for a lot of people.

people keep going on about this, but I’ve never ridden an MTB and thought ‘you know what, the geometry is all wrong’….

I rode a 2005 Kona hard tail recently. Christ it was utterly awful. And yet, I suddenly remembered all the shit things that used to happen all the time. Like OTBs and washing out front wheels on every corner. Also it was nearly impossible to.keep the front wheel down on climbs despite having a 130mm stem.

Have you ridden any new-ish bikes with longer geometry?

Nope, but I’ve never noticed any of the things listed, eg OTB, front end washing out of lack of climbing etc; but then XC racing was always my thing, so maybe it’s less applicable.

Nope, but I’ve never noticed any of the things listed, eg OTB, front end washing out of lack of climbing etc; but then XC racing was always my thing, so maybe it’s less applicable.

I had exclusively 26ers until 2015 and I thought they were brilliant bikes but the 29ers that I replaced them with really are leagues better. I’ve been riding the same trails for 20 years and i can now do stuff on my pure XC bike so much faster and more fluently that the same trails are just much more fun. It is shedloads faster even on twisty stuff despite larger heavier wheels, because the geo has been adjusted for it and the bike is so much more secure.

I mean, bikes are being developed all the time, so why wouldn’t they be better? Why should you settle on one particular year as being the best?

When I rode those 26ers I though they were fine and I had no idea how.much better things could be. Nor did anyone else.

“exciting”… would be 98-2000 for me. The influence of Cranked and Sterling Lorence’s pics plus early days of 4X, was an inspiring mix. Orange Z1s on small HTs that jumped and did XC. I had a Chameleon with z1s, 1×8, 60mm stem and Azonic bars and riding seemed to be all about jumps and drops, yet they were mostly pretty modest compared to what goes on now. Still did plenty of XC on that bike, riding from DH to DH. Clearing reasonable sized jumps for the first time at the KIS Cranham track (Graham Foot’s spot, so many riders owe him a lot for that), riding local DHs and XC loops the same day, abusing my bike figuring out street DH runs, etc. I found my limits sooner than I hoped to when it came to the big jumps but what it did for my XC riding stuck.

Edit to add, in hindsight I guess this might have been the prime time for 26” too – when hardcore HTs were as much a 4X bike as an XC bike or North Shore wannabe bike. Bigger wheels didn’t really add much to that type of bike, or hardcore HTs changed to be FS rivals rather than DJ/4X rivals.

It’s now, the bikes just keep getting better, and there are more and more places to ride.
E bikes have revolutionise mountain biking

This pure and simply

other than that there seem to be a lot more families or mum / dad and… riding

That would be one of my arguments for now – it’s much more accessible than it used to be. Even young kids can enjoy places like Hamsterley (my eldest loves The Loop and has attempted much of the red routes).

I used to think it was the early days of the sport – when you could turn up to a race and do the XC and DH race on the same bike.

However, in the last few years I’ve realised that it’s much better now – trails are better, bikes are miles better, and there are great places, like Wind Hill and Revs, to ride.

JP

footflaps

Member

people keep going on about this, but I’ve never ridden an MTB and thought ‘you know what, the geometry is all wrong’….

I have. But more often than that I’ve ridden something different and it’s made me realise what my current bike could do better. I literally never had a good ride on my original Scandal 26 after I testrode a Soul, frinstance, because up til then I just kind of accepted all the things I didn’t like, whereas afterwards I knew I didn’t have to.