tech / kit – Whats changed in 4 years?

So last bike I bought is 4 years old now. I’ve hardly used it, in fact it’s only been on proper singletrack once in the last two years, kids and running / road biking are to blame.

Anyhow, I used to be a total kit whore, changing cranks, wheels or brakes at the blink of an eye. I could recite the shimano groupsets in ascending order or price etc. Now I know nothing really, but I am interested in getting back into mtb with a move to Yorkshire and wondered how much the tech has moved on

So this is what I have, 2008 Sram X9, Avid Juicy 7 and Hope Pro 2 wheels. I changed the forks to fox F120s. How much of this kit is now old hat? The changes from 2004 to 2008 were quite obvious, have things moved again or plateaued

just put ‘evo’ on the end of everything and you’re up to date 😀

Through axles (both ends) and an extra cog at the back are the main differences. Maybe one or two less rings at the front.

Damping might be a bit better, depends what model of fork/shock.

Some people have bigger wheels now, the jury still appears to be out on those though.

I’m sure your bike is still great anyway – apart from the Juicys of course 😉

yes, had noticed lots of 2 X 10 threads on here.

Uppy-downy seatposts have arrived and have by now become approximately acceptably reliable.

The general trend for handlebars to get wider, stems to get shorter and head angles to get slacker seems to have continued.

Juicy 7s are nice brakes but Elixirs are nicer. The pads on Elixirs are easier to change than Juicy pads.

Fox have probably changed the damping in their forks at least once a year for the past 10 years, but each year they say their damping is now perfect, so it’s hard to say whether it’s actually improved. 🙂

Pro II hubs still seem to be pretty good, unless your frame requires a funky rear axle, in which case I think the Pro IIs have a fairly poor reputation – the Pro II Evo probably fixes that.

I was going to say apart from uppy downy seatposts (which are hardly a massive step forward in tech) not alot has really changed.

650b has appeared on the scene as (yet) another wheel size choice.

Everything has gotten more expensive!

Not as such as the marketing would like you to believe