MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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What about the DCD?
What about the DCD?
Second post in the thread
What about the DCD?
Second post 😉
Not sure who did the originals, but I bet there aren’t many MTBers of a certain age that haven’t had their shins torn apart by bear trap style pedals.
*Looks at shins and weeps
22/32/44 & 11/28
Honest question, why is the Flite Ti iconic for mtb? It was the late ‘80s replacement for the Selle Italia Turbo for road bikes. I have three originals on road bikes, but can’t see why it is iconic off road.
why is the Flite Ti iconic for mtb?
Because it was the saddle to have. Light, comfy, titanium. I still have an original too but mine is more Araldite than Sella Italia
Fair enough, but nothing says mtb like a pair of vintage thumbies. And probably a Thomson seatpost. Things I think of as being mtb-specific.
Curiously, my Flite Ti saddles have almost the identical profile and fit of my Brooke’s B17 narrow.
Agree with the Smoke/Dart and most definitely the short cage Xt rear mech. The rest are all good but are innovations/improvements of some great kit. The tyres and mech (for me) are definite icons and not just changed the ride...people did aspire to those rest was all good but we're more bragging rights than out and out improvements (all my own opinion and no doubt disagreeable to many).
Flite saddle, no question. I still have one on 4 of my bikes, they fit my backside better than anything else.
DCD for wonderful pointlessness.
Rob Warner Base Jump pedals, terrible grip, ripped your shins to bits but everyone had a pair.
Z1's, finally forks that worked.
And if we count frames as a component, then the Pace RC200 has to come into the mix.
Naaw, that club roost bar was the first aftermarket upgrade I ever bought (mine was lime green, 630mm felt mega wide!) Luckily I didn’t get carried away with upgraditis....
Looking back, the bikes themselves were significantly limited compared to today's offerings but I think the style and aesthetics were just as good. Some of the components above are just classic designs, visually.
Here's another beaut..
Rob Warner Base Jump pedals
Never heard of em! We went straight from clipsnstraps to spds
Magura HS33 for those without disc brake mounts.
Disc brake mounts? Unless they had a set of Z1s, you must mean "those without disc brake adaptors"? 🙂
I think the z1 is a total classic though, set the bar for forks that worked. Not that I got it at the time - like most of the rest of the MTB community, I was worried about the weight of them! z2s were my second fork though, after a year of Rockshox Judy's that died a total scratched up anodizing death despite 6 monthly services.
Biopace rings and the can of oil that quenched your chain while on the devils staircase
Flexstem
Club Roost bars
Syncros Casttleprod stem
1.9 Fire XC tyres (Red Walls only)
Magura HS33 for downhill performance
Flite Ti saddle
RS Judys
Those Pace forks that exploded if you looked at them.
Dave's Chain Device
Saddles are bike components not MTB components. For me it's anything from Onza, anything purple anodized or anything that said Deore XT on it, particularly the shark fin because as a skint 17 year old it was the cheapest way of getting XT on my bike (I'd blown my budget on DX STI shifters).
The original manitou fork...
As said earlier:
XT Thumbshifters
OnZa L-bends
Panaracer Smoke 2.1
And the original Grip Shift. Not because it was good, but for what it spawned. Eventually turned into SRAM who then drove the biggest shift (geddit) in transmission to bring 1x shifting to the masses and some huge changes to frame design and stiffness.
Easily the RS-1 for me.
Kona sex too just for the name or Cove bike names, i wonder if anyone ever went into a bike shop to enquire about a hand job
And the original Grip Shift. Not because it was good, but for what it spawned. Eventually turned into SRAM who then drove the biggest shift (geddit) in transmission to bring 1x shifting to the masses
Get where you're coming from, yeah.
and some huge changes to frame design
Well, minor changes really but still with you.
and stiffness.
Eh?
Well, not a hand job, but I've still got a 21 inch (Cove) Stiffee. A very, erm, rigid frame.
And I still use one of these - the iconic and very functional rollamajig
Many of my fond memories have already ben mentioned but these two spring to mind:
Even though I was only a lad (and therefore didn't have the cash for Ringle, Syncros or even XT) I seem to have owned a lot of these 'icons'.
Porc and Ground Control tyres
Onza Ski Bends
Club Roost and World Force Bars / Stem (cheaper Azonic)
Flite (still got)
DCD (rubbish)
Shimano Thumbshifters
Judys
Purple Ano USE seatpost
I also remember Rob English (of English bikes fame) getting hold of a second hand Ti Flexstem/Bar combo - as a schoolkid that was so droolworthy.
For me though, in terms of what I wanted most (and I think an icon must have something special about it, rather than just being great at what it does like XT shifters or mechs), must have been the Tioga Disc drive - just for the rumbling sound alone (but also the association with Tomac and the pics of him flat out with one on the back).
and some huge changes to frame design
Well, minor changes really but still with you.
and stiffness.
Eh?
Look at something like a Nomad/Bronson/Megatower/HB160/Rallon etc. All designed with 1x in mind and the carbon versions will be way siffer than carbon bikes of previous generations. I have a 2008 Giant XTC c1 hanging up in the garage; carbon, 3x9, Fox F80's and flexy as a flexy thing at the BB
I still have ( fake ) beartrap pedals on my retrobike. Love them.
Grafton speed controller brakes
Top line cranks
GT RTS frames
Pace RC130 (gram bars)
Bit late to the discussion, these were posted earlier and for my generation it’s these that stood out by a country mile as “the” components to get hold of:
Onza bar ends.
Porcs.Proper Thumbies.
9 speed XT Triple.Salsa qrs.
And I'm going to add anything by Syncros to the mix.
Obvs this is an age related thread.. but I also remember Bionicon with the front/rear suspension angle alteration device..
I only had stuff like that ^ on my Marin TeamTit (which got nicked from a XC event in Cannock) so I bought one of these.. and whilst not in the components per se’ the bike itself has become iconic..
It's not that old, but this was iconic in that skint students like myself could actually be able to ride with disk brakes!
Got to be Z1s, I still have a pair from the nineties, awesome things. outlasted many frames. That and D521 rims. Brilliant and like the Z1s I still have a perfectly functioning pair of them.
+1 for RS7s
Hope torque arm that allowed the use of disc brakes on non-disc frames.
I first used this on my Proflex 856 which had Pace RC35 forks. I also had a clamp-on adaptor to fit a front disc caliper...
I still have the brakes, fitted to a Club Roost VCV frame and the forks, fitted to my '95 Zaskar LE.
For a time in the 90s, every bike I built had:
Answer ATAC stem
Hyperlite bars
Mavic M231CD rims
Other stuff came and went. I suppose I’d say they were iconic.
Worst ever purchase was some Grafton Speed Sticks. Lusted after them, but the spacing between rings was out by miles, and they creaked like a gate.
ditto Cook Bros cranks. Cool but the opposite of stiff.
I never managed to get a set of the roller cam brakes that joemmo posted.
Still wouldn't mind a set for one of my retro bikes.
Onza chill pills, pointless “upgrade” for rubbish brakes went with my xlite bar ends, DCD, crud catcher and gripshift on my Raleigh M-Trax, shouldn’t have let the old hope ti hub go with my old commuter/hack bike though.
Got to be two parts from the Pace Rc100. The Bullseye cranks which were basically hollowtech years before it became a thing. Secondly the headset and one piece stem and steerer which you tightened via a nut under the crown was an early predecessor to the aheadset. Quite an innovative bike really.
I've had most of what has been mentioned, and the one thing that changed my riding overnight was a Hope C2 front brake.
Was one of the first to get a disk brake and remember the people who saw it comment how crazy it was to have a push bike with hydraulic disks. Had a V brake on ceramic rim at the back, until I got a frame with rear tabs.
Those were the days ;o)
USE suspension seat post
Crud-claw, never could align it properly and wore the plating off the cassette
Flite titanium saddle
Club Roost riser bars
x Lite bar ends
Rollamajig
Any 135 mm stem
Michelin Wildgripper, impossible to wear out
Chain eye device to stop the chain dropping off the inner ring.
The first Lumicycle halogen lights, brought night riding to the masses even though I could only afford the vistalite cheapies with a mahoosive lead acid battery.
I still have an assortment of these in my spares box
Onza octopus tyres
I use to like my C2's they were the ones with the adjustable knob on the reservoir the only Hope brakes i've ever liked. I've had most things mentioned on here, Ringle seat post, hubs & water bottle cage that used to scratch the crap out of the water bottles, Chill pills, RockShok Mag 21's
Was given an immaculate late model Sugino disc wheel (Tioga makers) last week. Won't true perfectly so will probably break it for the rim and hub:(
Lumicycle nimh gets my vote too. still use mine.
Surprised no one's mentioned the Crud Claw yet
For me:
99’ Bomber Z1 Bam - the orange ones with blue top caps
Magura Johnny T hydraulic rim brakes
Hope C2 (the silver ones)
RS Judy SLs (the yellow ones) - although they weren’t very good compared to the bombers
The Kore stem that virtually all decent GT bikes had
Azonic Shorty Stem
Shimano 636 clip in pedals (the red platform ones)
GT Lts
Marin single pivot full suss bikes (B-17 in white with red triple clamp rsts on were the ones I saw the most and really craved)
Proflex FS bikes
Klein hardtails in wild colours
Cannondale Super Vs
That reminds me..
Dual crown sids 🙂
For components I'd say white porcs.
If we're including bikes it has to be a San Andreas, not just for the bike itself but also for all the kit that was on it.
Honourable mention to Tioga Revolvers.