Eventually I stopped looking at all the things that potentially weren’t perfect with my bike and had a look at this young lad’s bike. The centre of his tyres had no knobs. The side knobs were just about visible. A trickle of fluid ran down the side of the fork leg from the completely knackered seals. I resisted the temptation to try his brake levers but I suspect just finding the bite point would have been a best guess.

Shanaze Reade quite famously rode something for a while that her Dad had found in a skip. There’s a few cases out there of riders who’ve gone onto great things using proper old hand-me-down POS bikes.

Makes you wonder what opportunities have been missed for people, especially kids from the “wrong side of the tracks” to make a decent career out of cycling if the systems were in place for them to be talent spotted and appropriately directed.

Peckham BMX track and Herne Hill velodrome (both of which are amazing examples of community) has helped a few riders out with loan kit.

Thankfully I don’t think any young people from poorer backgrounds come to this forum looking for advice. I’ve been told twice in the last few months I’m obviously not riding challenging terrain because I don’t own a sufficiently modern bike.

Who knows what would happen if a youngster pitched up on here asking what trails they should ride on their 4th-hand hardtail from the mid-00s.

Going for a ride and not ‘announcing’ anything about it within the social media world.

Ploughed fields.

I’ve been told twice in the last few months I’m obviously not riding challenging terrain because I don’t own a sufficiently modern bike.

Yeah this is something that is off in ‘modern MTB’. Makes it sound like you need a £5k rig to even consider yourself up to date and MTB is all about 60 degree slopes covered in breeze block sized rocks. MTB can look a bit bonkers in that respect but it’s not really how it is or no need for it.

Things I no longer like in MTB – the levels of tech considered necessary or normal in products, but also trails because the bikes have got so capable they’ve made average trails feel dull. It was mostly all just fine as it was a while back. Grumble, grumble.

“Tricked Out”…. does anyone do this now?

There was a time when a dash of purple Ringle skewers, an Atac stem and a garnish of white onza tyres made you the coolest kid on the hill. It was as if we were not happy with the tech (for example canti brakes are dreadful), so would buy things that made no tech difference, but somehow elevated the bike beyond an off the shelf.

Modern bikes are fine off the shelf. My 2021 Specialized got a saddle swap, and some comfier grips. But the grips are the £100 Rev grips… so maybe “trick” is still with us.

“Tricked Out”…. does anyone do this now?

*waves*

@tomhoward Yes you do, and your bike looked amazing when you visited ST towers. However the upgrades seemed to be functional. Needs more purple. 😉

The most recent one Here Has a great deal of unnecessary tat additional titanium bits bolted to it.

I nearly bought a deore 1×10 chainset the other day. Then I remembered how heavy my 11 speed cassette was so I stuck to my 2×9.

I’ve been told twice in the last few months I’m obviously not riding challenging terrain because I don’t own a sufficiently modern bike.

Yeah, see that all the time. Utter shite.

The strange thing is in the 90s we were riding the same bridleways on rigid 26 inch bikes and we didn’t die.

I want to take my shitty old Diamondback Traverse down the blue at Fort William, I don’t think I’d be proving much TBH.

This kid obviously liked riding his bike and didn’t like obsessing about his bike.

It’s like the difference between folk who enjoy listening to music and hifi geeks. For one, the music is the experience but for the other it’s just a vehicle.

Just avoid Pinkbike comment section, problem solved.

I’ve been told twice in the last few months I’m obviously not riding challenging terrain because I don’t own a sufficiently modern bike

Meh, you want to try being “overbiked” to really attract sneering snobbish comments from the riding gods.

Yep – MTBing now is where roadie-world was back in the 90’s / 00’s.
In Roadie-World, all the folk who had to get through the 60’s – 80’s with downtube shifters, tubular tyres, crappy brakes, 2 x 5 or 6sp, carrying headset spanners on every ride and navigating by unfolding a big paper map got proper grumpy at newfangled indexed gearing, brakes that worked, decent lightweight kit, carbon fibre etc so they felt compelled to begin every sentence with “in my day…” and turn into miserable sods.

Our local Tri club coach is like that. He complains every year that when it comes to winter rides no one else turns up on a heavy steel fixed gear bike and rides slowly – everyone just turns up on last years race bike – something aero, carbon and with deep section wheels and bangs out 100+ miles at 20mph while he struggles to hang on the back on his 1970s winter special fixie.

The world has moved on…

…you’re no longer allowed to like… mountain biking… because… gravel bikes! #BiteMe

Am I alone in nothing really changing

When I was a wee boy on a tricycle, me and mum(Raleigh shopper) would go out into the countryside/coast/etc with sarnies, crisps and a flask, bimble about, enjoy the tracks, view, animals, countryside and find somewhere nice to sit and eat and come home tired and happy. Mums gone but I’m still doing it just on a levo and I’m about 60 years older.

Riding my Five though I’m not sure you were ever allowed to like them on here.

100+ miles at 20mph while he struggles to hang on the back on his 1970s winter special fixie.

no wonder he’s complaining!

Love an Orange 5. Obviously you’re not allowed to like them as they were too popular. I’d have another.

Am I alone in nothing really changing

You’re not alone @towzer the tradition of a bimbling picnic is being kept alive with me and my family.

Don’t care – I’m gonna continue doing my thing which is basically good old fashioned trail riding on what ever trail I happen across. I shall continue to do mountain bike racing mainly stage races in different places all of which involve riding up hills and shall also continue moan about people on e-bikes, trails with jumps that have holes behind them and anything else I can possibly get grumpy about.

I do quite like a 120mm trail/xc bike though (is that downcountry?).

That’s a personal favourite. I usually reply with ‘better than being devoid of personality’.

Meh, you want to try being “overbiked” to really attract sneering snobbish comments from the riding gods.

WCS foam grips 🙂 Loved them

Things that you’re no longer allowed to like in Mountain Biking : everything that hasn’t just been released as a new product with the obligatory multi-channel gushing PR spaffed across the whole cycling media.

My name is RT and I’m still riding a 2000 Spesh Stumpy HT.

🙂

PS XT Rear mech conked out today… only been on the bike for nearly 20 years…. rubbish kit.

PPS Good job I had my old faithful triple chainset 😉

Also Superboost frames.

@towzer

Although I never had an active/cycling family to share my adventures – I still do what I’ve done since a kid getting his first Raleigh, ie go out and explore from the door, throw in some road climbs, some rough stuff, coastal paths, fields, bridle-ways, towpaths, mountains, woodland trails, moorland, whatever comes my way. Stop to smell the wild garlic/pet the horses/marvel at tadpoles etc. And my bike is still rigid with cable brakes (but with bigger wheels these days).

In short – still like pushing self/single-speed up big hills just to see what’s over the other side. Essentially the same peanut butter sandwich wrapped in tin foil, same tap-water in a bottle. Also still have my first Nike ‘bum-bag’ – it’s just that the waist doesn’t match it’s 1990 counterpart

I blame crisps and beer/pub-stops. A welcome (if unwise) addition to my bikexplorating.

No need to revolutionise, just need to tweak the ratios from time to time…

Mending things, until it’s properly worn out
Nowadays I like to spend five times more than I need to just to avoid the embarrassment of someone seeing my fettled repair that has been like that for two years!!