What's your favourite bit of retro MTB technology?

Remember all those adverts in black and white in MBUK in the early nineties for ill thought out technology that you would order from someone's house?

My particular favourite, the nard gard – a bit of foam in a pouch that you straped to your (quill)stem to protect your nads if you slid along the top tube.

close second, Wedge packs that you put in the join of the seat and top tube to pad your shoulder for when you had to shoulder the bike and run in an XC race (not a bad idea, but when doubled into a bag full of tools it became a little pointless).

Also Power grips -diagonal strips that went accross your platforms to make them kind of toe clips but without the toe bit.

Arrr the good old DCD – Daves Chain Device.. never had one but always wanted one, and for no apparent reason!

PowerGrips are still big with the Fixie winkers… so they can wear their cool rad charity shop hipster tosser shoes.

DCD- weren't they made by Pete Tompkins AKA Mr Crud?

EDIT – Oh yes, it says so on the side 😳

I'm afraid I've used Powergrips a certain amount for touring when I want to wear hiking shoes rather than bike shoes.

Gotta be the Hite-Rite. Much like a gravity dropper, but not £200, and made of wire. 🙂

DCD- weren't they made by Pete Tompkins AKA Mr Crud?

Yeh, along with the crud catcher that was also pointless

The original Mk1 rear Crud Guard, with the alloy stays that fixed to rak mounts. None of the newer ones are anywhere near as good, and the MK1 is neater too.

Hite-Rite seat adjuster

EDIT: beaten to it by bigdummy!

Girvin Flex Stem.

I was going to suggest the Ging Chain Device that I have sat in my box of tools; it's a DCD but faaaaaaaaaaaaaar more bling! I also have one of the original rear crudcatchers, and one of the original fronts, love it!

Cable disk brakes

I liked the bad-english ads by Taiwanese brands such as "Sameness".

davidtaylforth – Member

Yeh, along with the crud catcher that was also pointless

LOL @ the KIA!

I remember a friend with a girvin flexstem and Rockshox on

I tried to sell strips of pipe lagging cut and painted as mounts so you could fix your watch to your handlebars.

-Only to my mates you understand, I wasn't brazen or old enough to put an add in MBUK.

Only sold three

I remember a friend with a girvin flexstem and Rockshox on

PMSL the mental image of trying to ride anything like that is hilarious.

My Gary Fisher A1 had a pump built into the seatpost, kinda cool that!

Crud Claw.

Again a Pete Tomkins invention IIRC.

Where can I get myself a high rite, my mates will wet themselfs.. (quite used to seeing me trying out a homade answer to a problem that doesnt exist)

off for a google..

tinsy – Member
Where can I get myself a high rite, my mates will wet themselfs.. (quite used to seeing me trying out a homade answer to a problem that doesnt exist)

Hite-Rite

Isn't the patent on the Hite Rite about to expire? I think I read somewhere that Hans Ray or Greg Herbold was about to relaunch it.

Wedge packs that you put in the join of the seat and top tube

I had one of those!

On my pearly white Courier for shouldering it up stupidly steep hills on Lakes epics.

[misty-eyed] Those were the days… [/misty-eyed]

Wedge packs that you put in the join of the seat and top tube

I had one of those!

On my pearly white Courier for shouldering it up stupidly steep hills on Lakes epics.

[misty-eyed] Those were the days… [/misty-eyed

I bought one to try recently… 😳

PeterPoddy – Member
The original Mk1 rear Crud Guard, with the alloy stays that fixed to rak mounts. None of the newer ones are anywhere near as good, and the MK1 is neater too.

+1

…and on the subject of chainsets I had biopace rings on that Courier as well…

My memory is hite-rites were good. If relaunched, no doubt it will cost £££ 😡

I had Biopace too, almost literally a case of reinventing the wheel.

Raleigh Dynatech M-Trax Diablo DX

Steel and Ti in a perfect heavy harmony.. still wanted one

Sharkfins and teeth

Crazy chainstay mounted rear brakes!

Thanks for posting that, great memories.

Suntour thumbies anyone?

My memory is hite-rites were good.

I tried to use one relatively recently. I think they don't like modern low-profile seatclamps. My reckoning is you'd have to integrate the spring and the seatclamp. Once you've got a QR seat-clamp (possibly with a re-desgned lever to make it easier to get at between your legs as you're riding), with a large steel spring and a clamp attached to it I wonder whether it's going to be much nicer than a gravity dropper. 😕

BD they came from the days when manfacturers CBA welding seat clamps on and they worked well – nearly as well as adjustable seatposts. I have one I have been meaning to fit and I suspect it won't work as well with an alloy seat clamp.

EDIT: my point is they're bever going to be as good as adj s/posts, but they are way better priced.

Mine simply wouldn't work. I think that was an Inbred frame and On-One clamp, but it might have been a 2000 Kona. Agreed, the difference is the separate clamp rather than those nice big knobbly ones. Pity. Good luck anyhow.. 🙂

Didn't Giro do a three part threaded bottle that could be dissasembled and swapped with friends to make different colour combinations?

Onza HO clipless pedals that used elastomers to "tune" the release tension and offered 2 different float settings with a 90degree turn of the cleat..
Chainstay mounted U-Brakes.
Suntour XC Pro thumbies are still some of the best shifters I've ever used.

Suntour XC Pro thumbies are still some of the best shifters I've ever used.

Nah that's your memory playing tricks with your mind, thumbies were in fact; shit. Fact. I couldn't believe how well rapid fire worked in comparison.

U brakes, girvin flex stems and Scott AT4 bars. Mine used to have lots of lights strapped to it for night riding in the late 80's early 90's. 😀

Yay! I had AT4 and then upgraded them to AT4 pro's. AW5UM5