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A little typing practice and reminiscing about almost 30 years riding mountain bikes.
Let's see if I've got the history of Mountain Bikes right – and I'm not complaining.
At first there was, The Mountain Bike. Twenty-six inch wheels, if you were lucky 1.9" tires, thumb-shifters, cantilever brakes, and that was about it.
Next came Bio-Pace chain rings. Next the Scott UniShock and the Manitou elastomer forks. Headsets were still one-inch. Soon there was Ti replacement bolts and ano everything. About this time along came the Trek 9000 full suspension, and the Mountain Cycles full squish with disk brakes – DISK BRAKES?. Rockshox forks and suspension seatposts. You'd returned your Marzocchi fork for service dozens of times because it kept blowing seals. XT and XTR. Manitou sexy full suspension frame. YETI Cycles had ALL the top riders and made all their frames in the U.S. You wore glasses that had "Thermonuclear Protection".
A few carbon handle bars started to show up, Paul Components made really cool looking rear derailleurs that didn't really work. Cook Bros. cranksets and Klein frames with huge oversized tubesets and day-glow colors. By this time SPD had been around, but now there was Onza and a few others. There was a Tioga disc rear wheel and Shimano air shifters. Nine speed? Who needs that? Free wheels were gone and cassettes ruled. Chris King still pretty much only made headsets, and you bought your first Camlebak.
As uncomfortable as it was to pull on lycra shorts years ago, now you had to find baggies that fit and didn't bind up. Saddles started to appear that had "love grooves".
You ditched your HT for FS and looked for tires that were 2.1 or bigger. Air or coil fork? Thirty two, and now 36mm forks. FOX IFP tool, TALAS, motor oil in my fork? You bought a new frame that had bearings instead of bushings in the suspension and the cartridge style BB was gone. Bikes got bigger and heavier, and you didn't care. Four inch would really be plenty, but six inch! Bikes that looked like, and had as much travel as motos was what you dreamed of. Some company called SRAM thought they could rule the way Suntour thought they could years before. Seatpost dropper? Why would I want that? GoPro let you shoot yourself dropping that huge 12" to flat and post it on the web.
Four inch was too cross country and six or more was too friggen big! I want to be "All Mountain", five inch is the sweet spot. Who the heck are these crazy guy ditching their FS for 29" wheeled HT? Oh, that'll never catch on. Where will they get tires? Man, we need lighter bikes! Five inch travel, made of carbon, yea that's what we need! Oooh, the best thing since sliced bread… check out this cool anodized stuff, all the crazy colors, I'll bet no one ever thought of that?!?!? Thousand dollar 5" forks, $300 Ti springs…. Air is better, no coil is…. CCDB is the BEST! Oh wait, now they make an air version, that must be REALLY THE BEST! 650B? What is that?
Kids riding fixie street bikes with handle bars about 12" wide.
I envy that dudes ENVE wheels!
Time for a new bike. What? You only make it in 27.5 or 29? Oooh, but I can get a 5" 29er or a 6" 650B, so that's cool. Eight grand for a mountain bike that is "made in China"? Well I guess a $500k Ferrari is made "over seas" too?
Time to ditch that open framed XC helmet for a more "moto" looking one, but not full face.
Fat bike. I thought I already road a fat bike? No, that’s a mountain bike, not a fat bike. Huh, a heavy non-suspension 26" bike? Should I put 1x11 on it? Dude, that's so old skool, you need a 29+ fat bike! What about suspension though? No, that's why you run 4 PSI in the tires…. RockShox Bluto!
Hope you get out on your bike this weekend!
Let's see if I've got the history of Mountain Bikes right – and I'm not complaining.
At first there was, The Mountain Bike. Twenty-six inch wheels, if you were lucky 1.9" tires, thumb-shifters, cantilever brakes, and that was about it.
Next came Bio-Pace chain rings. Next the Scott UniShock and the Manitou elastomer forks. Headsets were still one-inch. Soon there was Ti replacement bolts and ano everything. About this time along came the Trek 9000 full suspension, and the Mountain Cycles full squish with disk brakes – DISK BRAKES?. Rockshox forks and suspension seatposts. You'd returned your Marzocchi fork for service dozens of times because it kept blowing seals. XT and XTR. Manitou sexy full suspension frame. YETI Cycles had ALL the top riders and made all their frames in the U.S. You wore glasses that had "Thermonuclear Protection".
A few carbon handle bars started to show up, Paul Components made really cool looking rear derailleurs that didn't really work. Cook Bros. cranksets and Klein frames with huge oversized tubesets and day-glow colors. By this time SPD had been around, but now there was Onza and a few others. There was a Tioga disc rear wheel and Shimano air shifters. Nine speed? Who needs that? Free wheels were gone and cassettes ruled. Chris King still pretty much only made headsets, and you bought your first Camlebak.
As uncomfortable as it was to pull on lycra shorts years ago, now you had to find baggies that fit and didn't bind up. Saddles started to appear that had "love grooves".
You ditched your HT for FS and looked for tires that were 2.1 or bigger. Air or coil fork? Thirty two, and now 36mm forks. FOX IFP tool, TALAS, motor oil in my fork? You bought a new frame that had bearings instead of bushings in the suspension and the cartridge style BB was gone. Bikes got bigger and heavier, and you didn't care. Four inch would really be plenty, but six inch! Bikes that looked like, and had as much travel as motos was what you dreamed of. Some company called SRAM thought they could rule the way Suntour thought they could years before. Seatpost dropper? Why would I want that? GoPro let you shoot yourself dropping that huge 12" to flat and post it on the web.
Four inch was too cross country and six or more was too friggen big! I want to be "All Mountain", five inch is the sweet spot. Who the heck are these crazy guy ditching their FS for 29" wheeled HT? Oh, that'll never catch on. Where will they get tires? Man, we need lighter bikes! Five inch travel, made of carbon, yea that's what we need! Oooh, the best thing since sliced bread… check out this cool anodized stuff, all the crazy colors, I'll bet no one ever thought of that?!?!? Thousand dollar 5" forks, $300 Ti springs…. Air is better, no coil is…. CCDB is the BEST! Oh wait, now they make an air version, that must be REALLY THE BEST! 650B? What is that?
Kids riding fixie street bikes with handle bars about 12" wide.
I envy that dudes ENVE wheels!
Time for a new bike. What? You only make it in 27.5 or 29? Oooh, but I can get a 5" 29er or a 6" 650B, so that's cool. Eight grand for a mountain bike that is "made in China"? Well I guess a $500k Ferrari is made "over seas" too?
Time to ditch that open framed XC helmet for a more "moto" looking one, but not full face.
Fat bike. I thought I already road a fat bike? No, that’s a mountain bike, not a fat bike. Huh, a heavy non-suspension 26" bike? Should I put 1x11 on it? Dude, that's so old skool, you need a 29+ fat bike! What about suspension though? No, that's why you run 4 PSI in the tires…. RockShox Bluto!
Hope you get out on your bike this weekend!
