Remember When...
1. Anodized purple was freakin' cool? (although I never owned any parts that color - not even the blue)2. Bikes didn't have index shifting?
3. Long travel was 2 inches?
4. There was a rider weight restriction on parts?
5. Bar ends were in?
6. The first clipless MTB pedal was invented?
7. The Phil Anderson race where the guy broke his finger when he tried to catch the 5lbs. can of Cytomax that got thrown out at the raffle?
8. The tension disc wheel was the envy of all? Jeez, those things sounded like a Mack truck was about to run you down.
9. There was no such thing as a hydration pack?
10. Biopace?!!!
11. I used to be one of the fastest guys on TWW?
I imagine some of you young bucks have no idea what I'm talking about. Too bad - that was a cool time.
posted by ginmtb @ 1/05/2006
15 Comments:
At 1/05/2006,
PAB(a.k.a.CID) said…
V1Pro.
very cool. (although camo was cooler)
At 1/05/2006,
L. Christmas said…
Are those blue spanex? (or are you just happy to see me).. we certainly went full circle on that one.. right back to blue (well not quite that blue)
At 1/06/2006,
ginmtb said…
Good eye on the V1Pro. Remember how the Bell logo slides up and down depending on how much ventilation you wanted?
Yes, blue (I think Lycra, but thin stuff). Man, almost looks like I'm wearing a freakin' skinsuit. Sweet muther. I was a skinny boy back then.
At 1/06/2006,
ginmtb said…
Jiminy Christmas I just saw in the photo and now remember the purple and orange accents on the shorts. Look at those clod hoppers too. Eesh.
At 1/06/2006,
Chico Cyclist said…
When did all this change????
At 1/06/2006,
ginmtb said…
Fully rigid is good...
That Mongoose in the photo was when it was new. Put on the amazing Tange Shockblade - quite possibly the best engineered worst performing fork in the history of forks. It would go into vapor lock after crossing a shallow stream or if it sprinkled. Amazing pile o' crap.
The 90's were an amazing period for MTB's - they ruled the world, everyone was trying to create the next great thing, and lots and lots of people raced. You're old enough to remember and appreciate it PF. Those twenty-somethings have no clue though...
At 1/06/2006,
ginmtb said…
Me and my cycling buddy at the time were caught up in the drug... he worse than me since he made mo' money than me - he spent well over a grrr on his rear wheel alone - Tioga disc drive with Ti nipples (ooh, I said nipples - hope that doesn't get Sabine in trubble at work), Hugi rear hub that sounded like an automatic weapon (magnified by the speaker effect of the disc drive), and Mavic rim. Oh, and let's not forget the full Ti SRP cassette. Amazing. Keeping up with the Joneses is a dangerous habit...
I remember sawing down my GripShifters so that there was only about 1/2" of grip... Shortening seatposts and handlebars... cracking a pair of Topline cranks (all 138 lbs. of me), and going through I think a fork a year (upgrading of course).
The only hucking I ever did was at about 50mph coming down the Kamikaze. Did the ol' Superman right in front of my friend on the freeway section. Amazing that I only bent the handlebar.
Did you do the custom tweak on that Manitou fork? Drill a small hole in the bottom of the leg - that was the performance hop up of the time... so a little dirt got sucked in... oh well.
At 1/06/2006,
ginmtb said…
I prefer to use the term "old school" instead of "luddite".
Here is the next bike I want to get:
Schwinn Lemon Peeler. That thing rocks!!!
At 1/06/2006,
L. Christmas said…
I have certainly been shopping for my next fav retro, cuiser, towny, whateva:
Felt
Nirve
especially this one
At 1/06/2006,
schlaca laca laca laca said…
Remember those Hite Rite thingies made by Breeze & Angell from Mill Valley. I had one on my good 'ol '87 Schwinn Sierra at one point. I just bought one off of Ebay (brand new, unopened) and put it on my Nomad. GRRRRR BABY! VERY GRRRRR! (like Mike in those shorts)
At 1/07/2006,
Reed Maxwell said…
yeah, the bikes sucked technologically, but man there were tons of races. Remember the knoblar?
At 1/07/2006,
ginmtb said…
Yeah, miss those days of lots o' choices of races. There were some classics, and some notso classic. The Rockhopper comes to mind as a good one. Then there were the fireroad only ones (Sizzler, Black Diamond Mines, Briones, and so on) that really kinda sucked.
At 1/08/2006,
Reed Maxwell said…
Oh man, I remember racing the Briones race one year when it was a billion degrees up there. They climbed every evil, steep fireroad in the place. I don't even recall there being any descending, though I'm sure it was a good thing since my circa-94 Kona Kula's marzocchi xc-600 fork would blow completely whenever it hit a bump.
At 1/08/2006,
ginmtb said…
I probably did that very race. It was 90 degrees at 9am. I remember one of the guys who was there racing with me - he needed to use the restroom so walked into the semi-permanent porta potty, the door closed, and then it opened less than one second later and he exited. Hilarious. That race I think was my only non-Billy Cross podium in my life... 3rd place Beginner baby!!! I think if you simply finished the race you podiumed. BTW, that is the venue where the TWW name came from for you history buffs.
At 1/10/2006,
Reed Maxwell said…
Yeah, due to the heat probably more than 50% who started didn't finish. That was my first win, 1st place in the "big boys" (aka fat guys) cat. Can't beleive I didn't have a heart attack or heat stroke that day. I've long since reformed and pretend to be a skinny guy now. Wow, what a walk down memory lane!
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