I am having an nu-school slag off....

deelam

Retro Guru
SORRY - I FORGOT TO LOG IN! ONLY MEEEEEEEE!
(admin, please feel free to delete)

As a very proud old-school mtb'er with what I consider to be true "pedigree" I have to say I was completely shocked when I picked up a recent copy of MBUK. I know I am about 15 years out of touch but it hurt my sense of purity when I saw all the body armour (worn it seems for namby-pamby, easy-peasy downhill and trails!) the platform pedals and the generally BMX-stylie of it all.
Honestly! Not a decent pair of 12 panel lycra shorts or SPDs in sight! What has happened? Has it all gone softy BMX style? My "body armour" used to consist of a helmet and a pair of fingerless gloves! I have also seen some of the "radical" dvds which claim to show amazing drop-offs, jumps et al. RUBBISH! I am sure that there are still some hard-core riders out there but it seems to me that it's all gone a bit too American-softy-stylish (no offense intended to any Americans on here!)
Very pleased to say that I had my very 1st proper off-road session last weekend - not going to tell you what I rode, except it was borrowed and not very good! Anyways, the downhill was awesome, nearly 15 years since I did this but I still spun out in top gear!
I need a few more rides, convince the missus that this is good for me=good for her, and then it's retro shopping time!!! Wink Laughing

This is a great forum, just a little quiet at times Crying or Very sad

So tell me, do you think it's unfair to diss today's mtb'ers or was it rawer in yesteryear and a subsequently a hell of a lot more fun?
(or am I just trying to recapture my yoof?)
 
Hmmm. Some interesting points you raise there.

Start with the easy one. Thanks for the positive words about the forum :D . It is a little quiet at times but equally it's not really been pushed or advertised. If it grows organically then good, if not, well, I've killed a couple of boring afternoons at work.

As for your other comments I'd have to disagree with some of it. I think you raise a couple of points. Your first about the direction in which the sport is heading is probably skewed somewhat through reading MBUK. If you'd picked up one of the other MTB mags like singletrack you'd have seen riders in kit and on bikes that aren't a million miles away from what you'd have read about and seen ten years ago. MBUK was always aimed at the younger audience. Most of them are into DH and jumping.
Your second point about these rider being soft, well some maybe but equally a LOT aren't. Some of the stuff they do now just wouldn't have been attempted or even possible on bikes around 10 or 15 years ago.

Glad you enjoyed your ride as well. After all talking about kit and bikes is fun, but at the end of the day it's all about using them :D
 
Dude, it's the circle of life...

Each new generation defines its self differently.

I remember when I showed up on a club ride with a six speed freewheel and index shifting...you'd have thought I grew tits the looks I got.

"what, five speeds not enough for you? I've never had any problems, maybe your too soft"

In twenty years today's armored, platformed pedal gravity kids will be lamenting the next new genre.

Appreciate what we had and accept the rest with a smile on our faces...at least we're all still peddling.

cheers,

rody
 
deelam
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is right; nowadays bikers are softies :LOL:

When it comes to new stuff I guess a lot of people have them told what they need. In fact they do need it, but by far most of it in theory, not in real live

What doesn't need it is our environment

BTW for me this isn't a quiet board considering it is only a few months roling. I also see considerable traffic coming up lately. That's good :D
 
hmmm interesting.

I think there is stuff being ridden today that wasn't 15 years ago. This trend has pushed the bigger bike thing, and hey, a bit of marketing this new stuff always helps ;)

I also get a touch saddened seeing some people ride very big, strong, burly bikes or huge sussers on trails and in a way that such a bike is really not needed. Fine, some people like to have such things and enjoy what these bikes bring, but there are some who clearly have succommed to marketing, and would maybe enjoy riding a little more on something different. Who knows, if people are happy riding whatever though thats a result :D who am I to argue?


As for this site, pleased so far, found it not long ago by search engine. Good info, good people, and at the moment, great not to have the random 'I want to make a statement/argument about anything' posters :D
 
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