mullett
Dirt Disciple
Been riding mountain bikes since about 1990, before that it was cyclocross and ctc rough stuff as a kid mostly on bmx and old road bikes with flat handlebars wedged on.
Ive always ridden retro bikes, just never realised it till i found this site aboout 6 months ago. Had 2 stumpjumpers in the early 90's, one was a rigid and snapped, the other had rc35's on. In about '97 i got hold of a 2nd hand rc200 with rc35's on and ive ridden that ever since.
Moved to scotland 7 1/2 years ago and my trails have got a lot more extreme, steep and rocky and recently ive noticed myself worrying about the forks on my pace breaking under load, nothing too bad, but id find myself glancing down and watching the legs flexing and would often bottle out of drops and rocky sections as the forks just didnt have the travel and i knew id go flying when they bottomed out.
Ive now bought my first new bike ever in 22 years of proper cycling (thankyou cyclescheme), picked it up friday night and took it out on my local ride yesterday morning at 6am as i had to babysit the kids later in the day and i was itching to try it.
What a difference to my riding, went flying over sections id normally bail on the pace and started nearly crashing on downhills because i was going too fast, not because of the bike letting me down. My head has been properly turned and part of me feels a sense of guilt about it.
Has this happened to anyone else? Dont get me wrong, im keeping the pace - will probably renovate it a bit and single speed it as ive got a set of rear facing dropouts for it (but not using a grinder so dont worry)- but id imagine it'll gather a fair bit of dust.
Do most of you have modern bikes as well as retro rides ? If so which do you ride more and which do you prefer?
I knew there would be a difference in the way the bikes handled the rough stuff, but to be honest i never thought it would be so huge, plus the cove still rides nicely uphill as the back ends so stiff.
Anyhow, heres a pic of the new girl in town at the end of my local ride, what do you think, have i let the side down?
Ive always ridden retro bikes, just never realised it till i found this site aboout 6 months ago. Had 2 stumpjumpers in the early 90's, one was a rigid and snapped, the other had rc35's on. In about '97 i got hold of a 2nd hand rc200 with rc35's on and ive ridden that ever since.
Moved to scotland 7 1/2 years ago and my trails have got a lot more extreme, steep and rocky and recently ive noticed myself worrying about the forks on my pace breaking under load, nothing too bad, but id find myself glancing down and watching the legs flexing and would often bottle out of drops and rocky sections as the forks just didnt have the travel and i knew id go flying when they bottomed out.
Ive now bought my first new bike ever in 22 years of proper cycling (thankyou cyclescheme), picked it up friday night and took it out on my local ride yesterday morning at 6am as i had to babysit the kids later in the day and i was itching to try it.
What a difference to my riding, went flying over sections id normally bail on the pace and started nearly crashing on downhills because i was going too fast, not because of the bike letting me down. My head has been properly turned and part of me feels a sense of guilt about it.
Has this happened to anyone else? Dont get me wrong, im keeping the pace - will probably renovate it a bit and single speed it as ive got a set of rear facing dropouts for it (but not using a grinder so dont worry)- but id imagine it'll gather a fair bit of dust.
Do most of you have modern bikes as well as retro rides ? If so which do you ride more and which do you prefer?
I knew there would be a difference in the way the bikes handled the rough stuff, but to be honest i never thought it would be so huge, plus the cove still rides nicely uphill as the back ends so stiff.
Anyhow, heres a pic of the new girl in town at the end of my local ride, what do you think, have i let the side down?
