It was a great vid of those guys on the extreme north shore stuff, loved it for the buzz, but I have to agree with ajm for my personal preference. Why I'm moving back from full suss to hardtail. You can actually feel the ground beneath your wheels.
Great video
- Thread starter orange71
- Start date
monsterfatuk
Senior Retro Guru
Thats it getting rid of my yo ,i wanna boingy bike
I want 10 inchs of suspention no less
I want 10 inchs of suspention no less
ajm":1zkcx699 said:speedplay":1zkcx699 said:
Hmm. This one pretty much sums up where mountain biking "went wrong" for me, about the very end of the 90s.
Yeah, we all enjoy the occasional blast down hills. But those guys certainly aren't taking the time to "smell the roses"; they're not out in the countryside, absorbing it all, observing it all, they're just kids out on a glorified BMX track, or some kind of bobsleigh run.
In many ways, that's fine - we all have our preferences and there's nothing at all wrong with either BMX tracks or bobsleigh runs - but this kind of stuff seems to be where the bike industry is almost 100% focused.
Those of us who prefer the "simple life" (imagine, actually enjoying picking your way through difficult terrain, getting it all fed back from the bike to your senses, up technical climbs, every tiny energy input critical) don't really have a great deal of choice of reasonably priced, light, simple and nimble bikes and components designed to work well for a long time.
Pretty much everything seems to be designed and built with the expectation that it's going to be used for ridiculous jumps etc and is consequently oversized, overweight, ugly and seems to be pretty much disposable.
Oh well, looks like I'm a confirmed dinosaur... thankfully we have retrobike and NOS componentsIf only we could get back MTB Pro too... (with Mint Sauce - I can't believe he still lives in MBUK - or does he? I've not been able to bring myself to buy a copy for years!)
Just my own grumpy opinions, and I'm not that old really - not even 30 yet (just)
I personally,(and if you look at other posts on here) prefer xc riding.
It doesnt mean that I cant appreciate other aspects of the sport though.
As long as were all smiling, who cares if its downhill or cross country at least were still riding and getting a blast from it.
Little Bob
Senior Retro Guru
Love that first video - so mellow, i'd love to be able to ride that smooth.
OK, I could have made it clearer that I'm as impressed by the speed and smoothness of the riding in that video as anyone else, it's a great video and I'm not really slagging anyone's choice of riding. (OK, I am slagging it a teensy bit but only in a good-natured kind of way because I think they're missing out on something great ;-) )
My point was just that it's a different world, not relevant to me - I find it annoying that most of the bike industry seems to only offer stuff that isn't relevant to me. If people want to break their necks at massive speeds on 2ft travel girder-built machines, I'm all for it - I just wish that those designing and making components would wake up to the fact that not everyone does.
Maybe I'm just in so small a minority that I'm not worth bothering about, of course...
Cheers,
AJ
My point was just that it's a different world, not relevant to me - I find it annoying that most of the bike industry seems to only offer stuff that isn't relevant to me. If people want to break their necks at massive speeds on 2ft travel girder-built machines, I'm all for it - I just wish that those designing and making components would wake up to the fact that not everyone does.
Maybe I'm just in so small a minority that I'm not worth bothering about, of course...
Cheers,
AJ
Little Bob
Senior Retro Guru
I'm with you ajm - totally agree.
ajm, know where you are coming from.
2 points though..
Firstly, there is still a lot of new light and sweet xc stuff around, but it is mostly high end. Most (all??) the mid and low end bikes are oriented to be more burly and/or dh inspired. This doesn't bother me for my riding, I canlive with the nice stuff
But secondly, I think this is really bad for the yoof or newvies to mountain biking. I expect there are many people turned off, lose interest, or never get interested as they cannot style up a 15ft double, or think thats what mountainbiking is. Will this have a long term effect on the sport? Decline of XC riders? who knows..
But gotta agree Ed, that first vid I saw some time ago and it is great! Inspiringa nd chilled all at once. Some great riding, and the soundtrack works.
2 points though..
Firstly, there is still a lot of new light and sweet xc stuff around, but it is mostly high end. Most (all??) the mid and low end bikes are oriented to be more burly and/or dh inspired. This doesn't bother me for my riding, I canlive with the nice stuff
But secondly, I think this is really bad for the yoof or newvies to mountain biking. I expect there are many people turned off, lose interest, or never get interested as they cannot style up a 15ft double, or think thats what mountainbiking is. Will this have a long term effect on the sport? Decline of XC riders? who knows..
But gotta agree Ed, that first vid I saw some time ago and it is great! Inspiringa nd chilled all at once. Some great riding, and the soundtrack works.
Got to agree with ajm and gump. I started off on my trusty Karakoram, got sucked into the whole freeride thing and bought a Kona Stab but realised that I just don't have it for the jumps, drops etc Sold that and got a Full Suss Marin, then a GT i-drive now I'm going back to the simple life and going to go back to my roots of a hardtail and take the time to enjoy the scenery. Of course when some fast, twisty singletrack appears it'll be sensory overload getting tuned to the trail.
I really enjoy watching the slopestyle and Northshore vids, seeing Tyler Klassen do the insane jumps and watching Bender taking the suicide drops but personally, a 2ft drop is high enough :roll:
Soon enough xc-retro will be the 'new' thing to be doing, when the people who's broken bones have healed, had their stiches removed and decide that having a spleen may have been a good idea, join the once dying breed and make the bike industry 'discover' this 'new' type of riding again.
Vive La Differance!!!!
I really enjoy watching the slopestyle and Northshore vids, seeing Tyler Klassen do the insane jumps and watching Bender taking the suicide drops but personally, a 2ft drop is high enough :roll:
Soon enough xc-retro will be the 'new' thing to be doing, when the people who's broken bones have healed, had their stiches removed and decide that having a spleen may have been a good idea, join the once dying breed and make the bike industry 'discover' this 'new' type of riding again.
Vive La Differance!!!!
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