In what decade does 1998 become 'retro'?

[Malvern Rider]

Was just thinking. Dangerous at 7am :shock:

And is it 'what decade' or 'which decade'?

More or less coffee required

 

[Retro Spud]

Ah the age old question... The 1997/98 epoch

As far as I see it 1998 ushered in a new era and the mtb landscape changed for ever

It might be a long way back now, and you could (not that I'm Interested) set another time line for the 650b/29 inch revolution

To answer your question you have Retro (pre 9 the middle bit and then modern.

 

[catf]

im just appreciating the irony that i first found this place in 2007, 10 years ago retro was 10 years old, now 10 years old is modern tat.

 

[bartsince1975]

Re:

So you are getting old, that's prety commun among humans

 

[Malvern Rider]

Ah the age old question... The 1997/98 epoch

As far as I see it 1998 ushered in a new era and the mtb landscape changed for ever

It might be a long way back now, and you could (not that I'm Interested) set another time line for the 650b/29 inch revolution

To answer your question you have Retro (pre 9 the middle bit and then modern.

So 'retro' is forever going to be pre-1998, while the 'middle bit' just gets wider?

So you are getting old...

Nah, my middle-bit is just getting wider

 

[Kerplunk]

Re:

Maybe use 'classic' rather than retro for pre '98 stuff.

 

[Hotwheels.]

Ah the age old question... The 1997/98 epoch

As far as I see it 1998 ushered in a new era and the mtb landscape changed for ever

It might be a long way back now, and you could (not that I'm Interested) set another time line for the 650b/29 inch revolution

To answer your question you have Retro (pre 9 the middle bit and then modern.

I would say '98 is old but not retro, as in the 'Golden Age' of the MTB.
Most of the boutique companies that made expensive CNC'd parts were disappearing by the late 90's along with some great frame builders, which kind of opened the floodgates for big companies to make bikes which look the same, A'la 2017.

 

[cce]

97 came about because that was when v-brakes and forks that worked took over properly

there's definitely another era of old school between then and when discs took over properly in the mid-late 2000s

 

[MarinMartin]

Re:

I prefer the terms old skool, mid skool and new skool (can you tell I was a BMX kid )

98-02 is about mid skool. (that way I have 2 bikes which aren't old but are still cool ) will probably never get the same following as the older stuff but I do have to say I have a bit of a fancy for late 90s bikes.

 

[fearfactoryüberalles]

During the late 90's one could see the previously high-end steel stuff (i.e. Tange Ultimate, Ritchey Logic/Nitanium, Nivachrom etc. -tubed frames) made affordable by budget bike marques, but it also meant the swansong for those frames, as the damned alu hype just started, roughly at the same time. Snobbery aside, you could get real value for money in those days, just before tthe dreaded alu-hype wiped out almost totally the good steel materials used by the frame-making industry in the Far East.

18" triple butted True Temper-tubed (weighs 2 kg), China made frame, built in a DB Apex SE, sold as a mediocre-nothing-to-see-here-bike? Those were the days, and they were golden ones, too.