When did it lose it for you.....

There's a big difference between "I think modern bikes are crap." and "Modern bikes hold no appeal to me."

I think modern bikes are probably great for lots of things I never do on a bike.
I think modern bikes are great fun...

To poke with a stick !
Seriously if you like it ride it āœŒļø
Just looked again at that pole...apt name...
It wouldn't fit on a car bike rack it's too damn long so you need to put it in a van!??
Hmmm cycling a new realm of transportation!
 
I was always more interested in getting out and riding rather than the latest gear -- it seemed easier to work on skills and fitness than upgrade to more suspension travel or bigger wheels. It became annoying to hear "that's a six-inch travel trail" when practice and skill would do it on a hardtail.

Every genre appealed at some point: MTBs, road bikes, fixie, triathlon. And tinkering with them all. Then in 2010 I moved to Singapore and took my 26"-wheeled hardtail with me, but the incredible heat and humidity killed the enjoyment of riding.

Now in a more rideable country, Australia, it's all coming back -- but it's still 26" wheels for the dirt, with reluctant acceptance of 31.8 handlebars and grudging adoption of cable disc brakes where cantis or Vs aren't possible. And apart from just wanting to get fit and ride a lot, it's the sheer cost of the newer technologies that rule them out for me. Decent new gear costs an arm and a leg, while top second-hand retro gear is still affordable if you shop around. And it's easier to work on, too. And lighter without all the extra gubbins of dropper posts, etc. What's not to love?
 
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i've been slowing loosing interest since suspension was fitted. Now with the big wheels, disc brakes, dropper posts, tubeless and now e-bikes i've lost interest totally. MTBing has totally gone wrong.
I don't agree that it's gone wrong it's simply natural progression and technological advances. We have this forum as a means to show an interest of an era we liked the best during the MTB evolution. There's no need to lose interest because of this.
 
:LOL: Is it me, or is the saddle in front of the BB too?

It all looks crunched up in the middle with little room for arms and legs.

WOZ donā€™t forget SAG. Thatā€™s really important in DH designā€¦you want the bike to sit about 30% into the travel, so that suspension can drop the wheels into things as well as compress when you go over things. So the actual in-flight seat angle will be very different to static.

Isn't the Pole a down hill bike so made for a very specific niche?

Yep. I donā€™t think the Gromā€™s Canyon Sender has EVER been pointed uphill. EVER.

I was building a DMR Sect for the Grom and my partner experienced the following verbal exchange:

Her: whatā€™s that you are building?
Me: a jump bike.
Her: whatā€™s it for?
Me: jumping.
Her: anything else?
Me: erā€¦no
Her: is that it?
Me: erā€¦yes
Her: (ā€¦backs out of workshop with mumbled confusion and general frustrationā€¦)
 
Itā€™s also about the spirit of mountain bikingā€¦.I genuinely thought that people had lost it when we arrived in the forest last week and we unloaded in two minutesā€¦bikes off roof, shoes on, helmets on etcā€¦and two guys were heads down and fiddling with their phones setting up their e-bikes when we arrived and were still doing it when we cycled our hardtails out of the car parkā€¦.we had a hard, fast ride but noted how the trails were being ripped up by heavy braking - BIG speed bumps of the kind which you only see on alpine DH runs, but are appearing on UK trails frequented by e-bikes. And then we were relaxing over a coffee at the cafe when the same guys poled up on their e-bikes - and instead of relaxing and talking about the ride and the state of the planet, immediately got their phones out, heads down, no talk, and started to fiddle with the settings on their bikes. This they did for the entire time we had our coffee and were still doing it when we left. It triggered a memory of last year, on the South Downs Way, when we stopped at the Southease Cafe and some e-bikers arrived with huge bikes, huge amour, and huge packs - like American footballers - I mean really huge - and I asked them genuinely what they were carrying: ā€˜ā€¦are you doing overnight campsā€¦ā€™ ā€˜Oh noā€¦we need to carry two spare batteriesā€¦ā€™. I sensed the spirit of mountain biking waft off into the stratosphereā€¦.
I'm reasonably open to new stuff as long as it makes sense.

But having to enter your fork's serial number into an app on your phone just to tune the suspension does seem a long way from the Ć©lan of those early pioneers.

How far will things go? In 5 year's time I won't be surprised if my bike drives itself back to the service centre mid-trail because a maintenance alert has flagged up on the Google RideĀ® server.

And I'll have to make my own way home in my socks, holding a rusty box spanner and a crinkly OS map.

Again.
 
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