As in brands,
I like to think the reason mountain bikes took a back seat for me was when I went into a 'relationship', spending time with loved ones and creating a 'home' was priority ...
Or was it?
I think it was 1994 when I started to lose interest, everything just started to look pants and cost more, and style.... Style just disappeared, as did the era of bikes I could look at and think ..... Wow, that's nice.
So like....(for me)
Kona nailed it with splatter paint, even the following years had cool looking bikes.... Downtube decal change, disliked it!
GT also had some of the best paint jobs available, and I loved U-brakes..... U-brakes disappeared

last GT I ever truly liked was the cosmic sunrise zaskar...
Marin, .... I lovedThe early years up until they got rid of the fluro colours... Maybe even liked the 93's a little
Shimano.... 95 was the last time i liked XT, getting rid of exage killed it for me.... Altus, alivio..... Urgh!
Suntour..... What a loss
V-brakes... Yeah, they work brilliant (better than disc (to me)) but they're not as .... Aesthetically pleasing on the eye.
Thumbshifters ..... Why oh why did they get rid....
Mumblegrumble
Muddy fox...... What the fox went wrong!@#!?
Saracen ..... So cool then 1992....losing it, and ....
These are just my thoughts/takes/feelings/rants.
What are yours?
As I comment on a three year old thread in 2025....
So for the record. I was born in April 1970. I am Gen X. I am an artist, love my punk/metal/opera/rock music. Studied at the Masters level twice. A father. A Geek. Currently single at 55. I love old Volvos, Squarebody pick-ups, 80's BMW/Audis, motorbikes/cafe racers. I have been spinning wrench since I was 5. Started working in bike shops at age 15. Owned my own pro bicycle shop at age 24. Love my vinyl records and vintage stereo EQ. I work professionally as a photographer these days. I just figure some context can't hurt for what follows.
I stopped racing early 1995, so technically 1994 was my last season.
Ibis was my first sponsor in 1990. My last was Diamond Back in 1994. Brodie, Specialized and Rocky Mountain were also sponsors during the early 1990s.
I came from BMX background, followed by cycle cross and bicycle trials and then got into XC. When I got sponsored as a privateer via the bike shop I worked in, I started training with roadies and learned so so much. Pedal in circles eh.
The end of Suntour XC Pro I still have not gotten over. Have hated Grip-shift sine day one. I didn't mind U-brakes. Custom lacing on wheels... aka 4 cross drive, 3 cross out (rear) (or 3 drive 2 outboard) and 2 cross on front makes sense to me. Alloy nipples look and weigh less but they weaken a wheel IMHO. Radial lace wheels are for road bikes at best. Snowflake lacing is a waste of weight and spokes. Only use DT or Ritchey spokes and nipples.
Someone please bring back Scott Mathauser brake pads.. pretty please.
The Mavic MA-40 rim IMHO is still the BEST rim-brake rim ever made.
I ran 48 to 52 on my big ring depending on the course.
I used to always build custom cassettes... two large on one and two and corn cob the rest of the way.
I screamed when they announced 24 gears and out and out said "F$*k That Shit" when they started the 1X9 stuff.
Once wheel size jumped past 26" I was completely done.
Hell I never liked full suspension but then I came from a XC/cycle cross back ground.
I still do not fully trust carbon fiber.
I liked and still like a Softride road bike.
A Bob Jackson 753 frame set is my dream road bike.
I think it is a shame True Temper no longer makes tubing for bicycles. The TT-Lite custom stuff they made for Diamond Back was amazing.
Reynolds is far superior to Tange when it comes to tubing - the exception is Ritchey Tubing. Myiata splined tubing was/is so so over looked.
Forged will always be stronger and better than CNC'ed (FYI I am a trained machinist who has studied metallurgy at the Masters level).
My heroes were/are:
Ned Overend
Hans Rey
Missy
Juli Futado
Tinker Juarez
John Tomac
Joe Murray
BMX heroes for the record:
Toby Henderson
Harry Larry
Tim Judge
R.L. Osbourne
The Condor (Hoffman)
Yeah, in the early 90's I loved racing dual slalom but I was coming at that from a BMX back ground. I could goes balls out and win against roadies and the MTB riders.... fellow BMXers, well, that's when things got real.
Downhill was never my thing. I had team mates and friends who were part of that 1990 to 1995 era... they were all technically crazy and hell they had to be to win.
I LOVE a good technical climb. I love the old school XC Norba races. I liked and still miss the old school XC races.
And do not even get me started on modern BMX racing.... tracks, bikes, etc... ack!
So in short yeah, by 1995 I was pretty much done.
But that era from 1985 to 1995 was pure magic and I am so so grateful to have been part of it.
Living in the land of where Free Ride was born (Victoria BC - moved here in January 1996) I am the oddball.
I just have never gotten into the modern or in my case, west coast scene.
All my local friends who ride are on 29" wheel dual suspension with six to eight inches of travel front and rear.... to me those bikes ride like a damn lazy boy going through the forest and they all have to walk their rides up a hill. As I am known to say about Harleys VS sportbikes... a Harley rides/drives/handles like a 1970s for F-250.... I wanna carve, hence I like sportbikes.
I still use toe clips (never could get used to clipless). I prefer for off road a 2.1/2.3 (red Z-max please) tire in the front and a 1.9/1.75 in the rear (Gods how I miss the 1.9 kevlar smoke).
I love steel. Yes I also love Ti. Have owned beautiful AL bikes including M2 but I always come to steel. I still use above bar thumb shifters on all my rides so at max I am running 8 speeds in the rear. I believe the Joe Murray Impact headset was the best bang for buck headset ever made. I love double butted spokes. I do like good disc brakes. I liked and miss elevated chainstay bikes.
I remember playing floor hockey while smoking doobies in the Kona warehouse in Van back in the early 90's.
I felt bad when I had to call Paul and tell him I snapped the Sovereign frame at the head tube (second race of the season) and that I was going back to racing Rockies.
I remember nights after the bike convention in Vegas when Keith would say "**** Trek, Giant, Specialized and most of all Cannondale.. they are what is wrong with this business and they are ruining it for all of us"
... and then he sold out to Trek.
Thank the gods for Tom Ritchey, Joe Breeze & Grayson Bain.
And thank the gods for this website/forum for allowing me to connect with liked minded passionate people around the globe on a topic that means the world to me.
Cheers folks.