Which are the halcyon days of mtb'ing?

[Bear-Chan]

ronhill tracksters rule! i still ride in em
hooray for fred salmon as well - anodising for the people (even if it was a bit pink rather than red - uno, and trans-x, tektro etc included!)

 

[JustKev]

my first bike was an '88 model but all my best MTB memories are early 90's!

 

[orange71]

ronhill tracksters rule! i still ride in em

er...so do I! Mine are the same ones from BITD - black with a fluoro yellow stripe down them. Bit threadbare in the seat now, but still do the job!! Got a photo of me from about 1994 standing with my bike on top of the trig pillar on Skiddaw in them somewhere...!

 

[stevet1]

ronhill tracksters rule! i still ride in em
hooray for fred salmon as well - anodising for the people (even if it was a bit pink rather than red - uno, and trans-x, tektro etc included!)

One day I'll build a proper 'Retro bike' - no-name alloy frame anodised electric blue with an Uno seatpost and stem, fred salmon bars, tioga psycho tyres (always on sale it seemed) a velo flite copy saddle (same low weight, none of the comfort) and a mismash of shimano parts cobbled together with whatever you could afford that month.

I remember one month I'd tacoed a rim on a nice wheel I'd inherited on a second hand bike. Having no money for a new rim I swapped the tacoed wheel with a purple ringle hub for a DX hub on a mavic that was true. Broke my heart to lose my only bit of bling but at least I could carry on riding.

 

[Tallpaul]

ronhill tracksters rule! i still ride in em
hooray for fred salmon as well - anodising for the people (even if it was a bit pink rather than red - uno, and trans-x, tektro etc included!)

One day I'll build a proper 'Retro bike' - no-name alloy frame anodised electric blue with an Uno seatpost and stem, fred salmon bars, tioga psycho tyres (always on sale it seemed) a velo flite copy saddle (same low weight, none of the comfort) and a mismash of shimano parts cobbled together with whatever you could afford that month.

Sounds familiar. It would also have to weigh about 32lbs to be truely like my first 'mountain bike'.

 

[Bear-Chan]

One day I'll build a proper 'Retro bike' - no-name alloy frame anodised electric blue with an Uno seatpost and stem, fred salmon bars, tioga psycho tyres (always on sale it seemed) a velo flite copy saddle (same low weight, none of the comfort) and a mismash of shimano parts cobbled together with whatever you could afford that month.
.

and clear grips that were stained a horrible brown colour...!
oh - and the quadra 10's/marzocchi zokes that didnt go boing any more!

... or a set of them strangely coloured bargin judys that appeared around 96/7 - dark blue surpless ones from dekerf or something like that!

 

[Stick Legs]

Early '90's for me.

Not the 'best' era, that would be too contentious to call, but it is what I remember and love the bikes from that era the best.


On the road it would have to be 1988-1992.

 

[Lid]

Anything before indexing and Hyperglide was (for me)......well crap.
The early 90's were fantastic, things actually worked. You could go on a ride and make it back without full on major mechanicals.

 

[P20]

I'm the only vote for 95-99. Its the time when i really started to get into bikes, i like the older stuff, but its this time for me

 

[leonatico]

Early 90´s for sure. We all wished for suspension forks, but still only raced with rigid forks because suspension made us loose power :? . Flourescent Bell Image helmet with matching Sidi socks.