Pictures, pictures and pictures!

[Johnny]

[Johnny]

Who said the telemark turn was gay?

[MikeK]

Gay is too mainstream for tele.

[MikeK]

My wife's bike gets some Knards!





I couldn't put this on the Leather and Skinnies thread because technically these are fatties for this bike. They are the biggest tire that will fit this frame actually.

As you can see she did a little dirty graveling already... maybe she'll get a better bike soon.

[Johnny]

Aahh... Specialized..!
The Black Diamond of mountain bikes...!

[MikeK]

Hahaha... yeah... they kind of are aren't they?

They certainly have a bad rap. I've had two, they were meh... boring... uninspiring...

Of course they were half of what I paid for my current bike, and that's not a very expensive bike by today's standards. And hey! My bike is broke, this one is still going like a champ!

[lowangle al]

I still have a rock hopper from the 80's, eliptical front sprockets and no suspension. It would probably be my only bike if I hadn't found an aluminum frame full suspention kona in the bushes when I went to take a pee at work.

The kona is way more comfortable to ride but even though it is the same size frame as the rock hopper the geometry is different and center of gravity much higher. I was never able to ride it as aggressivly.

[MikeK]

First MTB I rode was I think an 80's GT Timberline. My dad bought it used in the early 90s. It had old style cantilever brakes (not the center pull) and the rear was mounted under the bottom bracket... great job GT Shifters were SIS thumb and by thumb I mean just a lever that clicked into place. The chainring shifter didn't even have detentes. It was that really heavy, thick wall CroMo that they used to use. The frame was a large and quite big for me - geometry was very upright, cg was quite high.

It was awesome though! First time I rode that bike I was blown away. Having ridden 10 spds, bmx, and freestyle bikes this was an amazing difference. You felt like you could ride anything!

Of course those bikes weren't as refined as they are now. There's been another 30 years of experience in the sport. Like skis, you can pick a bike for any ride you want to do. It's crazy.

[Nick D]

Don't knock Specialized they were in from the very start. My son was in high school in the mid 80's when he got a summer job in a bike store in Whistler and bought himself a Specialized Stumpjumper. I had what was called a "10 speed" at the time and when I borrowed his bike I couldn't get over how much fun it was on the UEL trails in Vancouver, now Pacific Spirit Park. I wouldn't have dreamed of riding most of them on my 10 speed.

[MikeK]

Specs were bikes I drooled over when I was a kid. Yeah, like GT and Giant they were a big company when I started to ride MTB, about 1994.

Still Cannondale was the dream bike. Big fat aluminum tubes, headshocks, cool graphics and team riders.

This is the bike I always wanted:



Cannondale M800 Beast of the East. Nothing special, just a short wheelbase, responsive bike.

That McDondalds color scheme was really appealing to me as a teenager. I have no idea why, looks stupid to me now: