[Closed] 10 years ago, I was riding---- (picture & story thread)

I recomissioned my old (circa 2006) rigid OO Inbred 29er singlespeed during the week (in an attempt to fill the void left from a recent bike sale), and had an absolute blast on it. All steep geometry and aged parts but went around a regular trail quicker than I have on any ther bike since I stopped riding it. Suffering for it today though 😉

Id post a pic but dunno how to on here.

@bonzodog I use https://postimages.org/

Upload a pic through that link then click on 'thumbnail for forums' to copy the link.
Pasting the link into a post on forums (including STW) gives the result I have above.

apart from having bought a fatbike I still have the same bikes and ride the same trails. Probably less adventurous now as I am ten years older

My MK1 Nomad with coil 36 and Fox coil in the rear.
Taken on a weeks holiday with the the now defunct Bike Verbier.
Went to stay with them every year from the second season they were open until the stopped doing guided holiday.
Had some great holidays with other companies but something about the BV setup always seemed to hit the spot. Still ride with friends we made while staying there.

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/5274/5895497308_9c32c426c5_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/5274/5895497308_9c32c426c5_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/9YXXXj ]2011_0630verbier110018[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/stu-b/ ]multispeedstu[/url], on Flickr

I was riding the same-ish bike only with gears

I ride the same bike as I got in about 2001 or 2002!
Original wheels and hubs and brakes. Now has a 1x10 on though. It does me fine.

[img] [/img]
[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/32960281428/ ]P100106_122858[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode_lite ]Flickr2BBcode LITE[/url]

This was in the winter and I'm guessing by now it'd been replaced by a meta 55 as it Super4 cracked it's frame.

10 years ago I was riding a high pivot, gearbox bike with a Fox fork.

https://flic.kr/p/2kpDytc

Now I’m riding, erm…

https://flic.kr/p/2kpH5nN

I was riding my brand new bright yellow Cove HandJob with 3*10 SLX and Reba Air.fork. I treated myself to it for my 40th.

Only MTB I've had in all that time and probably only done 25 rides on it due to sciatica and knee injuries. During that time I've had a Spesh Tricross and Sonder Camino AL which I can ride from the door and not get more broken.

It's rubbish being injured and pathetic 🤦

Photo from earlier this year

Moved from Enfield to Brimscombe 10 years ago, I had a Cove Handjob:

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/4023/4706133126_3d85c84ff9_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/4023/4706133126_3d85c84ff9_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://www.flickr.com/gp/martinddd/4T7x92 ]COVE HJ[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr

now on a custom steel 650b HT made guy a guy in another Stroud valley.

Predominantly doorstep riding these days.

@weeksy - blast from the past - I was riding the same bike (Super4).

They were certainly quite 'niche' round by me. Never saw another, so good to see yours.

It replaced my faithful Trek 8500 hard tail in 2009.

S Works Enduro, it was the first year in seven that we hadn't gone to Verbier as my eldest daughter had to have a major back operation

Then

[img] [/img]

Now

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

10 years ago this and this.

Still have it too. Upgraded the forks to some fancy light Fox ones and stuck a dropper on it.

An original ibis mojo, lovely bike that I still have to this day although it’s on a wall and not a bike that gets ridden anymore

[url= https://i.ibb.co/7t6G0f2/F13-F0534-7-B67-400-A-8207-2-A087-C6-A0-BDF.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.ibb.co/7t6G0f2/F13-F0534-7-B67-400-A-8207-2-A087-C6-A0-BDF.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Cheers all, some great pics and tales there 😁

Quite a few with the same bike although those old and new pics show how much things have developed. Head angles in particular.

I might build the Superlight back up and see what it feels like, as it is a long way from the full suspension I ride today (Ripmo).

Wonder if they will be hugely different or if I’ll quickly adopt to the older more traditional geometry.

On my Orange ST4, still my favourite bike of all time.

Took eldest_oab to Laggan for the day - he rode red route in its entirety for the first time.  This week he heads off to the Trans Savoie, volunteering for 10 days as marshall and sweep.

https://flic.kr/p/af6fo1

https://flic.kr/p/af3vtX

10yrs ago….

Yeti 575 which was 5yrs old at the time

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/6219/6315583559_d9b819a687_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/6219/6315583559_d9b819a687_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/aC61XH ]Yeti 575[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/66452821@N00/ ]ritcheyp20[/url], on Flickr

On One Carbon 456

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/5030/5597523005_60fd2794a4_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/5030/5597523005_60fd2794a4_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/9wCLzk ]On-one Carbon 456[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/66452821@N00/ ]ritcheyp20[/url], on Flickr

Now….

Liteville 301, it’s not 8yrs old and still running 26”

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/3688/13540250913_fae21a6cee_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/3688/13540250913_fae21a6cee_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/mCvjRX ]Liteville 301[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/66452821@N00/ ]ritcheyp20[/url], on Flickr

And a Mk1 Solaris built last year that I don’t have photos that I can share…..

I had the same frame in the same colour, very happy memories and only just eclipsed by my 29” anthem

10 years ago i was not riding throught illness.
once able to ride again i was riding this beast.
a long time before they became fashionable like nowadays.

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/CB8NJ7Qk/7568922292-34803f4d2e-o.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/CB8NJ7Qk/7568922292-34803f4d2e-o.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

May 2011
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/2739/5792091218_1fff28e435_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/2739/5792091218_1fff28e435_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/9PPYVG ]Hyde & seek[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/toretz/ ]tom harrison[/url], on Flickr

2012
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/8031/8036330879_5bf26b1ed5_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/8031/8036330879_5bf26b1ed5_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/df9ibX ]Dialled Alpine[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/toretz/ ]tom harrison[/url], on Flickr

Almost ten years to the day!

And now…

9 years ago.

8.5 years ago

Another Super4 . I didn't realise they sold so many!(it cracked later , of course)

Spech Rockhopper SL IIRC. Still spot it locked up outside a house not far from me.

Now a big wheel convert on a Orange Crush29 and a Five29

I think it was this - name gives it away really
https://www.moredirt.com/ratemyride/bike/31263

Cheers for the link @twonks

Lets see if this works ...

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/qzT7nFzf/IMG-20210814-084738.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/qzT7nFzf/IMG-20210814-084738.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/LYJJCZMr/IMG-20210814-084731.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/LYJJCZMr/IMG-20210814-084731.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

I was also riding this. Weirdly, after a few years without a (proper, not fat) hardtail, I’m getting a hankering for one. Even got a USD fork to match…

https://flic.kr/p/2kpH4ZP

Weird homemade rigid 29er singlespeed with ultra short chainstays. Still just about alive in its final days as commuter bike. Wheels and cranks still going strong on mtb (2 iterations of frame further on).

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/zXHMBsps/IMG-5996.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/zXHMBsps/IMG-5996.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

@twonks - I'm 50 in 3 weeks too. It's just a number, don't worry about it.

I've been knackered in since my early 30s !

These two... (apologies for low res image)

My Maverick Durance (still have frame/fork, though haven't been ridden since 2013) and Genesis Altitude Ti. Both great bikes, and 2 of my favourites ever, but after I discovered 29ers with better geometry (my first 2 29ers were a bit steep and old school) in 2013, I didn't look back, and anything with 26" wheels just wasn't going to cut it any more.

Nice thread. I had my Commencal Meta 55. White frame, it was originally black but of course it cracked and was replaced under warranty. This is March 2011 complete with Swampthing front and not a dropper in sight.

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/5053/5537211316_34d973380f_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/5053/5537211316_34d973380f_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/9riE1C ]IMG_7875edit[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinhines26/ ]Colin[/url], on Flickr

Ten years ago on I was riding a 2005 Specialized FSR XC Pro. It was retired in 2015 due to worn out everything and a bent chain stay.

10 years ago this month I didn't have a bike whatsoever! I'd just retired my 2010 Specialized FSR XC Expert after it being nothing but trouble the whole year I rode it and the frame being borked, stripped it to sell the parts and used the money to put a deposit on a new Orange 5 that didn't arrive until September.

Actually I had my old Carrera Kraken hardtail still but it was at my parent's house and out of action. It became my commuter that winter, never took it on dirt again after over 10 years loyal service (only the frame was original mind!), sold it on a few years later.

10 years ago was ancient history it was pre-29er for me so this (or a Soda).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sofaboytt/6086703214/

2012 I got my first Solaris. It was never the same again after that.

2011 - was riding this until.....

10 years ago, I was riding a medium Blur 4x, I'd always wanted one since the first time I saw them in Dirt mag. 160mm fox 36s slackened it out to around 66 degrees (but also shortened the reach even more!) and 1x9 (looked cool when I wasn't off and pushing!)

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/5269/5587619903_6a4c02a396_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/5269/5587619903_6a4c02a396_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/9vL1Jc ]Captain cooks drop in[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/le_grande_momo/ ]Matt Cotterill[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/5092/5587619589_b05e23d0ea_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/5092/5587619589_b05e23d0ea_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/9vL1CM ]Blur 4x[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/le_grande_momo/ ]Matt Cotterill[/url], on Flickr

@mick_r - I remember seeing that (I think?) at the first Bristol Bespoke show. Cool bike 🙂

10 years ago is back in the days of single bike ownership!

This one's still being ridden, but now SS and rigid with spangly green paint and moto bars.

Ten Years ago. Salsa El Kaboing. The rear seat stays flexed instead of having a pivot! Was actually a great bike, horrible chainsuck though!

And Now: Banshee Spitfire. Bought at the start of Covid from Pinkbike and immediately got impounded in German customs for 2 months!

It took a little working out as I've had a LOT of bikes in the past 15 years but I have a memory, and a photo somewhere, of riding this one at Whinlatter on the extra bank holiday we got for the Will and Kate wedding which was April 2011.

Mk2 Dialled Prince Albert with Magura forks and a variety of parts that were mish-mashed over about ten bikes over well over a decade. In fact - I've only just retired those Hope Floating Rotors, they must have done nearly 15 years, and I realised they were completely shagged and well below min thickness in the middle of the brake track!

10 years ago, I was riding a medium Blur 4x

I'm pretty sure that was my old bike!

Having a look back, I had these two. My last DH bike, which I clung onto for another 12 months, before realising riding & racing DH in the UK was rubbish. I got a 160mm travel bike (which was also rubbish, and absolutely tiny!), went and did some original UKGE races & had a lot of fun. Ended up still racing DH, just used the Nomad for that as well.

Bikes are a lot better these days 🙂

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

No pictures that I can find, but 10 years ago today I was packing my Cove Shocker to head to Whistler. It had been in bits for months and I sort of threw it back together in a bit of a rush about a week before, and crashed it.

I was leaving a very tired, worn smooth 2006, Spesh Enduro at home.

Had a great time, but watching my mates throw about their Spesh Pitches on the same trails as us with our 9"+ bikes was pretty eye opening, I sold the Shocker (and the Enduro) when I got back and bought a Lapierre Spicy, and was a single-bike rider until a few weeks ago when a mate donated a HT to me.

I love/hate nostalgia, I would have never guessed it's been a decade since that trip, I was massively unfit and broken from a nasty crash I'd had months before, I'd sat on a bike for the first time 8 weeks before I went, I rode my DH bike exactly once, a week previously and crashed pretty badly. I'd hoped and prayed I'd get another 2/3 years of MTBing before my injuries meant I'd have to quit, but here I am, still cleaning mud out of my kit from getting back from Morzine at the weekend.

I'd have never guessed it was a decade ago.

I was on Charge Cooker, my first 29er. Can't find pictures of it but it's this one here

https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/exclusive-charge-cooker-29er/ interesting reading the comments.

I no longer have that one but my love for a steel hardtal remains, currently building up 2 Stanton Sherpa's, one as a big day bike the other as a gravel/rigid/old school mtb/lifestyle type bike.

10 Years ago I was riding this bad boy!!

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/WzQKsTHv/24032012227.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/WzQKsTHv/24032012227.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Only had 2 full sussers, the Orange Five and a Commencal Meta AM. Now riding a Cotic Solaris mk2 but gonna be getting a new FS sometime soon/when stock allows....

10yrs ago I was on a singular hummingbird, which I do regret selling. But 29rs were just becoming a (bigger) thing I jumped from the 26 ship. Prob should have bought a swift, but ended up going canyon.

Now days I'm mainly back on 26... with a Smokestone Bow ti. Although I do still run 29s every now and again on it.

I think it was a Specialized Pitch that kept repeatedly trying to kill components, then it tried to kill me. Great bike, but I ended up hateing it.

Went back to basics with a singular swift after that which was lovely.

10 years ago I was riding...

Almost 10 years to the day, my 2010 Lapierre Spicy at Fort William. Was up for the weekend as volunteer bike patrol/medic for the DH tracks but wind stopped play early on the Saturday. Instead we played around on the practice stuff behind the gondola shed, pushed up to ride half the DH track etc. Amazed that bike stood up to this untalented idiot hitting every bump/hole on (and sometimes off...) the DH tracks run after run for a couple of years:

Then the following weekend, my Gary Fisher Rig 29er SS at SSWC 2011 in Ballyhoura, Ireland. Great memories of that one - the bike and the weekend. My first 29er and I've been on them ever since.

Both bikes long gone. Currently riding my Geometron and have a pile of bits awaiting me deciding on a new short-travel 29er frame:

10 years ago I was riding a jones space frame singlespeed, many other bike have come and gone, but this is still my fave bike ever and gets used at least once a week.

My first bling bike! Finally had a job and a salary after 7 years as student; and having snapped my ACL (didn’t know this until 7 years later!), I was on the hunt for something once I was back up and running (I do have a habit of buying bikes after major injury/illness whilst bored). Nicolai UK had a few frames in stock, without colour choice etc which I totally fell for the discount. I liked it and I was so proud of having something really decent. Reality was it was heavy, and the geometry was not at all confidence inspiring (and look at the height of that BB!)! I’ve still got the same wheelset (!) on my Banshee Spitfire v2 - a whole different and more rideable beast (not that I’ve ridden it for over a year, preferring my Niner Gravel and Stanton Sherpa).

https://i.postimg.cc/yx6BMbbz/A1993877-1-D68-4-F74-ABD4-5-C5741-C1-A061.pn g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/yx6BMbbz/A1993877-1-D68-4-F74-ABD4-5-C5741-C1-A061.pn g"/> [/img][/url]" alt="Scott" />

10 years ago I was riding this Scott which I bought second hand. Looked crap but was light and fast. Shortly after it got relegated to a winter bike as I bought a new Zesty.

Nice to see the thread still going, and equally surprising how far the bikes have come over that 10 year period.

That's not to say new is better as clearly there are a lot of older 26" bikes under riders that are far more capable than me (for example) on a newer LLS or whatever bike from the last couple of years.

Having said that, some of the short and steep bikes look decidedly unfit for purpose when you think about how much lateral movement there is on a newer bike when riding over technical terrain now.

What is comfortable to ride over now would probably have the same rider on the floor on some of the older bikes.

Maybe I'd best leave my old 26" bike in bits 😀

2011 just moved to Herefordshire so decided I needed one of those new fangled All Mountain Bikes. Enter the Pace 405. HA looks so steep now!

https://flic.kr/p/55LFfZ

Then I bought a Orange ST4 which I loved. Until it ate itself in the Pyrenees. Orange sent me the new model but I never liked it as much.

https://flic.kr/p/7EACMV

Since then, well I've had a lot. My longest serving is my RipMo v1 and my latest is the Revel Rascal. Almost every bike in between has been better than the last. Except maybe the fat bike 😉

https://flic.kr/p/2kWRfBZ

https://flic.kr/p/2mhCLFy

A Kona One20 Scandium which was a touch too small for me and very very twitchy.

I was mainly riding with the Boggies on a Saturday - I think this was Worsthorne way
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/44rwfSfm/image-2021-08-18-172324.pn g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/44rwfSfm/image-2021-08-18-172324.pn g"/> [/img][/url]

Pic courtesy of SFB

I'm going to cheat a bit as I'm intrigued and slightly amazed just how relatively recently it is that bikes have changed. Must only be the last 5 years really.

Here is the first build of the best frame I've sold.

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/Z0BHhyDw/bikeold1.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/Z0BHhyDw/bikeold1.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

That was 1999 and not really much different to a further 10 years. Rear disk tabs being the obvious one missing on the Zaskar but geometry didn't change too much.

I rebuilt it in 2009 to the below, including an A2Z rear disk bracket thing. A bit of a bodge but it worked and the bike as was flew round the original Cannock Chase trails, where that pic was taken.
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/Zv8y5ZN5/DSC00039.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/Zv8y5ZN5/DSC00039.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Loved the rear stickers, probably very un-pc now.
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/47STHhz8/DSC00041.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/47STHhz8/DSC00041.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Then its final build in 2012 before the foolish sale
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/G89WRhZv/zaskar-road-1.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/G89WRhZv/zaskar-road-1.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Had loads of other bikes in between but mostly with the same bits swapped over. Most memorable were a Carbon 456, Ragley Piglet (for the wrong reasons - it was a tank), few road bikes (all too big for me, strange).

The one mainstay was the SC Superlight. Bought the first frame in 2000, 6 months after building the Zaskar and after only one ride on my mates Heckler (so much faster than the Zaskar). Only replaced the frame in 2007 (when it developed a crack) with the one in my original pic, and that has been with me ever since. Stripped it down in 2016 I believe to replace it with an Ibis Mojo SLR, bought second hand here and that was when the real change in bikes started as that was replaced by a NS Snabb 130 plus 1 in 2017.

The NS was supposed to be just a play thing as it was bought half price in CRCs sale. Turned out it rode so much better than the Mojo, despite being 6lb heavier as a full build, and was the first time I went onto a 29" wheel.

Happy to post pics of bikes up if anybody is interested 🙂

Took me a while to find the images. These are from 2010, when I was spannering in my LBS and riding shit loads.

3rd iteration of my favouritest bike ever a HL Turner 5spot. Owned from 2005 untill 2012. I had stripped the aftermarket paint I had previously put on it, and turned it into a coil monstered 1x9. Its was a spectacular rock crawler and descender for the time.

And my penultimate singlespeed - a Ti 456, which got slammed everywhere. The original Stans Crest rims lasted about 2 weeks before needing truing, and that 120mm reba was constantly bouncing off the stops. Could have done with a bigger fork tbh, but cash was tight. Never the less I enjoyed this bike immensely.

Almost my last 26ers, to be followed by a gen1 solaris Max singlespeed in 2011 and a geared Turner DW 5spot that I hated in 2012.

Actually, I think the Reba was 100mm!

Real shame there isn't a like option for threads like this.

Forgot I had a 456 EVO II in raw at some point. That was a cool looking bike and rode very well. Don't seem to have any pictures of it though.