[Closed] a longing for simpler times?

Jumpers for goalposts

The war?

Serfdom?

Plague?

the thwack of leather on willow with a pint of English ale in late may as the swallows arrive.............

not a great cricket fan nor retro tasticisms,

personally I love full suspension bikes with disc brakes, 29er tyres, still use water bottles, better tyres, shimano shifters

less fashion, well the 70s and 80s were awash with fashion and trendsetting, the 90s had lycra and grunge though not at the same time

fashion is what you make it ...see £11.00 CRC Fly shorts thread,

sorry Ton I do not miss V brkaes nor 135mm stems or 72 degree headangles with rigid forks............

Jazz mags hidden in the hedges along public footpaths.

No.It was shit.

mid life approaching ton?
you know the best music was in the 80's dontcha?

Jazz mags hidden in the hedges along public footpaths.

did I miss that in the north ❓

full rigid bikes, canti or vee brakes, less maintenance, less tyre choice, less wheel sizes, less fashion, deore thumbies, water bottles, Dunlop green flash, dawes galaxy tourer offroading, yha ctc holidays.

I couldn't wait to upgrade my rigid bike. When the first guy from our group turned up on a ride with bouncy forks I rode his bike about a 100 yards before knowing I was off to the shops the next day, full suss took a little longer. Cantis and Vees take way more maintenance than disks, Tyre choice is limited to what is on special offer, I still have the same wheel size as I have had for over 20 years of MTBing, still occasionally ride with a water bottle. Its as simple as you want to make it

No.It was shit.

says mr 'full rigid ss'er'........... 😆

Ah yes, simpler times when teenagers got their pron fix from the top shelf "electric blue" collection in their local vhs rental shop....as opposed to the grot on offer just one click away 😀

I also miss the sound of a ford/British Leyland/DAF/Fiat owner cursing their luck every morning as they try to coax their car into life at the slightest hint of a frost.... 🙂

(happy days, seriously)

I mean this nicely: It's up to you really, you can have any of the above if you like. You don't have to engage in fashion or wheel sizes if you don't want to, it's your choice what and how you engage...join the Rough Stuff fellowship, buy all your stuff from SJS and knock yourself out! (Not criticising RSF or SJS, they're great)

V-brakes and less maintenance don't belong in the same sentence though...

The joy of the current cycling 'scene' is the sheer amount of choice.

If you want a 33-speed, full carbon wunder bike with electric this and adjustable that and a different set of wheels and tyres for every occasion then great, go for it.

If not, just build a single speed rigid, steel back-to-basics beastie with a set of all round treads and off you go.

It's what you make of it, sacked off full suss a few years back and only came back this Autumn when I bough the Kili Flyer, now totally back into my trail; riding again and loving the bouncy life.

It's what you make of it.

Did Electric Blue survive into the digital age? Must be a demographic now around 40 years old with a hankering for the good old days, willing to hand over their credit card details in return for disappointment.....

Totally agree Tony

Won't there be a glut of second hand stuff like this somewhere - like ebay, or in most coal sheds? - fill your boots. However, as expressed above don't long for these times across the board. Nostalgia treats memories too well.

I ride way more now as the kit as evolved to the point where excuses are zip.

I ride way more now as the kit as evolved to the point where excuses are zip.

I have always ridden the same.
same hill/trails/mountains as I did in the 80's on a full rigid canti clad bike.
the lakes/dales/wales/wherever have not got any bigger/steeper/rougher.

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

full rigid bikes - still ace
canti or vee brakes, - shit, disc brakes are the best thing to ever happen to MTBing.
less maintenance, - wrong
less tyre choice, - shit
less wheel sizes, - meh
less fashion, - wrong (bula hats, vision street wear, etc etc)
deore thumbies, - ace
water bottles, - still ace
Dunlop green flash, - shit
dawes galaxy tourer offroading, - stupid
yha ctc holidays. - meh

Remind me how much a set of Grafton cantilever brakes cost, I'm not sure I want to go back 😯

Nostalgia, it ain't what it used to be.

I've got little time for it frankly, it's so much rose tinted bullshit - there's very, very little from the past that isn't available today, but the huge, vast majority of people don't care - because progress is almost always positive.

[i]a longing for simpler times?[/i]

Back then, time seemed to pass at a slower rate, or at least none of us were in [i]that[/i] much of a hurry.
Many folk of a certain age, seem to have a predisposition to remember the best things about yesterday. Whether we were born that way or whether that's a result of growing older, I'm not sure.

"[i]Hey, you know, everybody's talkin' about the good old days, right
Everybody, the good old days, the good old days
Well, let's talk about the good old days.
Oh, why does it seem the past is always better
We look back and think
The winters were warmer
The grass was greener
The skies were bluer
And smiles were bright[/i]"

[img] [/img]

This. This was the last time bikes were capable of doing all the riding I want to the way I want to whilst still being compatible with almost every spare part on the market and cost less than £2k. Before this bikes didn't really have enough travel and were a bit scary- they could manage but they weren't as much fun. Since this standards have gone mental and it's all too complicated.

[i] Rubber_Buccaneer - Member

Remind me how much a set of Grafton cantilever brakes cost, I'm not sure I want to go back[/i]

You appear to unintentionally make a good point. You see, back then, most probably couldn't afford such kit, but it didn't stop us getting on with doing what we enjoyed. Extrapolate that attitude and you find that in certain circles, it's cool to ride old equipment and still arrive in one piece.
😉

full rigid bikes, canti or vee brakes, less maintenance, less tyre choice, less wheel sizes, less fashion, deore thumbies, water bottles, Dunlop green flash, dawes galaxy tourer offroading, yha ctc holidays.

sorry for reminding you of days past, but I long for em..... 😐

Surely you can have most of that. Sell all your non-compliant stuff and fill your boots on ebay. It'll be 1985 before you know it.

Them Ever Ready lights. Frankly there's the biggest evolution right there. I could ride a bike with V-brakes and a 150mm stem but I'd be damned if I could ride in the dark with those things with battery acid all up the insides.

Progress.

@munrobiker

See, I owned of that's bikes 'kids' a 2006 Enduro - it also did everything I wanted it to do in the way I wanted it to do and all those other things you mentioned it was a BRILLIANT bike and even though it was 'triggers broom' when I finally gave it up, I loved it - I kept it for 5 years, and it was pretty much my only bike for those years aside from a couple of DH bikes I rarely rode.

I was genuinely sad to see it go but I got a bit fed up of how it climbed, it was very worn out - nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of TLC but lots of little jobs sort of arrived at the same time so it went and I bought a Lapierre Spicy 516 - to be fair not an all time classic - but the change was night and day, climbed better, turned a LOT faster despite a much slacker head angle, was faster over the rough stuff - oh and you could drop the forks without smashing your pedals on every stroke - there was nothing that my Spesh did that the Lapierre didn't do better - and most importantly forgetting all the 'on paper' factors - it was more fun to ride, the extra ability filled in more of the gaps between the fast stuff and slow stuff and gave more of that illusive stuff - flow.