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I was soooooooo ahead of the game. Dura Ace Octalink BB, Coda Expert cranks, TA Specialite rings. [b]BOOM[/b] Take that fashion!!
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Pfffftttttt I was 1x8 in 2002, with a chain device.
I was significatly fitter though.
1x8 is pretty ambitious
In '01 I was rocking 1x7. I was poor but wanted to look cool....
used to do my paperround on a 1 x 8 marin b17 - race Downhill sunday , change the tires sunday night - back on the paperround on monday.
photos of that bike still taped to inside of lid of my toolbox.
1x8 is pretty ambitious
It was a 38t single ring to an 11-28 too! Like I said, significantly fitter!
It was on a DMR trailstar, with 130mm forks, and DH tyres.
Somehow I used to keep up with the local Xc group rides (which mostly consisted of lost roadies!).
2x8 back around '95 here. Mostly used on the Plain, so there wasn't any real need for the granny ring.
Also, in the summer, I was rocking (as de yoot dem say) these;
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Fast as a very, very fast thing. Never, and I repeat NEVER take them out in anything even vaguely moist. If a gnat has just sneezed, change them.
Ritchey did a 2x9 system back in the late 1990s 8 speed era. They used their own gripshift front shifter, and added a larger cog to a standard 8 speed cassette. See pages 4-5 of the [url= http://www.oldmountainbikes.com/catalogs/ritchey/1997/1997RitcheyComponents.pdf ]1997 Ritchey Catalog.[/url]
I was rocking 2x7 in this photo in MBUK in 1991:
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I remember this arguably sad fact because I tried a Stronglight 2x cyclocross crankset for a short while. This short while happened to include a DH race at Beedlegert, which was basically just a fireroad all the way down and my tiny top gear was totally useless and I was waaay down the field. Oh well....least I got in MBUK. I bent the cranks shortly after and that was the end of that experiment for around 15 years.
My 1998 XC bike - 17" Chameleon, 710mm Azonic bars, 60mm stem, Z1 110mm, big Kujo DH tyres on D521s, 1x8 with a 34T chainring. Long seatpost. Used for the jumps at the local 4x track, DH runs and long XC rides. Not much new in today's hardcore hardtails ) well apart from discs.. After doing more XC than jumps, having to walk a few climbs etc it had 22-34 with a bash ring.
Walleater, top retro pic!
Hoops, I'll join you there! Cannondale f800 with Middleburn cranks 2x8 then my Saracen killi flier 2x8.
Cannondale - 1997-2000
Killi - 2000 - now sat cracked in my shed
'twas the way forward!