Yesterday I hopped on my (not used for months) 26" 456 to pedal down to the gym.
I used to love this bike, it felt stable and like it could crush anything my meagre skills could contemplate. Yesterday it felt oddly twitchy and head down arse up.
The regular bike now is a 2015 Camber which is nowhere near modern LLS but it is ridiculously better and is pretty much the only MTB I've ridden for a while.
It got me thinking that the fork is knackered on the 456 and I need a hardtail my son can ride on family trips to CyB or the Peak etc. or just a day in the South Downs. I'm worried now that if I get a middling LLS hardtail that it's going to ruin the Camber for ever like it ruined the 456!
Lots of perception/ adjustment of expectation here as I've not really ridden much on the Camber that I wouldn't have attempted on the 456, although I am getting older. 😟
More rambling thoughts than any particular point to make other than things really do get better even if the endless march of different "standards" is infuriating.
Just back from Finale, been going there since 2007 or so, always as a group of friends. Of the 8 of us, the only mechanicals were a front puncture, quickly plugged, and a snapped chain. That's the big change for me, thinking back to when we first went, we'd have bikes in for repair every day, loads of stops for punctures, etc. Bikes really are so much better.
As to your other point, I bought a longer, slacker hardtail years back, and it did exactly what you said, made my full suss feel timy, and ended in me buying a series of Geometrons😁
even if the endless march of different “standards” is infuriating.
If standards had stayed the same we'd mostly still be riding bikes that too upright, with teeny wheels, no? The move to better bikes is almost entirely the result of the constant march of "different standards"
I ride stuff now I'd never have got down previously, I'm not sure I'm a much better rider than I used to be.
I used to have a terry dolan road bike, 2x7, downtube shifters, tubs, single pivot brakes, absolute max tyre size of 25c. It weighed 8.9kg.
Fast forward several decades, i now have a carbon gravel bike, with 2x12 di2, 700x40 and room for more, disc brakes, and the ability to fit a kickstand and rack. It weighs 8.9kg, and it’s easier to ride.