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This will come as no surprise to many of you, but I thought I'd write it down anyway.
I bought my first MTB in 1994 ish and rode pretty consistently until maybe 2015 ish when I initially turned into a roadie and then a runner.
Well, last week I was in the Cannock Chase area and so thought I'd dig out some old kit and hire a bike, a Trek Remedy 7 I think.
My gosh it was good.
The tyres. What a revelation they are. Big, well cushioned and so, so much grip. Ridiculous and they got me out of trouble so many times.
And the suspension. You don't notice it, in a really good way. No bobbing on the climbs, but deals with any bumps or ruts and means you can go so much quicker than you thought possible.
The gears. They just work, whether you're pushing on the pedals or making hasty, ill advised multiple changes on an uphill sections, they just click in. Magnificent.
Dropper posts. I was cynical, the last time I used one I didn't quite get it. But by God they are good. Though I still think a button to drop it rather having to sit on it to make it go down would make them even better.
Geometry. Stable down hill, confidence inspiring downhill, climbs well, fun, just massively smile inducing.
So yeah, probably what you all know already, but anyway modern bikes are ace.
Ummm...
How odd !
Eh??
Eek, never copy and paste of a work PC. Updated...
If you work in commercial or High Net Worth insurance, drop me a note in confidence to hear more, or just click on the link in the comments.
My wife works for the NFU - good luck with finding someone!! Decent people with good insurance knowledge are a rare breed now.
My wife regularly moans about NFU underwriters! 🙂
Hah hah, now that's slightly better.
Where have you been half your life ? You are very late to the party.
N+1 time?
Just back from an Alps trip with a bunch of mates where nobody had a puncture. Not s single puncture.
Meaning no disrespect to the hire centre, or to trek remedy 7s in general… but you haven’t even experienced the best yet.
Meaning no disrespect to the hire centre, or to trek remedy 7s in general… but you haven’t even experienced the best yet.
I know that, absolutely. But even a mid range bike is so much better than the top end machine I bought 10 or 12 years ago. I was just astonished how much better literally everything on it was.
I'm with you on this brother! Put my MTBs down in 2012, took up road biking and then work stress, now back on the MTBs this year and wow what a change. So good that n+1 has already kicked in and the 2nd hand market for 2020 onwards bikes is a buyers dream cos analogue bikes are worthless now 😁
I heard sandy plenty refer to them as 'acoustic' bikes on the downtime podcast which I'd not heard before 🙂
I'm surprised no one has jumped in to say that they bought their last bike in 1999 and it's every bit as good now as it was then. Everything since is just a 'skills compensator'
Meaning no disrespect to the hire centre, or to trek remedy 7s in general… but you haven’t even experienced the best yet.
surely that’s the point. Even middling bikes are great now!
I heard sandy plenty refer to them as ‘acoustic’ bikes on the downtime podcast which I’d not heard before
Hopefully you won't hear it again as those who use the term will be swallowed up by a massive sink hole or struck by lightning or something. 👍 😊
Hopefully you won’t hear it again as those who use the term will be swallowed up by a massive sink hole or struck by lightning or something. 👍
Along with 'analogue'.
Stop posting this stuff! 😂
I haven't bought a new mountain bike since 2015 and there's a funny little itch developing to buy something I don't strictly "need". 🤔
I haven't even got a proper LLS one yet...
I didn't experience as big a difference as I'd thought I might going from a short reach older frame to my current longer/slacker one (5 years of "improvement" between the two) - was expecting more of a revelation tbh! The extra reach is nice for pedaling in the saddle. It's planted and stable downhill but somehow didn't seem as fun to me. May have just overbiked myself for what and where I'm riding though which could be making it feel a bit cumbersome. I haven't even got bigger wheels yet either!
Agreed.
My MTBs are about 10 years old. I like them very much.
My gravel bike is younger.
Compared with the bikes I rode in the 70s, 80s, and 90s these are great!
Still tempted by a progressive e-bike. Maybe one day.
My mate is proper old school and is riding an old Litespeed, 26” and 2 by with no dropper and tubed. He won’t even buy new mtb clothing unless it’s black! I’ve been trying to get him to upgrade to a dropper at the very least but he’s always been steadfast that he’s fine with what he has and new stuff is no improvement.
That was until his rear hub failed at Degla and he had to hire a bike off them for a day.
It was a lightbulb moment for him and he spent the rest of the trip telling us how good modern bikes are!
garage-dweller
Full Member
Stop posting this stuff! 😂I haven’t bought a new mountain bike since 2015
Pfft. 2015 is modern!
2015 is modern!
Mine is positively futuristic as a 2017 model.... 😎
I found the difference between my 2009 and 2016 bike to be massive. My 2022 bike moves things on again, but perhaps not to such a great extent.
Modern bikes just give me the confidence to throw them down things. Technique is still needed, but they make the margin for error bigger, and are more forgiving if I get it wrong or lose concentration.
I have often wondered this – my MTB is a Specialised Enduro S-Works (the first one with the 'Brain' to partially lock the rear suspension until it hit a rut then it would release the full travel). I guess it is around 20 years old now but at the time it was pretty well much considered one of the best MTBs available. However I look at the new bikes and watch them flying around places like Dalby Forest – they just look so much better without even riding one.
Perhaps STW should do a back-to-back review old versus new?
Would you like to see a back to back comparison between a 2007 Patriot 7+ and a 2023 Nukeproof Reactor?
God yeah, modern bikes are amazing. Everything is pretty much sorted, suspension works, is tuneable (and makes a difference) and most suss frames have designs that have some thought behind them. The SRAM 1X on mine has lasted ages, and largely just gets on with it, dropper seat posts, brakes...all sorted, tyres that actually grip...
In comparison to the stuff we rode back in the nineties and noughties...Night and Day
Would you like to see a back to back comparison between a 2007 Patriot 7+ and a 2023 Nukeproof Reactor?
My first trip to Whistler was on a Patriot 7+. I'd gladly write an article comparing one to my current bike but I'd really need to go back to the same trails to compare. If STW have the travel budget I'll get right on it.
Pfft. 2015 is modern!
My non boost wheels and narrow rear tyre clearance are trying to persuade me otherwise 🤔
You're right it is modern ish and actually it's really nice to ride but then I thought that about my 2009, 456 until I bought this.
sorry you rode a bike, what are you doing posting on here :0)
In't this modern anymore then!!?... 🤔 🤣
@sharkattack feel free to pop down to South Wales, you can ride mine back to back with whatever you have now 🙂
@sharkattack feel free to pop down to South Wales, you can ride mine back to back with whatever you have now 🙂
I'd definitely do some BPW laps on it! Mine survived a month in Whistler, a Megavalanche and about a dozen uplift days. I think I replaced it with a Charge Blender.
sorry you rode a bike, what are you doing posting on here :0)
I mean, I don't do it very much so I think I'm still OK here. My most used bike last year was my cargo bike FFS...
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Noto Sans', sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';">Perhaps STW should do a back-to-back review old versus new?</span>
GMBN & GCN are literally full of content like that.