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In a time before Down-Country there was an other MTB niche with not-much-travel but built for fun.
Remember reading this when it came out and the style of bike appealed but I never had the funds. A few years later and a Commencal Hip Hop showed up in the classifieds and it had to be mine. Bit more travel at the back but not much different to those 4x bikes.
https://singletrackmag.com/2014/05/commencal-meta-hip-hop-2/
Modern 29ers show up the climbing ability as incredibly poor but the agility on the descents is incredible. Only bike I've ever felt comfortable getting (slightly) airbourne on. It will probably be the bike I take when I get round to going to BPW or similar.
I had a Kona Howler (like the Bass, but a bit lighter and without the BB pivot point), it was great fun for pretty much everything from XC to mini DH and dirt jumps and even a bit of 4X and duel.
I basically wanted an XC bike (turns out what I really wanted would have been a Downcountry bike) that was strong enough to thrash down everything that my DH bike was too big for or needed pedalling.
As the article said, they were too short and steep (weren’t most bikes back then) and even the Gravity Dropper hadn’t really taken off yet.
The frame is still in the barn and I might build it up sometime seeing as I still have a set of 150mm Z1 Freeride forks and some Dirt Jumper 1s (although they’re still on the jump/pump/Dadcountry bike and see regular use).
Here was me thinking how old, tall, short and upright they all look...and then I pulled up a picture of my new bike in March 2009.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/3591/3360080935_cba7c3f553_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/3591/3360080935_cba7c3f553_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/67VhZV ]Orange ST4[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/ ]Matt[/url], on Flickr
So bikes for enjoying (man made) trails rather than race times - something I’m fully a fan of.
over 30lbs, and that’s with tiny wheels, tiny cassettes and no droppers.
and close to 2k for an alloy frame a decade and a half ago.
when people whine that bikes were better before and the industry these days is ripping us off with overweight/overbuilt half arsed designs, I shall refer them to this article.
Interesting old review. The thing that gets me is the cost of just the frame/shock combo. Seeing as you can get a half decent bike for that sort of money now, crazy. Although I do appreciate the frames were niche even at the time and two of the manufacturers are also niche.
The Xprezo is built the opposite way to how Cotic do things isn't it? I think they use steel for the front triangle and aluminium for the rear end.
Shame there isn't a bike version of the car 'how many left' website (which looks to be down at the moment). I doubt there's many of those Commencals left 😀
over 30lbs, and that’s with tiny wheels, tiny cassettes and no droppers.
and close to 2k for an alloy frame a decade and a half ago.when people whine that bikes were better before and the industry these days is ripping us off with overweight/overbuilt half arsed designs, I shall refer them to this article.
I think peak "HOW MUCH!!!" has passed for now.
Stupid bikes like that £20k S-Works have always existed in one form or another, maybe less mainstream brands, but they've always been there. The bigger problem was 2015-2020-ish, before the Rockshox 35, Marzocchi Z2 etc. The options for reasonably priced bikes just disappeared. There was the odd Bossnut, or Marin did something similar. But on the whole the 'entry level' to bikes with 12 gears and non-steel stanchioned suspension was heading toward £3k! £2k+ was buying you rockshox Judy forks, and NX/SX gearing that fell apart. £3k-£4k might have been buying amazing bikes with Pikes / Lyrics / 36 / XT / XX etc but nothing had trickled down and the leap forward in frame design made 2nd hand unappealing.
I think Shimano releasing 12s Deore, and Sram the RS35 probably forced SRAM to sell GX at a more affordable price point and Fox to make the Z2. And from that point on I don't think we've ever had it so good for 'entry level' bikes.
Had a Meta 4X, genuinely one of the most fun, and surprisingly capable, bike I've ever owned.
Did everything from p**sing around in the woods, trail centres and even big mountain rides (the joys of being in your 20s and able to stand up to pedal for prolonged periods).
Wish I’d never sold my Blur 4X sometimes…
A properly capable, versatile bike!
For the time. It'll look tall, short and twitchy as hell these days.
I built up my old DH bike over Covid. It was awesome back in the day but now it's such a different shape to my trail/enduro bike that it's borderline unrideable, certainly for what it was intended for.
I think peak "HOW MUCH!!!" has passed for now.
Stupid bikes like that £20k S-Works have always existed in one form or another, maybe less mainstream brands, but they've always been there. The bigger problem was 2015-2020-ish, before the Rockshox 35, Marzocchi Z2 etc. The options for reasonably priced bikes just disappeared. There was the odd Bossnut, or Marin did something similar. But on the whole the 'entry level' to bikes with 12 gears and non-steel stanchioned suspension was heading toward £3k! £2k+ was buying you rockshox Judy forks, and NX/SX gearing that fell apart. £3k-£4k might have been buying amazing bikes with Pikes / Lyrics / 36 / XT / XX etc but nothing had trickled down and the leap forward in frame design made 2nd hand unappealing.
I think Shimano releasing 12s Deore, and Sram the RS35 probably forced SRAM to sell GX at a more affordable price point and Fox to make the Z2. And from that point on I don't think we've ever had it so good for 'entry level' bikes.
In 2016 (I think) I bought my first full suspension bike. A bird aeris for which I paid a fraction over 2k. I deliberately got it just over 2k as I had paid exactly 2k for my car and wanted the bike to cost more.
that got me a pike, xt drivetrain (or possibly xt shift and deore mech), zee 4 piston brakes and dot Swiss wheels. admittedly No dropper as I was moving my existing one from my hardtail.
Geo and most of the spec still competitive today, although the bike was not without its flaws.
you could get a Capra (with unserviceable boss forks), a very heavy Meta, or a canyon something or other for similar money.
id give the direct sales brands (and crc grey imports) more credit than sram/shimano for getting us cheap good bikes
Yea, direct sales growth should get some credit as well, though they existed before then as well. Especially Bird bringing in what was at the time really out-there geometry at a sensible price.
Partially it was definitely because the rapid adoption of 29ers and long/slack geometry just made 2nd hand bikes unappealing. So I think there was a delay while manufacturers probably capitalized on a boom selling upmarket frames with the new standards before trickling it down. That probably applied both to component manufacturers and bike companies with the faster turnover of direct sales probably meaning they trickled down quicker.