I decided to mix things up and ride my old bikes this week. It was quite interesting.
I'll say that things have changed a Lot!!!
Monday I rode my regular 2013 Santa Cruz Tallboy LT, which has been upraded with a few XTR parts, it was the pretty regular fun ride, climbs pretty easy, decends well, all the stuff you'd expect from a 5.5 inch travel 29er.
Yesterday I decided to take out the 2003 Specialized Epic 26er, this bike has about 100mm of travel with the Brain rear suspension that locks things out. It also has a very mixed shifting group, with Deore disc brakes. So this bike feels lighter and spins the wheels easier. It feels much closer to the ground and has a much more aggressive rider forward position, so I kept feeling like I was gonna go over the bars. I did find that even though it's a 3x9, I stayed in the middle ring for most everything, but I could tell it took more pedal strokes to go the same distance. Having Shimano brakes vs Avids on my 29er, this thing stops better and more consistant with no fade and much firmer feel, despite being 11 years old and never bled.
Today I decided to take out the 1992 Bridgestone MB-2. This bike has a few period upgrades from how it came. It has a Manitou 3 fork, which has about 80mm of travel with rubber bumpers, one side has been upgraded to the spring from the Manitou 4. A USE shock post, which also uses rubber bumpers to take the sting out of the seat. I also switched to Rapid fire for the rear shifter from the original friction shifter. Home made brake boosters for the old DiaComp cantellivers. At first I wondered why it was so slow, thinking I had a dragging brake, but I think the crank bearing are tight, sucking up a ton of energy. Aside from only having 8 gears it climbed ok due to being a hardtail. Geometry was similar to the Specialized, with both feeling pretty twitchy on the trail and almost turning to well.
My take on technology progress is this, from 92 to 03 the shifting, braking and fork technology is lightyears different, but geometry wasn't hugely different. From 03 to 13, shifting, brake, and fork hasn't changed significantly, however bike geometry, comfort and rideability has moved light years. 29ers really do go over stuff much easier, dropper posts are the shit!, wider bars are great. I have some ideas to make the Specialized ride better when I loan it to my Dad, friends or visitors. The MB-2 will stay the same for old times sake, but I do think I need a light Carbon 1x11 Hard Tail for the stable. That bike will be a China frame, rigid fork to start, China Carbon wheels and go with the new XTR 1x11 when its available. Then add a 140mm Float or Talas.
