MtB Innovations You Secretly Wish Didn't Die

Bar ends on a SS are like having another gear......yet I've never used them on mine. Suz on the otherhand loves'em.

 

Had them on the folding suitcase bike for touring hand positions 6 years ago. Used as another gear it endoed over the back too easy.

 

Pretty sure I would not survived some of my SS rides without the bar ends I had those cane creek the capped right over the end.

 

Asked about riding at night; "can you see the stars?" "Yep planets too, if you bend over far enough you may see Uranus."

 

Biopace!
Marzocchi

 

Biopace isn't dead! Oval chainrings are real!

RIP Marzocchi. Yes, the Foxzocchi is Marzocchi-ish, but still not the same.

 

Boone SS Ti cogs; voila, they're back.

 

I own both those Cane Creek ends and the older version of Spirgrip inner bar ends. I don't love the look of the CC on wide bars, but they do help. The Spirgrips are unlikely to ever leave whatever bike I am going to use for lots of climbing. Last week at Blackstar, I saw a guy rocking the ti version of those old school Onza bar ends. They could almost double as hand guards. Got a special place in my heart for Onza bar ends.

Biopace =/= modern ovals, thankfully. I had Biopace on my '89 Stumpjumper, and it was part of what made me go 1x even back then. I like the new ovals, (But I think the best benefit comes from switching back and forth between round and oval.)

I miss short cage RDs. I'm stocking up on Zee, (essentially short cage SLX) but 10 speed parts are going away. I realize dinner plate cassettes require a longer cage, but I'm fine with 38-42 max, and those don't need 52t-capable-draggin'-in-the-dirt cages. Maybe in a few years, they'll make AXS ThuperBooseDoublePlusGood HighClearance Mini-cages as the new "Innovation" (Or we'll all have gear boxes?)

Mostly, though, I'm happy to see bad stuff going away. Coming from BMX, I never understood why it took so damn long to shed the roadie tech/knowledge that infested mtbs since the beginning. Quill stems, canti brakes, skinny rims, and absurd, crotchbusting standovers never need to come back. Hell, when I got back into the sport in 2014, I was shocked that we weren't 100% tubeless, 1x, and wireless drivetrained. I'm a classic late adopter, but even I had a bluetooth phone in '05. Seems like we should have had AXS back in 2010.

 

I'm kinda the opposite. I have no use for 1x. I used it for a couple years. It doesn't do what I need it to do.

The narrower tires? Less than 2.6"? Most of what I ride - which is not what most ride - requires nothing more than 2.4" up front and 2.0 - 2.2" in back. With no rear suspension. Often with no front suspension and 40mm tires on each end..

I think this gets filed under "to each their own."

 

Skinny rims. Remember the absurd rims that were really too small for the gigantic 1.9" tires we put on them? As a BMXer used to wide rims, the late 80s, early 90s road width rims, (that shops thought were mtb appropriate,) drove me nuts. Modern gravel tires rival the size of old mtb tires, and my current road bike has a wider inner diameter than my old Stumpjumper's outer diameter.

 

I have them on my Cyclepro, hanging in my barn.

 

Which? I never had Bio Pace, but I did have some great Marzocchi forks.

 

My cousin on the other side of the country recently sent me this... Bio Pace lives!

Steel is real...

 

Looks like my circa 1988 Apex, but that one is a 1986 based on the rollercam brakes AIR.

 

Me too......

Loved my '99 Z1 QR20 Coil 130mm

Loved my ''03 Shiver 190mm

 

Was the Shiver on one of your Bullits?

 

Yup.....my '04. I ended up turning it into more of a DH bike since I had a hardtail and XC rig at the time.

 

The paint color is very close to my mid-80s Schwinn. I guess everyone wanted to copy Bianchi green...

 

You guys. It's Ford Light Jade!! Anti-metallic, hides scratches and dirt; USFS approved.



IFS? Hell no.

 

Not an innovation but I miss silver color on bikes; rims, hubs, frames, bars, components. Silver anodized or polished. Bikes are all black now. They all look alike.

I miss SunTour components, especially their thumb shifters. Simple and light.

What I miss most are prices when a really good bike was easily under a grand...yes, I’m old. ‍

 

I miss when SR Suntour was viable competition to Shimano, but at least SRAM more or less stepped into that roll. Remember in the late80s, early 90s, they were just the kooky gripshift guys.

I too miss shiny parts, and I hate the Henry Ford colorway, (Any-color-you-want-as-long-as-its-black.)

Velocity still offers their rims in silver, (both polished and satin,) and Shimano occasionally offers silver hubs in Europe. For my 2015 road bike build, I got German XT hubs laced to Stans Arch EX rims that they briefly made in a matching satin silver. Industry 9 used to offer beautiful polished rims/hubs with contrasting black spokes, but they said no one bought them. Until they moved from Fresno to Oregon, Project321 would anodize rims in various colors. I have polished, clear ano Stans on my full sus. For my future wheel builds I'm going to have to hand polish the rims/hubs. One nice thing about Aluminum over Carbon is the ability to turn it all silver. There's a Swedish guy who goes by the name Dangerholm who goes very extreme in his polishing, even doing linkages, fork crowns, and lowers:

 

I stopped building with Black spokes several years ago. I like the silver spokes, then add a splash of color on the nipples.

Ano or satin silver were great.....can't stand polished. Salsa had some Gordo's that were polished and they reminded me of cheap steel beach cruiser hoops.

 

love that u brake .

 

I had one on an '86 Fat Chance too. Never could understand the aversion to them.

 

They still use them on BMX Freestyle bikes, (when they run brakes at all.) They get the job done.

 

That thing is mint! Still have my 91’ Diamondback. Very similar build, except for the adjustable stem.

 

that's what she said

 

I liked bar ends, back when it rained the chaparral would burst and hang over the trail. They kept my hands from impact. But those days are gone, for now. Just in case I have the bar ends on the Frankenbike. Color purple, just like the REI Ponderosa.
Happy blast from the past trails

 

That looks suspiciously like my 1969 Ford Ranger. Three on the tree, rather large engine under the hood. Mine was more of a Vietnam-era army tan, though.

 

A metal truck, right on. I killed my girlfriend’s dad’s...if he only knew. Then I got a ‘77 4x just like the one pictured. Broke my 20-something heart to sell it for college. Not as much metal as yours but still felt like a truck.