The GT Zaskar bike model used to be my main bike throughout the nineties. It was the first all 'round bike that could do it all. As a matter of fact, it is the only bike model that has won in all mountain bike disciplines: cross country, downhill, dual slalom and, of course, World Cup Trials. |
This particular Zaskar, I used during one of my early adventure trips in 1995 and '96 to Machu Pichu, Peru, and also in the TV Series "Pacific Blue," when I got to play myself in a few episodes, and when I busted a big 360 from the Redondo Beach pier. I also used to compete in some trials comps on that bike. The bike had the classic Spin wheels and the big chainring was replaced with a rock ring from Amazing Toys. Good memories with that bike. |
This was probably my first full-face helmet. Until around that time (my guess is mid '90s), everybody was riding regular XC helmets and even pads weren't used. Funny how this helmet reminds me of modern-day Enduro helmets with a removable chin guard, especially when considering that Enduro races today are basically old-school downhills that require lots of pedaling. This helmet seems rather flimsy by today's standards, but it was a start, and Troy Lee has always been on the cutting edge. |
The Tioga disc wheel was a big hit before rear-suspension bikes took off. John Tomac and Greg Herbold made those wheels popular. I was always amazed how they were holding up, since there are no traditional spokes used, and nothing more is to it than the eye can see. The "spider web" design was very strong and really softened the rear end up, I loved the way they cornered and I felt good about the potential aerodynamics. Those wheels were quite expensive - I want to say around $1000 - at a time when a good bike only cost $2000. These are true collector items these days, and nothing better than one of the legendary white porcupine tires mounted. Great memories from the early 'nineties. |
This particular jersey was my uniform during the X-treme sports demo at the closing ceremonies at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. About 20 BMX'ers, skaters, trials riders and roller bladders performed a choreographed show, live in front of over one billion viewers (eat that Youtube). Tony Hawk, Mat Hoffman, Steve Caballero, Dennis McCoy, Andy MacDonald, Libor Karas, Doug White and I were some of the performers. It was a great experience, so I had my uniform signed by everybody afterwards. It hangs now in my garage along with some other jerseys from over the years. |
I saved at least one jersey from every year, plus there are numerous leader and national jerseys, including the bibs from the very first X-Games (a.k.a. Extreme Games), where I competed in the Trials and Slalom events. |
One of the piles in my garage has some of my old trials frames. Some of them, like the red Ricochet, were hand made by Gary Turner (GT) himself. Some of them are 20-inch bikes. Others are 26-inch. |
Gotta love the triple crown rigid trials forks and some of the customized skid plates. A lot of these frames can be seen in my old videos, like the blue one from riding up the waterfalls in Jamaica during the filming of 'Level Vibes.' |
Every year I make a media book for my sponsors where I show media highlights and statistics from that year's media exposure - it's a great way to keep your sponsors happy and remind them why they pay you. To this day, my media exposure hasn't slowed down, with 400 to 500 pages annually and a few hundred hours of TV airtime from my adventure trips. To date, I've had close to 400 front covers on various magazines over the past 28 years! |
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Awesome write up Pinkbike! Hans is a legend. I got to meet him at a race in Big Bear back in 2000 I think and Hans was very easy to approach and talk to. Hans, if you read this I occasionally ride in Laguna and would be stoked if you we could do a ride some time!
- Hans Rey -
Nuff said.
met him when he went here to manila for a bike festival about 3 or 4 years ago.
i gave him, brian lopes, jeff jones and a dude from dirt rag mag a ride to the dh tracks from the convention center.
funny how brian was being all sensitive about scratching his carbon ibis when hans just threw his gt force onto the back of the pick up.
it was one of the best rides i ever had in my truck and we even drove a bit of 4x4 to get to the tracks and brian was just shouting, "floor it!"
haha
Coincidence? I think not..
Smartest man in the biz with that.
I hope all the skinny jeans kids are paying attention. This is how you build a career riding bikes that spans decades.
I remember me and my mates would skip school sometimes just to watch Hans Rey videos on VHS (Level Vibes and Monkey See Monkey Do) while getting stoked to go and ride urban trials on our crappy XC mountain bikes of the time (I also rocked one of those Troy Lee Edge helmets without the mouthpiece at this time too - talk about monkey see monkey do HAHA).
So stoked he's still going - Hans Rey was absolutely the reason I got into mountain biking over 20 years ago. Legend!
too much stuff in the garage :-)
i remember the time i was wacthing a dirt jump comp in ormoc and hans came to have a chat with us ... hans is a real legend
PB should run more articles along these lines, so much history to our sport and so many amazing riders and characters from the last 30 years of Mountainbiking, I often wonder what some of them are up to these days? Obviously Hans never went away, he's still rocking it, absolute legend!