Randoms Round Two - Sea Otter 2016

 Yes it was but tyres weighed 2kgs and they were used in a sport where rider skill was measured by
h x a = BS
h = meters of drop
a = angle of landing, where 90 degrees flat was giving double points.
BS = Ball size

 @WAKIdesigns:

I recall that time with a smile on my face, and a very vivid memory of bruised ankles, bent rims and cracked frames.

 Same same… those were the days.

 i think waki was around in time of jesus too!

 @WAKIdesigns:

Nokian Gazzalodi for the freeride win!

Especially the 24" x 3.0"..perfect choice for the back end of the original Specialized Big Hit

Tire compound was plastic but you could run such low pressure it would chew up anything you fed up!

 @WAKIdesigns: Things got lighter over the years, not just the tyres. Do forks of over 6" travel need new names as well now they got lighter?

 I was a student at the time when Huck To Flat was blooming so I had no money for the dream bike: Bighit with Shiver. By the end of the era I got some cash and I was riding a Haro hardtail with 170mm 66RC2X and 26x2.6" Gazzas. I also had 2.7" Minions with orange stripe on the sidewall. I used to ride in Giro Switchblade by then

 In the days of 50+ lb. dh bikes.

 @WAKIdesigns: oh yes, HT with bigass fork!
www.pinkbike.com/photo/13384049

 @WAKIdesigns: I almost rode the same shit. Also, we are both lucky we surviver our Switchblade experiences!

 @WAKIdesigns: I have a brand new set of 2.7" high rollers with the orange stripe on the sidewalls. I pla to use them when inbuild up and old DH frame later this summer.

 @WAKIdesigns:

back in the day, no hucking to flat but plenty of big drops into old quarries and stunts

ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb395704/p4pb395704.jpg

 @WAKIdesigns: I definitely iss my 2004 BigHit!! Was such a fun bike. I pushed that thing to its limits!! All hail the 24" rear end!!

 @averageadventurer Yup, I still have a carcass of an old gazzalodi hanging.on my garage wall as a reminder. 3lbs tire anyone?

 I need to find the picture of my Brodie 8-ball with shivers, and custom made Risse Jupiter rear shock with the remote piggyback. Many bucks to flat on that thing... 26in front and 24in rear double wides with IRC Kujo Dh 3.0 that bike was a tank!

 Damn you guys are bringing back some memories. Not tons of hucks to flat for us, but stair gaps left and right with a few roof drops thrown in. Did it all on a norco 125, but I definitely dreamed of a decked out big hit.

 Also rocked this for a while:

www.pinkbike.com/photo/253523

 @richierocket: I was working in ICU in Calgary at tail end of that era. Came off 3 stack Teeter at COP and augered in. (Fromtwheel came off side) the Switchblade rotated under my chin and cruch my throat Almost put me in a bed in that ICU. Couldnt talk for 2 days, whistled when breathing. XC staps holding a fullface NOPE! Now there's the Bell Super (Want nay NEED ONE) which is a (light) DH lid with a removable faceplate, brilliant. Tires aren't the only thing rhats come back better. PS: Ride hard? Get mouth guard. Wear and,& don't spend as much time at work w/ me (an ER in BC inrerior).

 @jethromtbr: I own a Bell Super 2R but just like with Switchblade, I would never use it for DH, bike park or even racing Enduro. I treat it as a something to give me a bit more sense of security on a relaxed ride. A year ago I crashed on my face in XC lid. My open mouth was dragged over loamy ground. Loam was pressed deep into my mouth opening a huge, bleeding hole, separating my lower lip from the gums. There is no way the Bell could have saved me, unlike my D2. Switchblade wasn't worst. It never gave an idea to anyone sanr that you could ride DH in it. Unlike 661 Comp from 2004 or this similar Bell which theoretically were FF helmets but it they were terrible. I know a guy who broke his chin in one and another dude who's helmets chin piece cracked and cut his face very deep. In 2006 I bought a TLD D2 and never went below that. I believe that good protection should feel super comfy so that you wear it with pleasure. I had 661 Pressure suit armor and wore it 3 times maybe. What wasfunny for mein huck to flat era was people in full body armor and Switchblades, or even worse: Met Parachutes. All this protection and head being virtually unprotected

 It's a fanny pack !!

 @miguelads: that's just the American term for a bum bag. After all, a fanny here is something else entirely.

 Guess I'll be blastin two of hearts in my new dakine fanny then!

 They're pretty common in the dirt bike trail riding world and make sense but I will stick with my camelbak

 You guys will come around. Much like you did with ebikes, evidently.

Before too long, you'll be extolling the virtues of not having a sweaty back, and saying "why again did I carry three liters of water on a 2 hour ride?" and "the moto guys do it, so its definitely cool".

 @oronaut: I was all in disagreement until I read the 3 litres on a 2 hour ride and started laughing, I'm guilty of that virtually every ride I go out on.

I carry too much to fit in a fanny pack anyway

 @areyouoffit: Ah! Until you get out on one. You'll be dropping that shock pump, pressure gauge, third energy bar, and whatever else you carry to make it work.

 I use an old generic Columbia hip pack I got years back. Same one I use for skiing in winter. Works great. Carries what I need for a three hour ride, including a liter of water. Less than that I don't carry water, and have a tube and tools laced to my bike.

 Don't forget the matching gloves!

 = Almost every 4 bar suspension design ever

 There are more similarities than just the suspension going on here. Looks like they steepened the head angle by .5° and that's about it. Changed a few tubes to make it look a little different. But essentially they've just called the factory and asked for 'one of those' :-P

 @ThomDawson: yea except fitting the whole 3.8 tire thing. Virtually nobody else is making a product bike, much less a full suspenion bike that'll fit 27.5x3.8 in a traditional BB and hub width.

 @PHeller: yeah true the rear end is wider. My comment was never meant to be a dig or dis, I see lots of similarities in lots of brands stuff for various reasons. I was just pointing out it (the front end at least) is very similar. I thought that's what we did here :-P maybe it was designed from the ground up and just happens to be very very similar? I was basically just sturring shit ;-)

 @ThomDawson: All of these bikes are made in Taiwan, probably in the same factory. Any bike brand can order a few hundred frames without any changes to the Taiwanese designs. What separates them is the details, in this case RSD requesting a slightly wider chainstay/seatstay clearance, but the front triangle is nearly identical to the Airdrop, On One Hadza, NS Snab, etc. Usually when the final order is placed they do some detail work that mixes it up and so they all look a little different, but we know they started very similarly.

 @PHeller: Most brands use different factories. you're making assumptions without having any concrete facts. it's not because the front triangle is similar to another brand that it was made in the same factory. there are 100's of factories in Taiwan.

 @FrantikLex: sorry dude. Probably less than ten factori s make all the bike labeled made in china.or Taiwan.

 @Sshredder: Not true, unless you mean 20 or 30 factories. some specialize in carbon, some in alloy, some in Cr-Mo, some in Ti, etc....the list goes on. Regardless, the amount of factories is not the point here.. More importantly, what i was trying to say is that good factories don't share designs. If you pay for a Mold (custom frame) , they won't share it with anyone else. They also have what's called Open Mold items. It just means it's available for everyone to use. That being said, you cannot make small tweaks or any changes to an open mold. You need to open a new one.

 It's been a thing for ages.

 Same. Got a 5l samsonite for pennies. Although would like a bladder option.

 @adwamski:
Found an "Outdoor Products" hip pack with bladder on Ebay for $20 a couple years ago....plenty of water, fits all the gear I need, plus! Hip packs rule!!

 I want to enter a "Hip Pack Race".