Pinkbike is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, which means a few trips down memory lane are in order. For this installment, we're turning the time machine dial to 2001, the golden age of freeride, the era when the Marzocchi Monster T was king, Bender was trying to land the Jah Drop, skinnies were still en vogue, and a kid named Sam Hill took bronze in the Junior DH World Champs.State of the Sport The freeride movement was continuing to pick up steam as word spread about what those crazy Canadians were up to deep in the woods of British Columbia. Articles had started appearing in print magazines in the late '90s, and as the 21st century began riders around the world were trying to hammer together rickety North Shore-style features of their own. Mountain bike and component manufacturers were responding as well, with burly, overbuilt machines designed for abusive riding showing up in catalogs alongside more conventional cross-country bikes.
Lift served bike parks were still a relatively new concept, but even though the Whistler Bike Park had only been open for three years the word was spreading quickly. The big news in 2001 was the opening of A-Line, the machine built jump line that would soon become one of the most popular trails in the world.
Freeride was pushed even further into the limelight with the introduction of the Red Bull Rampage, which took for the first time in October of 2001 with a lineup of 22 riders. Wade Simmons took home the win, ahead of Greg Smith and Robbie Bourdon. Kyle Strait also made his Rampage debut, at only 14-years-old.
Kyle Strait at his first ever Red Bull Rampage
RacingThe massive sponsorship deals that were common in the mid-'90s may have dried up, but there was still plenty of exciting World Cup racing in 2001. There were eight stops on the DH and dual slalom circuit, plus World Champs. The list of venues wasn't nearly as Euro-centric as it is this year, either; there was a stop in Japan, plus four North American stops: Grouse Mountain and Mont-Saint-Anne in Canada, along with Durango and Vail in the United States.
Who were the big names in the gravity scene back in 2001? For the men, it was a battle between Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, Nico Vouilloz, and Mickael Pascal, with Greg Minnaar taking the overall World Cup title. After placing 8th in 2000, Nico Vouilloz regained his title as world champion for the ninth time. Sam Hill also entered the international racing this year at the age of 16, and took home a bronze medal from the World Champs in Vail for his efforts. Dual slalom was also still a UCI event, and it was Brian Lopes who took the overall title and World Champs win.
On the women's side, Anne Caroline-Chausson's dominance continued, as she won six out of the eight World Cup rounds, and then took home her ninth world champion title in a row. On top of that, she was also the dual slalom world champion. Other podium contenders in this era included Missy Giove, Sabrina Jonnier, Fionne Griffiths, and Leigh Donovan.
In cross-country world, Canadian Roland Green was still a few years from disappearing from the sport, and he had an outstanding season, winning the NORBA national series, the overall World Cup title, as well as World Champs. Barbara Blatter won the women's overall World Cup XC title, and American Alison Dunlap took home the win at World Champs.
VideosNow that smartphones can film in 4k, it's easy to take the seemingly endless number of mountain bike videos out there for granted – even 12-year-old groms can crank out a semi-decent edit in an afternoon. But that wasn't always the case, and back in 2001 the release of a new full-length mountain bike film was a much bigger deal. That year saw some absolute classics hit the screen, including
Ride to the Hills, considered by many (myself included) to be one of the best freeride movies of all time.
Kranked 4,
Sprung 5,
North Shore Extreme 5, and
New World Disorder II also debuted this year.
To put things into perspective, in 2001 DVD players were still relatively new, which meant that many movies were released on both VHS and DVD formats, or solely on VHS. I'm sure there are still a few well-worn VHS compilations floating around out there, artifacts from a pre-digital era.
The BikesPinkbike was all about big bikes with big forks back in 2001, and if you wanted to prove that you took your hucking seriously you'd install a Marzocchi Monster T, no matter if you had rear suspension or not. Durability took priority over just about everything else, and it wasn't uncommon for freeride bikes to weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-45 pounds. But that extra weight didn't necessarily mean that the bike were bombproof - there were plenty of photos floating around of snapped frames and forks, casualties of one too many stair gaps or hucks to flat.
Canadian brands like Norco, Rocky Mountain, and Balfa were regularly featured on the Pinkbike home page, and Santa Cruz also had a loyal band of followers thanks to the Bullit and the Super 8. And don't forget about Kona - they were right there in the freeride fray with the Rasta-colored Stinky Dee-lux.
The terms all-mountain and enduro still hadn't entered the lingo yet, but a shift was gradually starting to occur as longer travel bikes that didn't quite fall into the freeride category began to emerge. Of course, dropper posts still didn't exist (the Hite Rite doesn't count), the front derailleur was still a necessity, and long stems were commonplace, but all the same, many of the lessons learned from this era helped lead to the creation of lighter and stronger bikes, bikes that didn't require calves the size of tree trunks to pedal to the top of a hill.
All I can say is; bring back polished frames and lowers, they look sick & are lighter than paint!
Good hazey memories
Change my mind.
Yup
Pearl white with a blue swing arm! It got it third hand and sold it on after that. DMR three piece cranks, MRP chainguide, hope rear disc, XT front vee brake, Manitou X Vert DC’s, Azonic finishing kit and grip shift 7 speed! Lol!!!
I still have my 2004 Foes The Fly that I put a Boxxer WC with Charger damper and Zee brakes on 3 years ago. Spent $2k in upgrades and rode it once! It is too short now. I don’t know what to do with it. I guess it’s a buddy bike. Still in perfect condition. The frame and suspension still work great. I have double rings for that too, although it currently has a single ring/guide setup now. I even put a dropper on it thinking I could be a ripper Enduro Bro. Too damn short by today’s standards. Now it fits more like what a medium would be.
A Guy at the local forest had a DDG 8” bike with Monster T’s and a set of Gustav M’s. those are real brakes!
Good times, good times..
I still have it
in contrast a 1975 KX 250 or Honda Elsinore still looks the business. These? not so much.
Nice pictures though. They are good with pictures.