Throwback Thursday: 8 Old School Rides from Pinkbike Staff
While scrolling through Instagram recently I came across a clip Brian Park had posted from his freeride glory days, a huge huck that ended with a crash and him missing a shoe.
Thinking back, most of us have come a long way from those days. I recall that my standard riding attire 15-20ish years ago was typically a pair of blue jeans, skate shoes, and an XC helmet. What did I ride? Urban, maybe some trails. Loading docks, the occasional picnic shelter roof drop. Hucks, all on a 24" wheeled Big Hit with a 2002 Monster T (the last good year of that fork), and a MRP chainguide along with Hayes brakes that didn't work. That bike was sold to a friend, I got it back at one point I think, then it went to someone else and on through the community. The Azonic Love seat stayed on it throughout transactions and the BB height grew and grew because a longer stroke shock meant one thing, bigger drops.
With that in mind, I asked a selection of Pinkbike's editorial staff for images and recollections of what they were riding back in the day. It's time for a journey in the time machine, back to the early 2000s. Enjoy the ride.
Mike Levy - Technical Editor
According to Levy, his original Trek Remedy weighed about 25lbs and he pedaled it everywhere, including this mini road gap that led into a decent sized double he cased every time he tried to clear it. Most rides involved a huge CamelBak loaded with terrible food, a Bud Light Lime, and too much pedaling. Simpler times.
 | This is me on my last Orange in Utah, a 224 that I eventually got down to 36lb after spending all the money. I loved the Oranges because of their full-length seat tubes; I used a wide-range cassette and would pedal it everywhere and anywhere. This photo is from Flying Monkey, near the original Red Bull Rampge site. My buddy Wayne and I would drive my old Mitsubishi Delica van there from BC in around thirty hours, then we'd spend two weeks camping in the desert and hucking ourselves off of everything. There were a lot of Pop-tarts eaten, a lot of blood loss, and not a single shower. We did this trip every winter for twelve years. |
The bike, and the van.
Levy's freeride days are long gone but he did throw down some moves. The old Grafton road gap from one of the original NWD videos was one of his finest.
Mike Kazimer - Managing Technical Editor
| By 2003 I'd left the spandex behind and fully embraced the freeride movement. I decided a Rocky Mountain RM7 would be an ideal do-it-all bike for jumping stairs, riding steep rock rolls, and going on long XC rides. That last part was a stretch, but I got it done, eventually adding a Titec Knock Scoper seatpost to get enough leg extension. As you can see, my style was impeccable, complete with a nice gaper gap between my pads and shorts, a backpack on for dirt jumping, and mid-air form that'll make anyone jealous. That frame eventually cracked at the shock mount (probably from too many hucks to flat), and I ended up getting an RMX frame as a replacement just before moving from Colorado to Washington to continue my freeride adventures. |
Daniel Sapp - Technical Editor
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| Back in the day I was on a Specialized Big Hit with a Monster T, 24" wheels, and a modified MRP chainguide. Before or after that bike, I had an Endless Bike Co. steel hardtail (pictured above), also with a 24" rear wheel, because, freeride. Stunts in North Carolina were sketchy at best, built out of wood that rotted frequently, often falling apart under your wheels. My crew that I rode with then also did some racing together. We're all still friends and we all still ride (minus Steven...waiting for the comeback) to this day. I graduated to a Transition Blindside eventually, that bike was cool. |
Brian Park - Head of Editorial
| My 2006 Specialized Enduro Pro had 150mm of travel and was a size small, ideal for jibbing. It was outfitted with all of the standard bits including the freeride special, a new rear wheel and ProTaper bars. I'd spent several of my formative years riding a Banshee Scream and pretending I was a freerider (the guys won't let me live down my very brief appearance on DropIn TV), but the Enduro was my first actual good bike. I sold it in 2008 when I went to university in Vancouver and couldn't afford to ride mountain bikes anymore. I had a DMR Sidekick for a while after that, then a bunch of BMXes, before getting my priorities straight and buying a mountain bike again in ~2009. |
Sarah Moore - North American Content Manager
| Me in 2005: Fingerless gloves, a helmet with no visor, spandex, short socks, pink water bottle, a Livestrong bracelet, and my first double suspension mountain bike, a 2003 Devinci Dragonfly. Our race team was sponsored by St-Hubert BBQ and so we had two huge chicken logos on the shoulders of our jerseys. Everyone called us “les poulets” (the chickens). My parents bought me the Devinci Dragonfly off a teammate’s girlfriend partway through the 2005 season when it became obvious that my used Devinci Cactus hardtail wasn't going to make it through my first full Quebec Cup race season. I knew nothing about setting up suspension, only upgraded parts on my bike out of pure necessity (hello, broken derailleur), had never heard of Pinkbike, and only washed my bike so that my coach wouldn't be disappointed in me and so that the mechanics at my local shop in Sainte-Adele, Quebec would fix it, a necessity after almost every single race. |
Alicia Leggett - News Writer
| I was pretty young back in those days, but now I wear a helmet when I ride. |
Jason Lucas - Video Production Manager
| One of my first bikes was a Dobermann Pinscher which allowed me to do x-ups and tire taps on pallets. Later on, I earned enough money to buy a white seat instead of repeatedly painting black ones white. Skate shoes, baggy jeans, and bike brand t-shirts were my standard riding attire. |
Aidan Oliver - Social Media Coordinator
| My first true DH bike was a 2007 Orange 224. It was a hand me down from my older brother who spent more time crashing it than riding it. It had a dent in the headtube and little paint left to show for it. It sounded like a skeleton in a filing cabinet rolling down the hill but I absolutely loved it. It was kitted in Hope parts and vented rotors. It stood the test of time, surviving many seasons of racing along with a Mega Avalanche before I sold it to pay for school. |
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I like "Who is the Mikest Mike?" as a tagline though. Real nice.
We're also accepting "Who is the Magic Mike?"
@mikelevy: 2021 comment of the year, folks.
Mad Mike: Beyond Chunderloam
No Downcountry for Old Men
i'm going into withdrawal from not riding them
Sent with love.
Please write that up as a story, I would be all over that! I was a teenager during the dual initial explosions of freeride mtb and skiing late 90’s early 2000’s, and I think I’ll have some nostalgia about those years forever!
Please please please do a resto-mod series. I would love to see what you guys would / could do with classic bikes... it would be akin to seeing a ‘67 Mustang with an LS swapped engine and modern suspension, wide tires, and a nice exhaust ripping around a track, schooling the more modern rides.
Giving the bikes away afterwards sounds very generous, but it would be a rare kid that would truly appreciate a bike with true MTB heritage and history given new life. I think part of the appeal of a restomod is the amazing blend of heady nostalgia with some modern performance mixed in. A reader giveaway, raffle, or auction, with proceeds going to a good cause (perhaps something to benefit a kids cycling club or organization?) might be an alternative option... it gets the bike into the hands of someone who followed the bike’s journey to its current state and won’t treat it like some regular secondhand bike, and maybe gets some money to a good cause that helps the next generation of hardcore cycling fanatics.
Nah me either
@brianpark you need to make it happen!
Stick fat Mike!! Don’t let anyone make you send it like a ‘real man’
m.pinkbike.com/photo/20030892
Also, @aidanoliver , where's my photo credit?
These guys are top notch, also when it comes to repairs - not payed for this recommendation btw. :-)
bringatrailer.com/mitsubishi/delica
For what they cost in the US I'd skip a van and get a 100 series and kit it out with a nice rooftop tent etc.
Is that first shot of you from the old Hick Hucksters park? If so, that's a blast from the past man! Good times there back in the day.
@iamamodel I had the oranges too! Sadly they were on my old BMX when it was stolen. Had the orange brakes and bar ends to match it.
My Schwinn Cimarron is what i would call old school .
yeah roight
all from post 2000, where's the 90's bikes