Alpinestars Announces Spring 23 MTB Collection by AlpinestarsMTB

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HankHank FL (Mar 17, 2023 at 15:50)

Alpinestars is the English translation of Stella Alpina (Leontopodium nivale), commonly called edelweiss, is a mountain flower belonging to the daisy or sunflower family Asteraceae. The plant prefers rocky limestone places at about 1,800–3,000 metres (5,900–9,800 ft) altitude. Now you know...

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mr-moose (Mar 17, 2023 at 15:59)

Every day's a school day

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WRCDH (Mar 17, 2023 at 16:12)

In the past I ways felt like an alpine downhill mountain biking star when I wore Alpinestars. Now I feel like a dainty flower. Ignorance was bliss.

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bigdood (Mar 17, 2023 at 16:37)

Knowing is half the battle. Nobody ever found out what the other half was though.

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Dem628 (Mar 17, 2023 at 17:02)

@bigdood: according to G.I. Joe the other half was red and blue lasers

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alleycatbikeshop (Mar 17, 2023 at 17:09)

@HankHank Sir, this is a PinkBike comment section. Not a place for facts, but rather uninformed hot takes.

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Mtmw (Mar 17, 2023 at 20:48)

@bigdood: the other half is violence

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iiman FL (Mar 19, 2023 at 3:31)

@Mtmw: so true

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blowmyfuse (Mar 17, 2023 at 16:44)

In 1993, at the Helen, Georgia USA NORBA National Championship Finals, I remember seeing an Alpinestars Downhill Bike.

I can't find a single picture of it online. Seems like you could change it from XC travel to DH travel.

Anyone find a pic?

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krisstoff (Mar 17, 2023 at 23:29)

Hi,

Specifically from NORBA or ?

Not from NORBA but :

www.rialtaaxel.top/products.aspx?cname=vtt+alpinestars+vintage&cid=13

www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/the-alpinestars-brochure-collection-1990-1993.88026

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carlitouk (Mar 17, 2023 at 23:47)

That Ti Mega...wanted one of those so bad.

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WRCDH (Mar 18, 2023 at 0:10)

Yeah, my high school racing buddy Adam (inventor / founder / owner of Cush Core) had one of those Alpinestars bikes. Here is a picture of Adam when he opted to race on my 1994 / 95 Intense M1. The photo caption provides a little more description about his Alpinestars:
www.pinkbike.com/photo/20238280

Here is a page showing one of those Alpinestars bikes:
mombatbicycles.com/MOMBAT/Bikes/1995_Alpinestars.html

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WRCDH (Mar 18, 2023 at 0:21)

More pictures of that Alpinestars bike here:

www.mtbr.com/threads/rebuilding-help-earthquake-jake-watson-1996-alpinestars-rsa-940-downhill-bike.935310

www.mtbr.com/threads/rebuilding-help-earthquake-jake-watson-1996-alpinestars-rsa-940-downhill-bike.935310/page-2

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blowmyfuse (Mar 18, 2023 at 19:37)

@WRCDH: That's similar to the one in Helen. I want to say that when it was at the NORBA National Finals in 93, it was brown for some reason. And it had a setting that flip it from 4" travel to 6" travel.

It's funny too that the pic of that 95 you linked has the standard ANODIZED RED KOOKA 46 tooth chainring all of obsessed over. I bought one for my bike for the DH race. A hurricane dumped rain bands on us all week and the only day it was dry was for finals and it turned into pottery clay. The massive chainring was horrendous for that.

But boy...it looked so cool

mombatbicycles.com/95AstarSide.JPG

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WRCDH (Mar 19, 2023 at 0:36)

@blowmyfuse: Yeah, if it was 93 at a NORBA, it was probably a pre-production prototype race Alpinestars bike, I’m guessing, or maybe an early limited-production Alpinestars. Adam’s 1995 production Alpinestars could convert from XC (possibly 2.75” or 3” travel) to longer travel DH (maybe 4” travel, I seem to remember) — I think it was a rocker link swap, but I forget.

Funny you should mentioned Kooka rings...I had one too, haha =)

—Kooka 46 tooth turquoise ring on my 1991 Zaskar in Moab, 1995:
www.pinkbike.com/photo/24400800
—Riding with my brother in Moab, 1995 (on his 1991 Zaskar, the 38th ever built):
www.pinkbike.com/photo/24400798
—Same bike, riding in Durango, 1995:
www.pinkbike.com/photo/24400799
—Random picture, in Durango, 1995:
www.pinkbike.com/photo/24400801
—Mt Spokane NORBA DH, early 1995, before the Kooka ring. They say Palmer started the whole baggy clothes thing...IDK...jean shorts and Lib Tech snowboard T-shirt on 13-year-old me =P. A few of us always refused to wear Spandex (from 1990 to present day!):
www.pinkbike.com/photo/20234337

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WRCDH (Mar 19, 2023 at 0:53)

@blowmyfuse: Also, the last picture in this 1993 Mammoth album shows an early production or pre-production Turner, painted as a Ritchey. Many companies would repaint Turners from 93-97 or so — but I expect that what you saw was not a Turner painted as a brown Alpinestars (as you seem to be very knowledgeable about bikes!). But Turner did make the Burner DH links (which are currently swapped onto my niece’s 1995 Burner), that bumped the travel to 3.5” or 4.0”, up from 2.75” or so for the standard Burner XC links; possibly the inspiration for the Alpinestars swappable links, or vice versa.

Turner painted as a Ritchey (last picture in album):
www.fattirefotos.com/races#/1993-mammoth-mountain

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blowmyfuse (Mar 19, 2023 at 6:37)

@WRCDH: Yep. Those were the days where walking the pits was just a stunning peak into CNC wizardry.

Turner had multiple bikes at Helen under different brand logos. But yeah, the Alpinestars was a swappable machined link. It made it stupid expensive because the sold the link separately.

Seems laughable now. But I thought that bike would answer all my problems in life.

In 1995, I wound up with an Uzzi DH with the 3 position seat mast, 3 position rocker link, lockout coil shock, etc. Trail ride to DH race with one bike

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WRCDH (Mar 19, 2023 at 15:48)

@blowmyfuse: Gosh, you got to be there in a cool era, bridging between the hardtail and suspension eras, in the midst of the CNC era, etc. My first NORBA was Spokane in 94 — Greg Herbold took a DH run w/12yo me to show me all the lines =)...it was also an epic year in MTB.

I hear ya, I think adjustable seat mast subframes still make a lot of sense — it can create different space / packaging for suspension, allow riders of different heights to adjust seat tube angle and saddle position, and dropper post cables can go out the end.

I have the same Uzzi DH now — full 1999 spec w/team 12mm chainstay / swingarm, Intense / Hadley hubs, Mavic D321 rims, full XTR w/XT front derailleur, King headset. Thomson post / stem, M636 pedals, Profile bash / guide ring, Easton Monkeybar, Oury grips, Giro Fizik saddle, X-Vert Carbon fork, Nokian Gazzaloddi Jr 2.6” tires, etc.. I adjusted the seatstay to attach to the rear chainstay / swingarm pivot mount (to lower the BB), and put the seat mast in the steepest position. I can get 5” of seatpost drop too — enough for me to ride DH at near-full throttle. Fun bike and the sintered-metal-pad Hayes brakes are still surprisingly amazing, even the rear 6”, shockingly.

www.pinkbike.com/photo/24405813

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blowmyfuse (Mar 20, 2023 at 10:23)

@WRCDH: It was fun. But it was also hellish.

I started DH racing on a full rigid Schwinn Homegrown. Bought a 3" travel White Bros upgrade Judy SL/DH conversion kit and an Answer Alumilte bar. Everyone would say "Is that a Downhill Bike?"

We had to suffer through every "innovation" known to man from the horrific Bullet Brothers chain tensioner (just a spring and a metal stick to hold the derailleur back) to the Mr. Dirt exploding chain device to the bent 1st gen magnesium Boxxers that literally bent at Mt. Snow on my first practice run & RockShox blamed me for despite a line of people doing the same.

Oh..and the first dry lube Dorado fork that sucked water in and seized fully rigid.

A million more examples in between all of those. Getting in a race run was more technique and survival than race speed and aggression. Limp it down.

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karatechris (Mar 17, 2023 at 17:33)

I've designed a highly breathable riding pant by cutting them off at the knee. They're called Short-pants or "shorts"... erm, for short.

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sherbet (Mar 18, 2023 at 10:10)

Jorts are life. Jorts are love.

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captainclunkz (Mar 18, 2023 at 2:29)

Got to give Alpinestars lot's of credit as they're one of the only companies to make trousers for taller riders. I'm 198cm tall and Alpinestars are the only trousers that don't turn into 3/4 length shorts while riding with pads on.

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Zeeroone (Mar 18, 2023 at 13:26)

I always hated power ranger style mtb specific gear and I'm starting to hate new trend mtb specific gear. It's still overpriced synthetic chinese stuff and now it resembles street or mountain clothing so much I wonder what is so different about it to make it worth paying that extra money. Wearing my cotton advertising tee while i'm riding my 26 bike makes me feel so f. good.

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Processtuna (Mar 17, 2023 at 16:01)

Wish they would come out with a new version of their full face mtb helmet. They make such sick moto stuff - where’s the mtb versions of those kits?

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Theysayivebeentheone (Mar 17, 2023 at 19:28)

Ángel Suárez is gonna kill it this season!!

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Borhham (Mar 17, 2023 at 18:55)

Speaking about clothes....Did you see a UNNO Burn with DH clothes??? (Fox 40, regular seat post, 7 speed DH cassette).......

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the6thElement (Mar 18, 2023 at 9:49)

I'm waiting for their Summer 23 Collection to be released. I don't want to be wearing the past seasons "colorways" when the lifts start spinning.

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wallacem (Mar 17, 2023 at 17:01)

In France Bernat was a mtb team manager. That’s how fast everyone is there….

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Rageingdh (Mar 17, 2023 at 18:06)

It’s definitely not flashy.

#BRINGBACKNEON

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jimmyricard (Mar 18, 2023 at 3:24)

Can you guys see the clothes clearly?