mk3lew

Pretty sure I had posters and photos of 75% these bikes cut out of magazines on my bedroom wall when I was a kid. Still lusting after that Intense M3. And the Yeti 4x bikes. And the Honda.

Now that's a proper downhill/park bike. I'm really over the whole "longer, lower, slacker" thing with 29" wheels to make it easier to ride over chunk. It just sucks the fun out of railing tight berms and popping off lips and throwing the bike around when it feels like trying to do a 3 point turn on a side street in a limo. Make bikes fun/scary to ride again!

Simpler times. Cheaper too!

More inventions that make such a small difference that the average rider (read: the end consumer) isn't even going to notice. I get it might help the world's fastest racers to knock a tenth of a second off their times here and there. But the majority of people who ride and don't get their parts for free don't race. They ride for fun and the social aspect if they do group rides. So for the majority of riders, it's just another gimmick.

No option for "when they need replacing"? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It's very cliche but also true. A lot of my bike control comes from trying to avoid death doing stupid stuff on a twitchy little BMX bike. Railing berms is like carving a bowl corner. Jumping skills are the same. Cutties are like trying to scrub off speed on a brakeless BMX. The only "mtb specific" skills I had to teach myself were when to shift gears, and line choice and body positioning when riding fast through rough stuff as most BMX riding is done on smooth surfaces. Everything else transferred over just with more exaggerated body movements and in some cases more pre-planning of weight distribution, body position, pedal position, etc, to get the bigger bike to respond in a similar way. Fitness on the other hand. That's a whole new level. I used to ride around all day on the BMX from spot to spot but the hard work was usually in short bursts trying a trick or line. Cruising around felt effortless. In my experience (and laziness since passing my driving test a decade ago) MTB requires a lot more endurance and works different muscle groups (seated climbing for example). Not to mention being halfway down a long, technical descent and feeling your hands locking up and arm pump setting in after a few runs down it.

"I remember the feeling I had holding earthed 5 in my hands, scanning the cover, putting it in the DVD player to get my fill of bikes on a school night, if Content and Deliverance gives one person that feeling then it's job done." Having just bought the watch link and watched it to make 45 minutes of a very slow day at work go by a bit faster, I can safely say mission accomplished. Can't wait to get out on the bike on my day off in a couple of days. This will be playing on repeat until then to keep the stoke alive.