On the topic of retro rides, here's the GT Zaskar that I built for dual slalom, urban trials, and group ride rowdiness circa 1998, which was then passed down to my nephew last year:
If you squint just right, you can see several aspects of modern MTB technology that made their way into this build:
- Wide (for the time) wheels and tires. Those are Sun Rhyno Lite hoops laced to DT Hugi hubs (the first wheelset that I built), and they were monsters compared to the skinny lil' Mavic 517 rims that were common at the time. I ran Specialized Fear Control/Master 2.25" tires at the time everyone was switching from the Panaracer Smoke/Dart to 1.9" semi-slicks, because traction is more fun that low rolling resistance on social rides.
- "Short" 90mm stem with riser bars. Pretty wild compared to 150mm zero-rise stems and 560mm flat bars common to XC bikes at the time.
- "Long-travel" Manitou FS Ti fork (Shaun Palmer special edition,
natch). Using this on an older frame that was designed for non-suspension forks kicked the head tube angle back a few degrees, which at the time was considered highly undesirable
Now we know that this is the way, but back then, every hack magazine writer (including at least one renowned frame builder) thought that the "NORBA standard" geometry (70.5-71° headtube and 73° seattube) was the only combination that would work. Those mouthbreathers set back the evolution of bike geometry by at least a full decade.
- The silly 42t big ring which was still popular at this time was replaced with a bash guard that I machined after-hours at work from a scrap piece of aluminum plate.
Voila! - a 2x drivetrain. The industry would eventually figure out the same thing - the big ring is useless and a 32/11 combo is more than enough for 98% of trail riding. The extra ground clearance was beneficial for old-school Midwest trails and urban landscapes.
- No dropper post, but I ran a quick release and frequently made adjustments.
Not saying that I was a trendsetter, but yeah, there is a lot of the future contained in this time capsule.