The Strangest Mountain Bike Components Ever Made | MTB Tech History - Part 1

[@alexisrodriguez6526]

Revgrips *for some reason, Seth from berm peak felt chills run up his spine*

[@christopherbudden1652]

I think he started unironically using them when it turned out you could tighten them more than the recommended

[@phillmuz5184]

Used to love going into bike shops in the 90s, you just never knew what new bit of tech you were going to see.

[@Finallybianca]

Mountain bike action subscription was my version of that as a kid

[@engo8207]

...and all that fancy, coloured and expensive stuff...good old times

[@neilmurphy9439]

Definatley need to include that slingshot frame from ~92 with the cable downtube. That thing scares me just looking at it!

[@carloswithac]

They already made a video on it. It's crazy!

[@garythurston3927]

I’ve ridden the BMX sling shot and it’s surprisingly firm abd great fun to ride

[@neilmurphy9439]

@@carloswithac sweet, definatley hunting that down

[@neilmurphy9439]

@@garythurston3927 never realised there was a BMX version and all!

[@garythurston3927]

@@neilmurphy9439 google slingshot bmx 👍🏻

[@eliotwolfert8488]

lmoa i wrote my ib extended essay on shifter usability tesing and this was my primary case study

[@johnsonjay60]

Thats sweet!

[@vomErsten]

Aaaaah, IB. Scary that was 12 years ago for me, now.

[@maxwellcunningham8908]

I just did my EE on something I didn't care too much about lol. Under what category does shifter usability testing fall under?

[@Go_ride_your_bike]

I look forward to seeing more old teck.

[@zacharychapman3459]

I love my revgrips! Everybody thinks I'm crazy for spending so much on them but they are worth it!!

[@Toots-yf7fb]

I would really love to see the airlines in action and put them up against Rotor's hydraulic shifting system.

[@matt_acton-varian]

Lefty tech was a brilliant design - but Cannondale also had the Headshok system, would love to see more of that detail.

[@fujiuser1968]

I was thinking the same...was hoping to see it on the show...guess there would of been too much from Cannondale so maybe in part 2 :-)

[@peglor]

@RollinRat Quality manufacturing and SRAM don't get used often in the same sentence historically, but they seem to be making good stuff at the very high end these days, though they still can't compete on quality or value with Shimano drivetrains. Cannondale had some great ideas, but they were let down by terrible actual reliability - they more than earned the 'crack and fail' nickname they went by back then - based on their made up badly engineered and implemented BB standards, they're still continuing to screw their customers right to the present day, which is a damned shame as Headshocks are genuinely a great suspension concept for XC levels of travel from a packaging point of view, and any system using needle rollers instead of bushings should deliver unmatched small bump sensitivity.

[@awilkinson7]

Agree - that would be good to see.

[@threefeetpete2010]

The headshok was made and designed by marzocchi

[@peglor]

@@threefeetpete2010 I've never heard that before - explains why it worked :-). Back in the '90s Marzocchi was already making air sprung forks with adjustable oil damping while Rockshox were still trying to convince people that highly temperature sensitive lumps of foam were the right way to do suspension.

[@stuarttierney6678]

I seem to remember suspension seat posts as well ? Great Sunday morning viewing 👌 thanks

[@whollyspokes3645]

I still use a U.s.e shockpost a one of my old steeds 😁

[@Jayneflakes]

I have an old suspension seat post on my road bike. I have the spring set to the hardest, but it still manages to take the sting out of bad roads.

[@Morpheas001]

Some of the guys I ride with still run ThudBusters

[@pimbeweegt]

I ride with those dual shimano shifters at this moment, I love it

[@tedecker3792]

Absolutely loved my XTR dual control levers. My local shop was able to swap brakes to “Moto” style.

[@johnnydoe66]

Redshift has a flex stem now, very similar to the Girvin, but looks like a normal stem.

[@rasmusvedel]

I think, however, the redshift stem has a linear movement where's girvin would rotate your bars a bit.

[@hodgo1981]

yep I've heard they are pretty good

[@adeladd7638]

Girvin also did some leading link forks,don't know how well they worked but they looked good (IMO)

[@missionmindset325]

Ran xtr dual control levels for years on xc and trail bikes, love them! I'd still use them now if you could get them in 12speed...

[@ettoremarinello3951]

i remember racing xc in 2005 and i loved the dual levers, had them on a super lightweight v brake bike and i remember shifting gears while releasing the brakes,ready to tackle a climb, it felt awesome

[@jamiehughes5078]

Dodd meister, another cracking show. I've literally just sold my cannodale trigger, seeing the same model on the show tugged the heart strings! Have I just made a massive mistake? Nah my new mondraker Foxy will cheer me right up! 😀 Great topic keep up the great work.

[@CraigDuka]

Great video. Brought back loads of memories. I used to drool over a Cannondale back in the day that had electronic suspension. I think it was called the Raven. Now that was something special looking.

[@misterill]

I love these videos! I'm an old guy, so I've seen a lot of this stuff, but there's always a few things that I never even saw during that era, like the dual disc brakes. Keep up the good work!

[@fujiuser1968]

They came out in either 97 or 98..can't quite remember, but I wanted some just for the wow factor :-)

[@RESTLESSOUTDOORS]

Don't forget the Lawill Leader Suspension Fork from the early 90's... had one on my Trek 990... that fork was cheeky!!!🤣

[@darcyphillips70]

Ace, can’t wait for pt2

[@isaks3243]

I still have a set of dual control shimano brake and shifter levers on my old hard tail which is only used when people want to try out mountainbiking and don't want to shell out a lot of money on a new bike. they still work fine even after quite a fiew hard crashes. the red needle which shows roughly what gear you're in have stopped working but other than that does it work flawlessly

[@floriannogel617]

Tech History... I love it! I would really appreciate a "How to service a 40 year old RockShox Fork". Have one on my Marin Pine Mountain :D

[@thomasbudi2000]

Lefty and Bomber were the rave, really great. I still love them today.

[@tts4239]

I have the Shimano dual control (Shimano XT BR M760, the Vbrake one). It's a really wired system. The shift problem downhill when you cover the brake can be solved taking the lever a little bit higher than usual. The Vbrake system has a quadrangle to take the pads alwase parallele to the rim. A genial solution ad really effective.

[@nilz6432]

I have some xt hydraulic dual control levers (9 speed) on a Hardtail and i wish i could get a pair for my other bike. I love the Fact that i can actualy shift and break at the same time. Also on long, techy rides i often get tired thumbs from shifting, no problem with the dual control.

[@tomrodgers6629]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I still remember my first response to the Lefty when I seen it at the Cannondale dealer " There's a law suite waiting to happen."

[@envos2955]

i would unironically ride the cannondale lefty ngl

[@andreasdrekonja3389]

I’m running their 2021 Lefty ocho right now, it performs as well if not better than my previous fox 32 factory

[@J8D2]

@RollinRat if you’re upset about a manufacturer moving operations to Asia then cycling really isn’t the hobby for you. Taiwan is ground zero for bike manufacturing.

[@AnthonyIlstonJones]

@RollinRat My bikes are made in Yorkshire! I build them from frames that were made in Halifax, just over the other side of the hill I live on (less than 5 miles away). A lot of the parts (including the brakes) are made by a firm who make all their stuff in a former mill about 30 miles to the north of me. Most of my drivetrain is Shimano, but I like the fact that KMC makes chains that are strong but don't weigh as much as everyone else's. 20+ years ago I would only use Rohloff chains, 'cause they were the only ones I couldn't break. I could go on, but it's obvious you 'get it'. I've watched over the last 15 or 20 years as 'the industry' has introduced new standard after new standard, and I'm sick to the back teeth of it. I was riding bikes before most of these idiots were even born, and now they're telling me what they have the audacity to think I need. But what pisses me off the most isn't even the ISCG standard getting dropped for another one after only TWO YEARS, no, its the fact that after they changed the width of the rear hub standard to 142mm (I even get why it needed to be wider) they then widened it again to 148mm! ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO MILLIMETRES! We already HAD a 150mm standard more than 20 years ago! Back then it was touted as the best thing for downhilling, but making a new standard 2mm narrower just so it wasn't the same? That is taking the piss. So yeah, not playing by their rules.

[@blank-dr2kx]

The Raleigh Activator MK1 💪🏼🤣🤣

[@peglor]

The Activator II was probably the heaviest bike you could buy off the shelf - they fixed the issue with the Activator where you had to weigh 150 kg to get the fork to move by setting it up so almost anyone who sat on nearly bottomed it out... Raleigh's manufacturing of that era was absolutely terrible - the worst Chinese stuff is probably better. I was getting up to 2 years of road commuting from Raleigh frames of that era - thankfully their warranty support was decent. All the shed ornament purchasers were subsidising the people who actually used their bikes. I did hear from one guy in the industry that the average Raleigh bike covered 20 miles total in its life, so no incentive towards competence to meet their customers' needs. My 3rd warranty replacement was a welded in Taiwan version and the improvement in quality was night and day compared to the UK made ones. That frame eventually cracked at the chainstay nearly 20 years later. Raleigh's MTrax stuff of the same era was just as bad - but anyone who rode hard snapped their frames in the 90s because they were mostly still fat tyred road bikes.

[@johnsonjay60]

Anything Cannondale he's gonna love 😆 we know that

[@GFClocked]

Hey Doddy, just want to let you know - we motorcycle guys call our forks "upside down forks" where stanchions are on the bottom. Bonus: Some budget models use MTB style forks.

[@Mrich775]

Unless your on a BMW R bike(I think K as well?) we get some weird ass forks.

[@peglor]

The Marzocchi Junior T was literally a mototrials fork with the steerer and dropouts changed to fit MTB components.

[@Nihtglom]

If it's just one arm, is the Lefty actually a 'fork?

[@benrichardson7344]

Onek

[@GiotheGhreat]

No is a ripoff 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@considerlizards]

cocktail stick?

[@simonbrooke4065]

It's a monoblade.

[@jackandrews3178]

You’re right. Introducing.... The all new Cannondale spoon

[@franksdad9899]

One of the best tech videos. Love Doddy’s enthusiasm for the old and weird tech!

[@easygoing8912]

I had the dual shifters on my first ‘proper’ mtb - a Specialized Enduro Pro around 2003. I always thought they were great - I guess I had no previous preconceptions at that time. And the Revgrips are the best I’ve tried by far

[@gamblore5148]

This is the sort of content I want to see from you Doddy!

[@hawgietonight]

Lots of crazy stuff in the 90s. Off the top of my head I remember biopace chainrings, cantilever brake boosters "gorilas", anti chain suck devices, 4th chainring (16T?) adapters, solid rubber tires, suspension seatposts, lizardskin fork boots... I could sift through my MBA magazine pile some day and send some pics.

[@rcfanaticdublin]

I had BPlx on my 1991 Emmelle aluminium mtb...it was Dayglo yellow as i recall. I also got into the mad short handlebar craze for a while.

[@yetiman72]

Mountain Tamer Quad lol

[@JohnBooth]

Just found a panaracer green lite latex tube 26*1.9 cleaning my shop. It's been due for a good cleaning for awhile.

[@stum8760]

Haha, I had a flexstem on my Team Marin. I then got the first model Off-road Proflex , from Stif in Leeds, fitted with one too along with elastomer rear suspension😂

[@badlarry172]

great upload, thanks can't wait for the next one

[@K3NnY_G]

Ahh the Bomber Z1, got one back in 2018 for a steal on a parts bike, got the last seal kit in my LBS's shop for it; and needed the head tech (only one who knew the procedure) with the one special tool it took them an age to find, but I got it re-sealed, with fresh oil in both legs. Ran it on a 2006 Giant Anthem for about a year; never even thought of missing a beat. Amazing fork for the time; tough as nails; I should've never sold it; or for what I did.

[@norcodaev]

Lol, seeing suspension forks with v-brakes is one thing, but seeing those old Rock Shox and Manitou forks with the cantilever brakes sure brings back memories.😌

[@sl077766]

I'm a newcomer to MTB (just over 10 years ago) and finding some of the historical stuff quite fascinating - looking forward to Part 2 (and Part 3 if you find you can't stop digging) :D

[@pootube45]

Doddy's hosting skills are very good now, especially when he talks about things he's personally interested in. Solid vid boys!

[@Pillokun]

If you want "suspension" without a suspension fork then just use a carbon handlebar with a crack on the top side. Super nice and comfortable but super nerv wrecking as it is just a question of when... maybe some brand will soon release a carbon factory handlebar with factory cracks on the topside of each side of the handlebar :P

[@Morpheas001]

Big brain idea

[@joed899]

Doddy, upside down forks on motorbikes are still "upside down". You'll see USD forks used exclusively on Motocross and sports bike but the conventional fork (like a fox 40) was first and is still used on many less tunable and lower maintenance bikes like tourers, cruisers, farm bikes and more budget bikes.

[@carlstanton2550]

I'm glad someone else picked up on this!

[@kevincross9206]

I loved the XT dual shifters on my Scott Scale 20 I had. Thought they were brilliant!!

[@peglor]

The XTR lever was even more comfortable - the XT was a little narrow if you tried them back to back. I loved the way the shifter housing opened like a car bonnet to replace the cable too.

[@awilkinson7]

I love the lefty design so thanks. It would be good to review more bonkers forks like the head shock, girvin vector, the look one, amp research, trust, and the lauf.

[@Jayneflakes]

Great stuff as always Doddy, I look forwards to the next episode. Speaking of Alsop, I seem to recall that they had a strange rear suspension in the shape of a long carbon beam that bolted to the top tube and removed the seat pin. I have no idea if it ever worked, but it looked awful. I bought a set of early Bombers in 2000, air sprung with an open oil bath and they are still going strong even now despite my having only changed the seals once, last year and the bushings about ten years. I don't thrash the bike anymore because I am old and worn out, but my old full aluminium Giant XtC Team edition still looks cool with them fitted. The Judy XC they replaced blew the cartridge after less than a year, but the Bombers are twenty years old and still working fine.

[@EccentricEllis]

Rev Grips are AMAZING!! I've got two wrecked shoulders and after 15 mins of riding, I get really bad hand pain, with RG fitted, I can ride significantly longer without pain - Genuinely worth it. I can't wait to try the aluminium Fasst bars.

[@martynclarke5167]

Still using a Ti Flexstem on my 1991/2 Breezer. Love it, as you say, brilliant at taking out light trail buzz. Not so good when things get a bit more heavy going.

[@markturner-smith5309]

Great stuff Doddy.....got to be a part 2 show 👍

[@fujiuser1968]

Great video Doddy. what about Halson inversion forks ?

[@Metal-Possum]

Z1 Bomber is hands down the best thing that happened to mountain bikes in the 90's. I've become a classic Marzocchi enthusiast, owning an original 1997 Z1 (twin disc mounts), a 1998 Z1 BAM (Bomber Aerospace Material), a 1998 dual crown Drop Off, an 80mm Z2, and one other later variations based around the same chassis. I still ride that original 97 fork, every week in fact, and I've yet to be able to push it beyond its potential.

[@danielgomez2743]

The cool component on my bike is the auto sag from specialized

[@nilz6432]

I love how the 2012 specialized stumpjumper has the same geometry as a "modern" bike when you put a 160 mm fork on it. With Auto Sag and Brain. Also The E160 Fork with the Carbon Crown, Steerer ans Lower which is insanely light... Spacialized did some great stuff

[@tim__sadler]

Awesome episode....can't wait till part 2!

[@gerritvanimpe9759]

I never had the dual control shifters but I did love the 2003 Rapid Rise dérailler in combo with the Sram Rocket grip shifters. You could blast through the cassette in a second. Every mecanic that looked at it, his jaw simply dropped to the floor. Just not real suitable for enduro but the derailler and shifter worked exceptionally well together with the inverted spring.

[@johnshaw8013]

I had a Flex-Stem on one of my mid 90's MTB's

[@nick_john]

I did also, don’t remember the brand. It had coil springs. That bike wasn’t worth putting on a rock shox

[@nick_john]

@RollinRat yes that's it. It had tons of slop and no damping and I loved it.

[@1969Escobar]

Great!! love to remember those tech things, thanks Doddy

[@s7ok3d54]

Doddy.... In the motorcycle world, the standard style of fork like most mtb is called a "conventional" And the style like the lefty is a usd/upside-down Love the show,!!!

[@willversiontwo1653]

Not gonna lie, Rapid Rise (aka Low Normal) are pretty sweet for some applications (before electronic shifting). I would say I appreciated the benefits of it for cyclocross. My biggest, perceived weakness was they do seem "floppier" and tend to knock around some which is why you found improvised silicone bumpers on some models. Full disclosure, I own three XTR & two XT rapid-rise derailleurs :)

[@dwhite3511]

Greetings. I still run the dual control on my Trek Liquid 55. Its XT, and whilst the gear changing is a little counter intuitive, I have never been compelled to swap the system out. As a matter of fact, I have had this bike from new since 2006 and last summer, when the front tyre went down, whilst the bike was off the trail for an extended period, I discovered that it was the first time I had had the front tyre off. In 14 years. Insane.

[@kswsquared]

I still have a pair of those Dual Control levers. Deore. Though I run something else.

[@Mardy72]

I still have a set on my '07 Teocali Elite. They are great once you get used to them. Took me a while.

[@HMSITH]

Back in the day i see a suspension seatpost using paralelograms like the girving stem, the sensation of your saddle changing position when you hit a bump was really wierd, i hope you guys find one to show in the next chapter.

[@cup_and_cone]

There definitely was no mistaking a Cane Creek Thudbuster when you saw it. The trade-off of moving saddle height for slight bit more comfort was worth it to many people.

[@andersun16]

One of your best, Doddy!

[@Kaelidoz]

GMBN Tech is the best show off all the GCN, change my mind.

[@paulgriffin5572]

I stil have a Flex Stem. Used it for years on my MT800 Cannondale tandem..... I also have 3 sets of Onza pedals (seen on the bench behind you) 1 std, 1 cromo & 1 Ti. love them, still use them.

[@cccpkingu]

Magnificent episode. Real mtb

[@damarapoledna3636]

Totally dig the history lesson even though I lived it, entirely 😀

[@sd3457]

I had a Flexstem on my Kona Fire Mountain (with it's black with pink splatter paint scheme!), it made such a difference riding down steps and over cobbles but I seem to remember the bumper splitting. Unfortunately the bike got stolen from outside my university building.

[@The_Real_JN]

Happy to say I've got Z1 and Z2's on my GT Zaskars! No double brakes on the Z1's though, v-brakes on both for the spinergys ;)

[@LhDiy]

Another one: The anti chainstuck plate below your right chain-stay (of course) behind the bottom bracket. Because in the 90' a lot of us suffered from chain stuck, especially in the mud. Another two: The cantilever brake pulley at the brake junction cable to get more brake power, but also more movement at the lever.

[@Dave_the_Dave]

I have dual control levers with rapid rise rear derailler on the hardtail stumpjumper I've had since 03. Never had a problem with either. I believe the description in the video of the rapid rise derailler is backwards. The traditional shifter behaves differently between front and rear. The rapid rise was an attempt to make it so both shifters had the same idea behind them: pull the cable to shift into higher gear, release cable to shift to lower gear. But people were too entrenched in the old/backwards way.

[@extremewinter]

I’ve seen some of this in your tech several times on your table. Like you said growing in the 80s/90s was for the best time to be a teenager. Must say that didn’t surprise me to see some of the Girvin stuff in there, racing for Pro-Flex in the 90s I should know something about this, must say that the company was all about innovation and comfort, even if somethings were not so good, for example the rubber elastomers , summer comes and you will be changing it because it was becoming stiffer. The Girvin and pro flex stuff disappeared when the company went bust and decided to sell to K2. Great times I had on my Pro Flex 855 race speck with XT group set and V brakes to match, Michelin green tires.

[@ChinnChilla]

One of my bikes is an Orbea Lanza 29er and they have the shimano deore LX and I love them for that bike. Now I changed the bike to be more of an agressive gravel bike than a XC bike, but I love them. Like you said I think they are perfect for gravel or non intense mountain bike. Now to have those of my downhill/enduro bike. No way possible! I would be switching gears every second on accident

[@HulluJanne]

The ultimate front end comfort: Flexstem or similar, Flexx handlebar, Revgrips, modified Headshok 70 with a Lauf fork lower part and tubeless tires.

[@evanbarnes9984]

I actually want those suspension handlebars for bikepacking! That sounds awesome for long hard days in the saddle

[@TheKernowcowboy]

I first saw the Shimano Airlines system at Leysin at the Downhill race in 2000. It was part of a Shimano display. I seem to remember that the dude on the stall was wearing Oakley Overthrtop glasses 😀 Peaty and Cedric were there, it might be worth asking them 👍

[@mikeevans8318]

This is really great to watch!

[@hawkeyelikesbikes]

The other thing that is awesome about Lefty forks is they don't pull to the left under brakes. This is because you don't have one side flexing more than the other from braking forces applied through the caliper. I didn't really notice this until I switched between the two riding steep technical descending rock features. Leftys go exactly where you point them.

[@markmcneilly9574]

Excellent as always Doddy!

[@Howling_Mad]

had a lumo yellow flexstem on my Nishiki bike in early 90s, really helped with ride comfort .

[@aem9978]

Great video! I love the retro stuff!

[@leehorspool9744]

I had a girvin flexstem on an Alpinestars Al-Mega xt, loved it

[@polbecca]

Worth remembering that Mike Burrows did a suspension monoblade and showed it at the Vegas bike show but Giant wasn't really for it. Then Cannondale came out with the Lefty six months later and took the market.

[@lemagreengreen]

Magura hydraulic rim brakes maybe deserve their place in a video like this? I know they had their very specific popularity in trials but they were somewhat used on other bikes as well :)

[@gjrarthmanuelssn1744]

Hey, cool audi quattro on the back!!!!

[@Skooteh]

I actually sold a pair of the shimano integrated brake-shifters to a customer this past summer when everything else was sold out. They seemed happy with it and haven't returned with problems.

[@ektrolleyboy]

I had those Shimano levers on a 2003/4 Heckler. Dream build. Dream bike. And... Dream lever to use. Felt amazing and so comfortable and quick to use. But. One massive problem: As you said. Every time you hit a decent bump, steps etc. You’d change gear. Which cancelled out all of the positives! ALL of them. 🤦🏼‍♂️ Nightmare!

[@micahcarter6588]

This is my favorite subject! Love it!

[@dabigbadwolf5081]

I would love to see the Rock Shox Totem in this Series! The only 40mm single crown fork to date. It´s a beast of a fork :D

[@ro63rto]

Stem suspension, they're still fairly popular. Redshift Shockstop is one and it uses rubber bungs to tweak the comfort.

[@FutureBikes]

I absolutely love all the crazy stuff

[@lonebirchtrails5465]

What if someone put the rev grips those suspension handlebars and the suspension stem on one bike

[@coonemewlotova9331]

On a fullsus bike...

[@commenter4525]

And suspension seatpost with suspension saddle

[@polbecca]

I knew someone who tried that kind of thing, years ago. The components of course all had different spring rates and weren't tuned to work together. It rode pretty badly; on bumps all the different parts went in and out of phase with each other.

[@guyredshaw1422]

Great show! I’ve got a pair of innovative Swiss ATZ magnesium forks on my Swiss Cilo MTB. You can see and read about them on my Diary of a Cycling Nobody site. They would be good to feature as well Doddy🤟

[@vinren11]

Loved the content Doddy, keep it up!

[@charlieworsfold2661]

love this video, cant wait for the next one

[@superdomestiquesd]

Awesome walk down memory lane 😎

[@mylowoutdoor8413]

I guess the Shimano airlines was the SRAM AXS of it's time with the technology that was available. Same thought process. Pretty cool You've gotta do more on the Pull style shocks! and maybe the trust forks.

[@B0ldtaar]

Love my Shimano XT shifter/brake-combo levers never had the problem described in the video. Used them on one of my old MTB for may years and they still alive and in use on my frankenstein comuterbike today. But the bikes drivetrain is over do for a rebuild and thinking of converting the 3x9 to a 1x9 with Box components. If I ever can find the Box Two/Three Prime 9 X-Wide Multi Shift Groupset in stock.

[@ichiroku]

doddy's museum. only this man would have a cross section of a lefty ocho in his mancave 😂

[@irwantolesmana5019]

I used to ride cannondale scalpel lefty 2011, and it works amazing, a lightweight fulsus xc bike with lefty fork and zero pivot on the back (it only has 80mm travel) only rely on the flexiness of the carbon frame First its an unbalance bike for no hands show, but the more you ride you'll find the balance on it and enjoy the ride even more

[@KoenMiseur]

Those shifters were on my first mtb and maybe because I never had ridden an mtb before I kind of liked them! But I'm maybe a bit weird, I still use the gripshift version with the Eagle GX groupset!