So, who can fill me in on the past 10 years?

Plow King

Little bit.
I've been away from mountain biking from a while. What's changed?

A few notable things I have noticed;

The Giant Reign appears to be the most popular bike going around. Everyone wants one and they're sold almost immediately second hand on every platform.
26" bikes are now council clean up worthy.
The market for Downhill Bikes only appears to have fallen off a cliff.

Is there anything else worth noting?
 

Calvin27

Eats Squid
Is there anything else worth noting?
(1000 bottom bracket and headset standards)
10 speed
clutch RD
29ers
15x100/12/142 thru axle
ebikes for dutch cyclists
fat bikes
1x drivetrains
27.5
boost
11 speed
ebikes are for fat bastards
plus bikes
make it more slack
droppers
boost qr
mid-fat bikes
ebikes for old dudes so it's ok
1x12
boost plus
bugger it we'll just make 2.5 tyres standard now
Ultra boost
more slack please
29ers going enduro/dh
more slack
everyone on ebikes
gravel bikes

roughly in that order give or take.

*Edited to add ebikes
 
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moorey

call me Mia
I've been away from mountain biking from a while. What's changed?

A few notable things I have noticed;

The Banshee Spitfire/Rune appears to be the most popular bike going around. Everyone wants one and they're sold almost immediately second hand on every platform.
26" bikes are now highly sought after and pulling big money.
The market for Downhill Bikes only appears to have fallen off a cliff.

Is there anything else worth noting?
FIFY

Also, everything went all 29, then only 27.5, then all 29 again. Many dickhead brands only offer 29 in an enduro bike. Dicks.
Also eBikes are taking over everything.....the only interesting thing about them is the new excuses and justifications people come up with for buying one.
 

caad9

Likes Bikes and Dirt
New trails have popped up everywhere and you should have already booked a holiday to Tasmania.
The war between land managers and trail builders is more fierce than ever

Bikes have improved so much from 10 years ago, you can't go too wrong at the moment
 

oliosky

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Five ten flat pedal shoes are still the best
Riding without a camelbak is the cool thing even it means adding 2kg of tools and spares to your bike and becoming dehydrated on long rides
Sam Hill is still a total badass
World Cup DH riders are all proper pro athletes these days
Wearing knee pads on an XC ride is now ok and lighter weight pads are actually good
Bike brands are sponsoring social media influencers over mtb racers
Kids still love doing jumps
 

nzhumpy

Googlemeister who likes bikes and scandal
Seat tube angles have gone →↑ with the advent of droppers.

Search for the Grim Donut, slack and steep all wrapped up in one package.
 
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Flow-Rider

Burner
Gear Boxes replacing derailleurs.
Failing Sram brakes from expanding pistons in the heat.
Geoblocks for overseas online sites from the big 2 .
Rob Warner has turned into a little boy with manners.
Suspension rocks these days.
Tyres are so light you need to add cushions to the rims to stop damage.
Shimano wheels are still annoying.
Short stems are the rage.
 

moorey

call me Mia
Search for the Grim Donut, slack and steep all wrapped up in one package.
Just don't look for one out on the trails..... It will either be in for head tube repairs, or have been totalled by an oncoming car while on the bike rack seeing it hangs out 2' either side of the car.

Also, the Mullet is back, after a long hiatus when some people used to run 29" front wheel on a 26" hardtail.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
  • Bikes have come so far, we now have one long travel dually for everything and it pedals pretty well.
  • Most people are 'overbiked'
  • Trails are wider and IMBA standards have homogenised the design of trails. Goat tracks have gone the way of the dodo.
  • Bars are extremely wide and some old trails now have a 'narrow bar' and 'wide bar' line, instead of an A line or B line.
  • 90s 26" bikes are becoming collectable.
  • A dual cab ute with vertical bike racks has replaced the Subaru Forrester as the MTBer's vehicle of choice.
  • Road has come full circle to when MTB first started and gravel bikes are now basically drop bar rigid XC race bikes
 
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Calvin27

Eats Squid
Failing Sram brakes from expanding pistons in the heat.
Geoblocks for overseas online sites from the big 2 .
In fairness that hasn't changed in 10 years, sram still being sram.

Geoblock hurts though. Stuff is about 50% more expensive than exactly 10 years ago.

A dual cab ute with vertical bike racks has replaced the Subaru Forrester as the MTBer's vehicle of choice.
Don't post about 4wds on RB unless you want to watch fireworks.
 

stirk

Burner
Lol I missed that somehow.

Was Chopsticks was something related to buying cheap on RB and then reselling elsewhere?

What was the story with bermshot?
Chops story is quite long and drawn out and mostly involved reselling for profit or flipping as it's commonly called. It took advantage of forum members selling items for reasonable amounts expecting them to be used not flipped. Most recently on Facebook I think he bought and sold an obviously stolen frame so he's still being a douche.

Bermshot had not much plot to begin with and was known for 3am crazy rants. I think he finally lost the last of any plot he possessed and posted some neonazi shit.
 

Ackland

chats d'élevage
Chops was also keen on buying boutique brand name stickers, whacking them on Chinese knock offs and selling them as legit.

He seemed to think it was no harm to anyone in this practice and defended it to the death.

He went on to run a FB page bicycle workshop "The Chop Shop" which was a pretty good name for someone re birthing Chenve, Chanta Cruz and Cheti parts....
 

Live2DieTrying

Likes Bikes and Dirt
26" was 'fazed out' and relatively quickly all of the brands stopped making frames / rims / tyres for them.
Good luck buying decent new Tyres for your old bike that aren't minions!
Also straight 1.1/8 steerer tubes basically don't exist on new fork apart from DH forks. So you can't fit brand new forks onto an older frame with a 34mm headtube :(
Basically the bike industry conspired against us riders, stopped offering backwards compatibility and forced about 20 years of bikes and parts into obsolescence
 
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Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
26" was 'fazed out' and relatively quickly all of the brands stopped making frames / rims / tyres for them.
Good luck buying decent new Tyres for your old bike that aren't minions!
26" will become the new kids size, and the likes of Specialized and Bontrager will produce decent tyres going forward.
 

moorey

call me Mia
26" was 'fazed out' and relatively quickly all of the brands stopped making frames / rims / tyres for them.
Good luck buying decent new Tyres for your old bike that aren't minions!
Also straight 1.1/8 steerer tubes basically don't exist on new forks. So you can't fit brand new forks onto an older frame with a 34mm headtube ;(
26” Tyres a plenty. Who needs anything other than minions? :D
Forks, yes, old 36mm HT’s are a worry...luckily most of my fave 26” bikes take tapered and love a 27.5 fork.
 
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