Anatomy Of A Photo: Screen-grab From A Golden Age
Even though in today’s mountain bike world the bikes are better, the clothing more appropriate, and there are more trails to ride, there’s no denying the early 90s were the Golden Age of Mountain Biking. Just look at these fellas, and tell me I’m wrong.
Tomac knew what was up. You don’t get such a badass Rainbow Jersey by accident, and his year in the bands (’92) was probably the last time the jersey looked that good. Plain black shorts, white socks, back flat as a pancake. And who else would you expect to be the first to rock a Troy Lee paint job on their helmet?
Tinker, well he’s a man unto himself. Probably the crowd favourite on the strength of recognition, being the only dreadlocked Hispanic riding a fluoro green or purple bike at the time making him easy to spot. That and his cadence, crunching the big ring where others, even Tomac and Ned, feared to tread. Legend has it that Tinker would fill a backpack with the biggest rocks he could find then set off into the mountains for a six hour training ride. Even if it’s an urban myth, the fact that it’s an urban myth about Tinker makes it more than a bit plausible.
Gumwall tyres, polished silver rims, colour matched forks, Campa… Campa? Multicoloured Sidis, Tinker made it all work. Even the Etto helmet looked good on him. Tomac was arguably the most Rule Compliant mountain biker ever. Even with limited resources to work with, these guys set the bar. Not many have reached it since.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/tinkertomes/”/]
@ChrissyOne
I’m a resident of Vantucky (not born n raised, just lived here too long). Have not ridden Capitol Forest, but all over the Gifford out by Rainer, Adams, St Helens etc.
@scaler911
Haven’t ridden Capitol Forest yet, but looked at it on the map recently and noticed that it’s pretty big. Some friends up here go back and forth between Squirm and Olympia and have ridden it a lot and like it.
I haven’t been down there in over a decade, but there are some fantastically fun rides, and yes, the area is immense, and you can get lost for a whole day and end up on completely the wrong side if you’re not careful. I’m not sure how it is these days, but they used to limit ORV use to certain seasons, which was nice because the quads can be rather jackasses down there.
Yeah, what my buddy said about getting turned around. Herself and I will get down there at some point. The problem with living in the PNW? Too many damned choices.
@piwakawaka
Two helmets, one cycling cap. Glad the dude on the top step got it right!
(take it easy, I know all three are probably legends, I just wasn’t riding mtn. bikes in the early 90s, and as all this shows, my loss)
Did someone say purple anodized? Behold the early 90s!
Rule violations aside, I still ride it and I have a second set of wheels with slicks for cruising around town and pulling a Trail-a-Bike.
The original wheels were destroyed long ago and the cassette, chain, cables and 46t have been replaced but the frame, fork, bars, Flite saddle, seatpost, pedals, and group-san are from the early 1990s.
@ChrissyOne
Is this Bar End corner! Brand spakin new on it’s maiden ride, a MTB race in Bright.
Bought the Balance the same week that the girlfriend at the time wanted to break up. So my weekends were free, so nothing like riding out in the bush with a bunch of mates! Good times!
Awesome, awesome, awesome post! To me, Tomac was the man! For me he’s still the guy promoting Tioga Farmer John and Farmer John’s Cousin tires. He should be in JT Skull’n Bones kit wearing two Swatch watches. Overend was alway the respected elder statesman and Tinker, was the machine. Not cool to me, but somehow cool in his own way. Yet Tomac, going to 7 Eleven and using a Tioga MTB stem on his bike was the coolest! Then, when he wanted to do the occasional MTB race he elected to represent John Parker and ride a Yeti FRO with drops! Wow! How cool was that. I still have a signed poster of him on the wall in the garage above the bicycle work shop. I still only ride a hardtail and fully subscribe to mountain biking of the Golden Age. One day, I’ll get to ride with JT. Great post brett. Great post from Velominati too.
@JCM and the Scott AT3’s! Nice!
@frank I’m beginning to think your as big of a Tomac fan as I. The black and white of JT doing a table top is a classic pick. Love it!
@ChrissyOne I think at Pearl Izumi HQ they have it hanging up behind glass.
@frank
SO cool! It’s never old to me.
Me, at The Malvern Classis in the early 90’s, happy days on my custom Fisher Big Sur…
Panaracer Dart and Fire gumwall tyres, Clubroost anodized handle bars, Sachs Wavy Griptwist gears, Tektro V brakes, Mavic rims on a Hope red anodized Ti front hub and a Shimano STX Silent rear hub (remember them?!). Club roost saddle. Fisher Big Sur frame, Sachs rear der, Shim XT from der. Lake MTB boots, what was I thinking?! At least the kit matched the helpmet and handlebars/grips!
@VeloJello
I ran Panaracers for years before going to Spesh Team Control. I see a lot of them on ebay – I may go back!
@cognition
I was so sad that she beat Alison Sydor in Atlanta at the Olympics, but she was certainly memorable. It would have been awesome to have a Canuck in gold. XC MTB was a demonstration sport that year I believe.
@Weldertron I love that in the last 20 seconds they can’t even form words, just “wha…th…harrrr…bruw….ahhhhh…”
Commentator Rob Warner has a show on Red Bull ( http://www.redbull.tv/Robs-Dirty-Business ) and many funny quotes: http://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=75527
@VeloJello Ah The Big Sur! Mine is Acid Yellow and I swapped out the stock shocks for some sweet Marzocchi’s. My first love…alas neglected since I fell for the road’s siren song. This thread makes me think I must go back to my ‘roots’.
@frank
What kind/size tire is that, Frank? I want to put some gravel grinder/CX tires on my commuter bike (700x32c tires). There’s a park on the way to work that has gravel/sand sections in it. I would love to turn this bike into a gravel grinder/Frankenbike.
@cyclebrarian
That would be a Clement LAS 700×33. Knowing Frank, it is probably the tubular version, but they make both.
If you like gumwalls, Challenge makes a nice one to.
signori, priceless thread – price less. It brings me back to what seems ages ago, when I worked in a bicycle shop mid 80’s to end 90’s. Anodized bar-end -cages -screws -brake boosters every could be delivered in blue/yellow/red etc. In Europe suddenly new brands suddenly appeared; Syncros, white industries, am classic, Chris King – the shop was from one day to another turned into a battle between US, Italy and Japan, and the hardcore roadies (me included) had to accept that MTB bikes came in boxes ready to go out the door (almost), while our racers still was build in 2cm steps and always custom build.
It brings me back to my first MTBs, GT Avalance, Specialized Stumpjumper with Suntour XC! and a Swinn with yellow Magura, Softride stem and Look MTBs. Cool days – lots of inovation, pedals, suspension forks/stems, saddles and much more including Paola Pezzo.
Bad photo of the Stumpjumper Anniversay book which has photo’s from 84.
Link to wear the photo is since my computer is being utterly uncooperative.
http://s557.photobucket.com/user/Endurimil/media/Monstercross%202014/image_zpsfde09e04.jpg.html?sort=3&o=9
Wow – great set of MTB race photos. While I hesitate to sound like an old man, I guess I am since I rode a lot of MTB miles (and races) back in the day. The clipless pedals Tinker had on his bike were boat anchors. They were Look pedals with a Campy badge, graced with a metal grate on the backside for shoe traction, and a cut down look cleat that was supposed to work in dirt and mud. “Supposed to” in mud means that as long as you didn’t step off the bike, they worked in mud and dirt. The oldest pic of Tinker is from when he rode for ParkPre, way back when he first switched to MTBs. The stem on Alice B Showtits Cunningham was the upper section of a steel unicrown MTB for that Charlie welded up as a stem. It was damn cool, as was the bike, too.
Mountain bike racing back in the ’80s was all about #5. Most were at least 20-25 miles long, loaded with steep-ass climbs, and rough as hell. With no suspension. Good times.