Oh when the Jacksons, go marching in...

yero52

One thing I'm curious about: For you experienced hands, when do you remember the price of top-end bikes starting their upward trend to their current level?

I'm too young to think back any further than a time when top-end bikes averaged out to be seven or eight thousand dollars. Were they always this expensive?

Was it possible at one time for a good rider to pick up a great bike for under $1000?

supersonic

Bikes are better value today than they have ever been. And plenty of great bikes for less than 1k! And the real top end ones of today are much better than those of 10 years back.

jayson

I remember when i was a teenager back in the late 80's/early 90's u could buy a top of the range stumpy with full XT gruppo for less than a grand, this was before suspension forks were even conceived though.

As sonic above says todays top end bikes are absolutely leagues above and beyond what the bikes in those days could ever dream of, not just in componentry but in the frame designs with hydroforming etc.

Back in the day Suntour were the SRAM of the day with some serious groupsets to rival the best shimano could offer, infact they were the first to offer 'compact drive' with smaller chainrings, cassettes etc that today is the norm. My memory is a bit vague but if i remember correctly it was only money that stopped them competing with the big S.

The first suspension bike i remember seeing in MBUK (it was actually a good mag in those days) was a cannondale something or other that the guys from the mag had been invited to Holland (the irony....) to see and try out. I think it had about an inch or so of travel with a black frame and a bright green rear triangle that used a bottom bracket as its main pivot midway down the seat tube.

Not long after that there was another company called Offroad that released a full springer called the 'Proflex' that used elastomer dampers to provide the suspension in the forks, shock and stem (thats right, stem) it was called the 'flex stem' and was actually quite popular in the day.

Things have changed unimaginably since those early days ands whilst todays bikes may seem expensive, the level of performance over the old bikes is massive in comparison.