“Twenty-five years (and a few months) ago, I wrote my first words for mbr. Mountain biking seemed pretty damn sorted back then. We had global media coverage with mainstream brands like 7-UP, Mercedes, Toyota, Volvo and Subaru wrapping their logos around riders and events.
In theory all the basic ingredients for properly sorted bikes existed too. Stem length and suspension travel were still often the wrong way round, but full-suspension, carbon-fibre monocoques and hydraulic disc brakes were all in play by 1997. We had