Retro versus modern. We're going to compare downhill bikes that are 20 years
apart. This here is a Specialized S-Works FSR from 1995, and this is a brand-new
S-Works Demo 2015 model. Just on first sight, they look a lot different.
The new bike is really long, the wheel base is much longer than the old bike,
and just look at the head angle. You can obviously see straight away that it's much
slacker, much better on really fast tracks. It's also a lot longer top tube,
and that really is that modern sort of geometry of having a lot of space up
front. Downhill bikes nowadays, they all really use...50 or 40 mill has become the
norm stems, whereas on the old Jason McRoy bike, really, you've just got the long
stem on there to give you the space. It doesn't really help for controlling the
bike, and that really comes down to the fact that these weren't necessarily
downhill bikes, they were just modified to ride downhill fast,
with big riser bars. Whereas this modern downhill bike, you can't ride that round
a trail. It's just not going to work.
Bar widths, a lot different. You've got the 780s on the front of the modern bike,
versus 660s. Also, B-B heights. The downhill bike, the new Demo,
has a much higher bottom bracket than the old bike, and that really comes down to
the suspension. A low bottom bracket is going to make that bike corner really
well, but the modern bikes are 200 mils of travel. So, if it starts off too low,
you end up dragging your pedals towards the floor. Your old bikes,
it's only got 76 mils of travel on the rear and 80 mil on the front,
so you can get away with having a lower bottom bracket to start with.
Looking at rear suspension, you can really see the difference in the shocks.
This huge Ohlins system, it's the same in theory really. You've got a coil spring
and it's oil-damped, but you've got compression by winding the pre-load onto
the spring, you've got rebound damping, you've got high- and low-speed
compression, and three separate compression settings on that shock.
The old shock, you've got rebound and you've got pre-load on the spring,
and that is it. Some similarities, actually, you can see, is the rear ends.
If you actually look, there's a pivot around the bottom bracket on the modern
bike, there's a pivot on the end of the chain-stay, and that's actually pretty
similar to the old bike. The pivot's just behind the bottom bracket,
pivot on the chain-stay, and you've got the seat-stay, goes up to a linkage.
There, obviously, the shock is much different mount, but there are some
similarities in that system.
So the modern RockShox Boxxer Team up front has got a coil spring and it's got
rebound and compression dampening. So actually it is along the same lines as the
old fork, but you'd have to say that they don't perform anything alike.
Suspension action on these is much plusher and much better.
Frame materials. We have the steel chromo old-style 1990s bike,
compared to the modern all-molded lovely looking carbon frame.
Carbon front end and rear end on this Demo, so you can really see the difference
in the size of that tubing compared to the old steel.
Now, wheel size, this is 27.5, this is 26. Can you notice the difference?
I guess you probably can. There's much bigger tires on the
new bike as well there.
The brakes on the retro bike are cable-actuated, cantilever brakes,
so this is even pre V-Brakes. That was later on in the 1990s. Cantis were pretty
awful to be honest. Compare that to the modern bike with 200 mil discs on there,
hydraulic disc brakes, work in any conditions, and they're absolutely
amazing. Compare that to the old bikes where, especially in the rain,
you're really struggling to slow down. You'd have to use two fingers on your
brakes most of the time.
Looking at the gears, it's one of the only places, really, where these bikes actually
aren't a million miles apart. Still running a rear mech that's pulled by a
gear cable, and this is actually an eight-speed cassette on the back of this
20-year-old bike. This modern Demo bike's seven-speed. So, yeah,
one less gear, bit of devolution there, but it's the same idea of a cable pulling
a rear mech. Who'd have thought, 20 years ago, that we'd still have these things
hanging off the back of the bike?
So, the funny thing about the weights, the modern bike is about 36,
37 pounds. The old one is down nearer 30, but really that comes down to obviously
the size of everything. The forks, the shocks, they're much more durable.
You find that you don't break down on bikes nowadays, whereas the old downhill
bikes, you'd go through a couple of frames a year, probably. They just weren't quite
up to the job. So, now they're really overbuilt and really strong.
So, there you go. These downhill bikes are 20 years apart. Leave us a comment down
below. Let us know what you think downhill bikes will look like in 20 years' time.
I guess if the trend continues they'll be a little bit heavier,
and one less gear, probably. If you want to see more videos from us here at GMBN,
you can see a pro bike on JMC's bike up here, this very bike here.
Click down here for handlebars explained. Or click on me to subscribe to
GMBN.