Retro Vs Modern – The Cross Country Mountain Bike Race

A 90s Klein hardtail vs the latest Canyon Grand Canyon XC bike – what's the difference out on the trail?

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It's clear that bikes have progressed in the last 20 years, but, how much faster are modern day cross country bikes compared to one from 20 years ago?

Neil and Scott decided to put it to the test.

The moral of the story? Riding mountain bikes is fun: ride the bike that you can get your hands on.

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Paris Burns - This Drug
Rik Carter - Barmy Army
Matthew Corbett , Mike Wilkie - Metal Junkie

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[lsmeteor]

Unfair comparison in bike specs but at the end of the day, if you want to have fun, it doesn't matter what bike you ride.

[jojoaspi]

Neil,
Gotta admit, quite impressed with how fast and how much you throw that bike around. Considering that thing is almost 20 years old!

[djadjache]

To make this experiment clear they have to change bikes and do it again. Too much personal factors. Last weekend there was an amateur cross country race in our city, and one more skilled sportsman on an aluminum oldschool 26" bianchi came first with an advantage of the whole lap, and left all that carbon 29"ers behind.

[mikieson]

honestly..the old bike can be bought for probably 50$ and the carbon newer bike is probably 5k$..It was actually handling quite well..Throw some wider bars on that old bike..some better tires and it would be a lot better..Sometimes things might progress over the years but not enough to warrant the price difference..

[Burtie]

After 20 years of innovation you would expect there to be significant improvements in bike design and the comparison is very interesting. I really enjoyed the retro vs new vids that you have made. But the most important point that hasn't been recognised is that no matter what bike or kit you have, just get out there and have fun! Not everyone can afford the newest, best options, I have a colleague who is twice my age and rides a bike that I'm sure should be in a museum but he loves it and could without a doubt whip a few butts.

[chzer]

The only thing this video taught me is that no matter how much I spend on fancy new bikes I'll still suck compared to these guys.

[cup_and_cone]

The thing I miss most about "the good ole days" is that you had to actually know how to ride, so it was quite easy to see who the better riders were on technical stuff (bigger separation). It takes some serious skill to manhandle a 26" hardtail with 60mm front travel, v-brakes, and overinflated hard compound 1.9" tires down a tough descent when you cannot roll everything. With these modern trail bikes, people just rollover everything and the bike saves them from getting in trouble.

[PPC]

I dunno there's something about the old bike that i find far more appealing.

[rigorhead]

What!? You didn't swap bikes and race again. C'mon Neil!

[milesjcarter]

Would have been nice if the retro bike wasn't at a disadvantage on quality - Couldn't GMBN have found a top of the range bike with Judy SLs and XTR rather than a bike with mid-range Indy forks and LX? That must have been one of the cheapest bikes that Klein sold at the time.

For a fair comparison to that Klein the modern bike should have been something mid-range too, e.g. forks like Recon Golds and SLX rather than a bike straight from the UCI world cup podium.

[Leestn]

Still riding a 99 Marin rock springs and love it! All original apart from handle bar and grips! Ok so about to swap rear shock for a lockout but this bike will be with me until the welds go!

[williamkeys]

I can remember lusting after a Klien back in the day. This video put a genuine smile on my face.

[JayMS]

I still ride a '97 Ventana Marble Peak FS that I put together with quality parts. Not only is it beautiful not look at, it's fun to ride. I love it.

[EVMYT]

this race is more cheap vs expensive. The retro bike was a low cost LX equipped bike. There was high end carbon and titanium bikes too.

[boerharms]

i really enjoyed this one; nice to finally get some hardtail action :D

[Slidewinder]

Stop the video at 1:51 and look at Neil's face, that's the pure joy of cycling. I have so much trouble explaining to my non rider friends that feeling of bliss I get from cycling, but there it is caught on camera!

[fellowsautomobile]

Honestly, I like the Klein better, looks quite nimble as well. Just put a more comfortable cockpit and you've got my vote! :)

[SRob]

I think the New vs Old race video is the best GMBN video so far for laughs, Scotty and Neil are brilliant😂

[thesheepman]

I used to love klein bikes fantastic colours schemes and over sized aluminium tubes, and their road bikes were super lite, wish they were still making them

[iunnox]

Something tells me that Klein doesn't have nearly the same level of components as the Canyon. Put an old xtr groupset and nice wheels on that Klein, then see how fast it is vs a modern bike.