Looking back at the once popular Headway helmets, we've got to ask, has the styling on MTB helmets come full circle?
A US made product with an Aussie sounding name, Kooka was known for making superlight boutique trinkets in an overwhelming array of colourful hues (with plenty of anodised purple).
Even the footwear couldn't escape the purple touch.
More purple anodised goodness!
Apollo was really big on the Aussie MTB scene in the 90's, and the colour of choice for their team kit - purple of course.
From L - R: Simon Jamison, Damian Grundy and Mick Jamison.
Marzocchi hit the Australian market in 1992 and for 1993 they released their XC400 air/oil model in anodised purple, making it a hot ticket item.
Intelligence or Insanity? In hindsight the latter probably applies - how does descending a steep trail with a 140mm long stem grab you?
If you had one of these, you were the coolest kid on the block in the early 90's. The Tioga Tension Disc was said to offer increased stiffness with better vertical compliance - sound familiar?
At $1,390 per wheel (and that's just for the 'spokes') they were only for the seriously cashed up or sponsored.
We even had an Aussie made suspension fork in the early 90's. Offering 63mm of elastomer sprung goodness, the Edsan had more travel than most suspension from this era.
Another Aussie manufacturer - Velocity was very popular back in the 90's and bar ends were a must-have item back then.
Fox was still a long way from entering the MTB scene, so RockShox was the dominant brand (with some competition from the likes of Manitou and Marzocchi). Late in 93 they introduced the Mag 21 SL Ti, and surprisingly it wasn't purple (although the shiny disco gold was hardly subtle).
At just over 1,000g in it's lightest format, this air sprung/oil damped fork makes most modern XC forks appear portly. Of course the travel was minimal (46mm) and stiffness wasn't one of their strong-points!
We’ve been digging through our archives and thought we’d share a few bits of MTB history for your amusement.
So for our first Throwback Thursday we head back to 1993 to check out some of the hot-ticket gear that we were wearing and fitting to our mountain bikes.
Enjoy!
Apollo was really big on the Aussie MTB scene in the 90's, and the colour of choice for their team kit - purple of course. From L - R: Simon Jamison, Damian Grundy and Mick Jamison.A US made product with an Aussie sounding name, Kooka was known for making superlight boutique trinkets in an overwhelming array of colourful hues (and plenty of anodised purple).Even the footwear couldn't escape the purple touch.Kore with more purple anodised goodness!Marzocchi hit the Australian market in 1992 and for 1993 they released their XC400 air/oil model in anodised purple, making it a hot ticket item.Fox was still a long way from entering the MTB scene, so RockShox was the dominant brand (with some competition from the likes of Manitou and Marzocchi). Late in 93 they introduced the Mag 21 SL Ti, and surprisingly it wasn't purple (although the shiny disco gold was hardly subtle). At just over 1,000g in it's lightest format, this air sprung/oil damped fork makes most modern XC forks appear portly. Of course the travel was minimal (46mm) and stiffness wasn't one of their strong-points!We even had an Aussie made suspension fork in the early 90's. Offering 63mm of elastomer sprung goodness, the Edsan had more travel than most suspension from this era.Another Aussie manufacturer - Velocity was very popular back in the 90's and bar ends were a must-have item back then.Intelligence or Insanity? In hindsight the latter probably applies - how does descending a steep trail with a 140mm long stem grab you?If you had one of these, you were the coolest kid on the block in the early 90's. The Tioga Tension Disc was said to offer increased stiffness with better vertical compliance - sound familiar? At $1,390 per wheel (and that's just for the 'spokes') they were only for the seriously cashed up or sponsored.Looking back at the once popular Headway helmets, we've got to ask, has the styling on MTB helmets come full circle?
The 2022 Checkpoint legitimately feels like several bikes in one - all road, adventure, gravel and super commuter. The design, finish, attention to detail and subtleties all add up to make a fantastic looking and exceptional performing adventure machine.
