The sport looked pretty wank and un-cool. Part of me says ‘wear whatever you want, if you wanna look like a tool, go for it,’ but, I was around in the era of this rule being created and it was for good reasons-image for a growing sport. Ten years on technology has improved massively, mountain bike kit is now cool in its own right, and everyone is wearing skin-tight clothing and helmets shaped in wind tunnels. Late 2008 the UCI made an official rule that has stood for ten years. A gentleman's agreement was formed and signed in the interests of "the image of the sport," – basically the riders teamed up and decided that it would be better in the long-term to look cool instead of going fastest, and, if everybody wore the same clothes, they would all have the same disadvantage. Occasionally riders stepped out of line and lost their peak and found a skinsuit just in time for race runs, a finger was often pointed at 'the French,' but back then it was a guessing game as who was going to turn up to the start line in what. Then, the cool kids all wore baggy clothes and helmet peaks for years, bar the occasional World Championship where governing bodies usually provided Lycra skinsuits.ĭid Sam Hill blow out that last corner on that fateful Val Di Sole day in 2008 because he wasn't used to the extra speed of the skinsuit? Photo: Itster
Shaun 'Napalm' Palmer rocked up in the mid '90's in full motocross kit and everybody loved him (Palmer lost the World Championships in Cairns 1996 by 0.15 seconds with a peak and baggies to Nicolas Vouilloz). Then people wore tight Lycra-type clothing when road racing for aerodynamics and comfort, which was adopted by XC racers, who moved onto downhill racing in the early days. PRESS RELEASE: Endura Sport Ltdįor those of you thinking, "What the hell is Aston talking about?" here is a brief history of MTB clothing: Clunker riders used to wear jeans and tee shirts or whatever they wore in day to day '70s life for a bike ride. There is a buzz around aero gains across all tribes of racing right now and we plan to bring our proven expertise and manufacturing might in this area to bear on the downhill course.