Originally Posted by
Talldog
MTB legend and hall of famer John Tomac used to use drop bars early on in some of his cross country (and downhill) races in the early nineties. That was kind of a hybrid at the time I suppose. He came from a BMX and road racing background via Team 7-11 and Motorola but really made a name for himself in NORBA XC and downhill racing with Yeti and Raleigh. Maybe it took him a while to adapt to the flat bar at first.
Great pic on the mag cover. Thanks for sharing that. Brings back memories of that era. My old motocross racing partner was on the ground floor of the MTB boom in the early to mid '80's and introduced me to them at the same time. Still got my old Bell "salad bowl" helmut, LOL.
Thanks. Actually Tomac was a mountain bike champion before he got into road racing. He did not use drops on his mountain bike until after becoming a roadie. There were others who raced drop bar mountain bikes. Notable woman racer Jackie Phalen for one and some of the other men besides Tomac. The bike I'm riding in the picture was primarily used for courier work. Not long after that picture was taken, I bought a flat bar mountain bike for racing.