Originally Posted by
PeteHski
You keep saying that, but as a young mechanical engineering student back in the late 80s I was already pretty frustrated with the lack of bicycle development at that time. Then in the late 90s and early 2000s I was unimpressed with the mountain bikes on offer. Many of the early carbon full suspension bikes were particularly badly designed. By that point I had enough engineering experience to see what needed to happen and it took about another decade to actually get there. Bike design went from cottage industry to the professional engineering we see today. Shimano started that trend much earlier on the component side, but it took a long time for the bike manufacturers to catch up.
Yet the Truek Fuel 100 in OCLV carbon or the Cannondale Raven or the GT Lts in thermoplastic or the Scott G Zero in carbon have left an indelibile mark in terms of carbon fiber full suspended mountain bike frames back in late 1990's early 2000's and those frame were fully made in the USA . Just see what a pristine new old stock frame ofthese models costs on the second hand or collector market, a very big amount of money. Older shimano MTB stuff gets pricier each year , yet it is not di2, 12speed but it was bullet proof and made to last and you didn't have the problematic bonded cranks like on dura ace or ultegra.Novelty doesn't always equal better quality or better durability.