Tomac was the style man back in the day he was even pulling manuals in 1992 all with the seat up his arse ! But by todays standards there are plenty of 12 year old kidds that make him look like a roadie on a mountain bike lol.
I watched Tomac ride a wheelie all the way across the main road of Crested butte on that drop bar Yeti in 1990 during a qualifying stage. The dude was pure style! And if the announcer mispronounced tinker Juarez' name one more time I was going to scream
Ahhhhhh, just look at the first corner, most all are on onZa Ti Bar-Ends, every one of them hand made by a Porsche exhaust maker in L.A., and later by a Ti welder in Oregon. Incredibly these onZa Bar-Ends were made from scrap Boeing 747 hydraulic tubing used thru out the 747's control surfaces which was purchased at the Boeing scrap yard in Kent WA. The scrap yard closed down around 2005. Someday I'll tell you the true story where Tomac & Ned were at an onZa party at Mammoth and Mountain Bike Action took their quotes (and pictures), as to why they chose onZa MTB Bar-Ends, which sent Specialized owner thru the roof! Sincerely Dan Sotelo, aka Mr. onZa
Man I miss the days of no suspension fork, 26" wheels, cantis, narrow bars with bar ends, and threadless stems. I think I'll go to my local Walmart and buy a Huffy Rock Creek 26" wheels.
The announcer couldn't bring himself to say Tinker's name correctly the whole race. It's Juarez (pronounced "Huarez"not Schuaresh, or Schuares). I was cracking up every time.
I thought this was the race where Tomac did a steep downhill section with his foot wedged into his rear wheel. Thus using his rear wheel as a rudder to descend. I had heard about it back in the day. Saw no footage of that in this reel.
There were no good 700c wheels or forks for MTB back then. Nowadays with 29, carbon and Fancy air double suspensions everyone Is so spoiled. These mofos did what the current gen of XC riders do in Fancy "downcountry" bikes but with full rígid 26 clunks or at much 40mm of suspensión like on Tomac's Manitou
Its funny looking back 31 years when at the time tomac was one of the most stylish flash racers then even on those horrible bikes skinny bars looong stems steep ha tinni wheels shit tyres the best thing back then was spd pedals and a hite rite seat spring thats crap for dropper post gee it took a long time to get the bikes good now i,m old wtf .
I'm still running xtr965 from 2003 on a 26er ti frame hardtail 9 speed. Rockshox carbon steerer/crown 80mm travel fork--love it. It's my main trail bike, and a sweet ride. Keep it running with ebay purchases.
