Kids, you ought to know...
- Thread starter ZoRo
- Start date
F yeah Downset!
i beg to differ...
nico in NWD 2
nico in NWD 2
As much as I like Palmer, I have to agree that the Nico segment in NWD2 is probably the best capture of bike control on film.
Real old school
The way that guy works the bike always makes me go
Now I wanna go home and dig out my copy of NWD 2 and my VHS player.
mmmm....
elastomer
Sickest Cali Trail there is!
Nico is the man. Nobody even close. That segment is just wicked.
I watched it, but I almost have to have someone point out to me what is so awesome about it. I understand the dilema- for instance, I think Van Homan's part in Criminal Mischief was the best ever and showed it recently only to have others point out that everything's been done by some 14 y/o with a triple barspin thrown in. So perhaps there's some revolutionary riding going on that I'm not privy to... Was it the fact that he could jump and style it out back then?
But Nico's part- holy crap!
Downset, Palmer and Helis. I don't even have to watch the damn clip, I can watch it in my head.
Fixed that for you. Always appears effortless but with a controlled energy output. A scientist of the sport, if you will.
I believe he could make a return to top-level competition.
Nico was and is rad... but he has really kooky style. He pulls straight up on his clips to bunny and the back end gets wonky every time he's in the air. He's a racer, that's where he shines. There are/where a ton of other guys with way sicker style. But... style does not win races.
When that Chainsmoke vid was shot, there wasn't really anyone or anything that compared. At the time, it was like the most insane bike video today with the volume on 11.
It's fun to watch Chris and Niko back to back. Talk about two different styles of riding.
watch nico nose wheelie that corner.
I read an interview with Nico after the 1993 worlds where he said that he didn't care where his back wheel was, as long as his front wheel was tracking.
If you want to see an epic Nico win (albeit on a near-home track), check out the hurt he put into Mikey King here in 1995. Hands up before the line, he could have stopped for a quick drink on the way down (ignore the Gachet portion at the start, that guy was a bucket of suck, personality-wise):
Watching Vouilloz pedal on that rock section at the end (with all of 3" of sh*t-tastic travel front and rear) made me pee a little.
This is also the course (IIRC) where Cullinan hit the deck hard (in '92, I think), and I believe he asserted the fall at Cap D'Ail caused the initial damage to his heart.
Another clip from Cap D'Ail, this time 1993 (INSANE WAYNE ACTION within! Jake Watson sprint to the line with a rear flat! TIOGA Disc fail! Also, I think McRoy gets a quick clip at the end):
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Nico at 2:05: I've been doing that for years but have never seen anyone else pull the nose-wheelie switchback thing. Friggin' alien.
Some of the riding in that first vid you linked is next level, for the bikes and technology, just wild! Good to see Ivan Oulego Moreno is still racing world cups! Our sport is slowly building a history, a back story to build a solid future on. Also shows all the fools on this forum and on the hills worldwide that they dont need flat bars and a 63 degreee headangle to haul arse!
I'm not that old, but I spent a lot of time with the sport when I was younger and it was a great outlet at the time.
Technology progressed at an accelerated pace in those days, and it was a battle against the equipment as much as it was a battle against competitors and the course. The progression in equipment alone from 1992 to 1998 or so was amazing to watch, and the corresponding increases in speed were just as striking.
I get caught up in nostalgia sometimes, but now that I've come back to the sport it's sometimes difficult to reconcile the heydey of old downhill racing with the general feel of the sport today. It's a different beast altogether.
There once was a time when there weren't internet forums for Sport (excuse me, "Cat. 2") racers to engage in endless debates over the difference two degrees of backsweep on a bar can make.
Q4T! Cap D'Ail vid was really good too. I like the fact 4x uses simple bikes, one suspension. Really brings out the good skilled riders like Joost or Graves. That's if the thing doesn't get canned next year...
I've seen that move a lot in videos during north shore bridge/skinny/huck segments (Brown, Bourdon, Simmons).
I've done it quite a bit as well, comes in handy on super tight switchbacks.
Sickest move I've ever seen!
Hope to see Fabian back on form soon.True! It's easy to be critical, I suppose, but it's different for sure - for better or worse, as you say.
wow, I never realized my nose wheelie's around tight corners were such an "alien" concept. I wonder if I am better than I think i am....doubtful, I am pretty sure I am just an unstylish hack.
I've always thought thats one of the sickest DH moves in any video, what a badass.
Any clip of Barel though, he has to be the most beautiful rider there is. Gwin is kind of a close second these days.
Damn i want a dvd copy of chainsmoke 1 and 2
Palmer= Kenny Powers?
Ha! I thought almost the exact same thing, then I watched it anyway
Fuzzy and Todd Lyons dirt jump section in Chainsmoke was also light-years ahead of it's time.
Nico did put the hurt on King in 95', but, remember what an awful DHer King was in his first season of racing in 94'...he was a slalom specialist that rose to the occasion after being the luckiest world champion in the history of the sport, he went from being terrible, to a top 3 world cup guy, with immense training and dedication-something rarely seen since in american DHers.
And damn good on the trivia of Cully...you are correct.
Thanks for the perspective. King's '93 win in Metabief was a bit of a fluke, but he did step up and succeed over the long term in an event that wasn't really his forte.
Cullinan is my all-time favorite (strong, smooth and stylish!), and I followed him pretty closely in the magazines at the time. The fact that he came back to ride at all is amazing. He also deserves credit for being a no-glove pioneer.
Unrelated question: When Cullinan was riding for KHS in 1997, didn't he essentially void his contract by riding an Intense at the NORBA finals in Utah that year? I remember seeing him on-course on an Intense, and I think his association with KHS ended at that point.
THank you! Cully was my favorite back in the days too. Had such a smooth style! Kids don't understand when I say that riding no gloves = pulling a Dave Cullinan. There all like, no, it's Sam Blenki thing... Kids these days...
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