Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt

Getting through the winter blahs means going through old bike mags. This is from MBA 1987.I think that they still make this. Hopefully it comes with a pump peg finally.

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Those Presta tubes will never catch on…

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Even back then, I think Presta was seen as superior, wasn’t it?

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Probably but I remember some references to people drilling out presta rims so they could run Schrader.

Times have changed, up until 2000’s you might have to demo and explain the benefits of indexed shifting to your avg mom and pop customer but now it’s just a given. Back when this mag came out ‘click shifting’ (they actually called it that) was a big deal.

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I have drilled out my share of rims to fit Schraeder valves before. Back when DH tubes only came with large valves.

Fun(?) fact: I recently interviewed the marketing director from the Schraeder company on my podcast. They invented that system. They recently sold the IP and now only make TPMS sensors, but the company that bought it still has to call them Schraeder valves.

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Are those hubs superboost?

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No, the Ringle Superbubbas are a few years out.

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Yet I manage to somehow call them alfredo and carbonara valve’s lol

In '87 the presta might not have been as common. My '90 Kona lava dome was a decent bike and it came standard with Schrader tubes. My '91 Mountain Goat has hand built Mavic wheels with Schrader drilling. The MBA crew might have seen Presta as a Euro or Roadie thing.

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