Oh, how things have changed...

I don't remember that bike, and for good reason. He should be wearing a pair of the old Sidi downhill boots.

unfortunately, i think this is what non-riders still think when i mention i ride downhill mountain bikes. such a rad photo though.

Personally I love the chain guide.

DEFINITELY SAW THAT EXACT SAME ASSHOLE RIDING WINTER PARK IN 2010.

can't remember the name.. but isn' this the rider that was nicknamed "Darth" back in the day?

That bike was made from the parts of other dead bikes right? And electrocuted to bring it to life?

Its Philippe Perakis, the photo is from mammoth kamikaze...92 maybe.

that's him! just before my time (yay, i can finally say that here) Rad nonetheless!

Woah...It's like Zap Espinoza threw up all of the '90's issues of MBA.

I didn't know daft punk rode mountain bikes!!! awesome!!

Richard La China
http://richardlachina.wordpress.com

(LaChina)

If only that 80 tooth chainring was biopace, then you would have one sweet ride!

And your knees would be throwing up patellas like it was a bachelor party! Wooo 1990s!

Even the sidewalls have tread!!!

Also before my time...at least in regards to my exposure to mountain biking, let alone downhill mountain biking. I'm old enough to where I should have known, but I was living in Florida back then.

btw, that thing looks like a mechanic's worse nightmare!!

Those were the Specialized Umma-Gumma soft compound tires. They would lose about half their tread by the second ride. For EXTREME racing only.

Oh, and is that The Stig?

Fer reals spomer, I hadn't seen your comment and posted basically the same on fb: "Anyone else think this is the picture non-riders have of us? Walking through Whistler Village just 10 years ago I certainly felt like I was being gawked at like I looked like this guy, and I certainly did not."

Wacky.

Yeah, Mr. Perakis!
Dude was working as a sales rep for (tataahh) Dainese in Switzerland for a while after he retired from racing.
But his nickname was rather "Bug Man" than "Darth somewhat".

Oh yeah: The bike was a one-off from Francis Glatz, named "ATZ" (you can read that on the front shock).
Glatz' ATZ bolt-on suspension fork was one of the very early designs, used by many Swiss riders such as Albert Iten and Perakis. The great thing about that ATZ-parts was that you could turn rigid wheels to suspension up front and in the back:
http://fotos.mtb-news.de/img/photos/6/8/1/6/_/large/cilo-atz-perakis-fu…

Glatz left the bicycle industry to manufacture precision parts for watch makers and car makers a long time ago.

Sadly I think when you talk about bikes in any form, this is what people typically picture in there minds... Pays to be famous.

Yes, things have changed. I couldn't believe these guide rings were real the first time I found them at the office, I thought they were a prop or display or something. In the middle is our new S4 bash ring in the size I use for DH now.

BTW, looks like the dude in the original post had an early Specialized Dangler prototype......

http://www.vitalbmx.com/photos/member/Misc-mtb-80s-90s,39660/alison-dun…

Flashback city.

I used to rock one of those chainstay chain tensioners!

"Parakeet" always rocked the craziest Dainese gear. He wore that stuff before anyone else knew what it was! Pretty fast little dude. I watched him make a lady at race registration cry at the Big Bear World Cup in like '95 because our race licenses were the wrong colour and she wouldn't let us get our race packages. He was telling everyone there it was bullshit and that we will boycott the race then...haha. Good times. Photo I think is later than '92.

Chain device is a DCD (Daves Chain Device).