The Sunday Revival: what else compares?

unpopular opinion:

that cloud chasing just marks an athlete’s transition to has been status

intense M1, so good other brands put their stickers on it.

Shane McConkey and the Volant Spatulas and then K2 Pontoons. He was arguably responsible for the existence of modern powder skis as we know them today.

In snowboarding, the Winterstick Swallowtail and the Dupraz D1 come to mind.  The latter hasn't really changed since the early 2000's and the former has retained its basic outline for 50 years.  Both are still relevant designs, though I'd much prefer the D1, myself.

I think this somewhat fits the topic but also kind of doesn't:
Alexander Ovechkin, the all time leading goal scorer in NHL history had a falling out with his long term equipment sponsor CCM a couple of years ago over the fact they discontinued the stick model he spent the majority of his career using. Because of the need to constantly "innovate" and give the masses something new (where have we heard this story before?), he tried using the newer CCM sticks and it got to the point where he was using other brands to no avail. At this point he had 8 goals in 43 games. Enter a small company in Canada that raised their hand and said they could replicate his old stick for him. The result? 23 goals in 36 games. When he finally surpassed Wayne Gretzky for the most goals ever scored, he did so with the no name stick that only has a little number 8 for graphics. 

I feel like the V-10 and to a lesser extent the Trek Session exist in a similar realm but don't get the recognition because they've existed forever and have had incremental changes. The demo kind of fits that as well but has had a lot of bigger changes over the years and bike doesn't always resemble itself year to year.

Without Sam Hill there is no Ironhorse Sunday lore. Every piece of legendary sporting equipment or similar has an athlete to go along with it.

Jeremy McGrath and the 1993 - 1996 Honda CR250 immediately jumps to mind for me. Those bikes are still revered in MX culture, and are forever being purchased and restored to the point where they are fetching big money and becoming very difficult to come by. Much of what began to make DH cool in the late 90's was direct trickle down of MC's supercross dominance in the mid 90's, spearheaded by Palmer of course. 

If we are talking brand and style rather than the actual exact product, surely Air Jordans. (and the many stylistic copies).

You'd have to be well into your thirties to have even the slightest recollection of actually watching MJ play as a child, and forties or older to remember him in his prime.

McGrath famously left Honda partly because they changed to an aluminum frame in 1997 - it ruined the bike. 

I'll take tennis racquets, since I know a thing or two about them. Professionals don't use the latest and greatest models, rather they tend to stick with racquets throughout most of their careers and have them painted like current models from their sponsors. This even applies to "signature" models, which is pretty funny (Zverev –– '26 French and US Open Champ –– has a signature head model now, but uses a model variant no longer produced). I don't think there's a male player in the top-10 using a current racquet.

There are a couple that have been used by a lot of players for decades, like the Head PT57A (30+ years old), and others that are more modern like the 2023 Babolat Pure Aero 98 (most pros prefer this over the 2026, and some even have it painted to look like another brand's racquet).

Not much "revolutionary" that you can do with a racquet anymore, so year-to-year changes from brands are incredibly minuscule –– but that doesn't stop them from marketing them as "game-changing."

08 crf as well

This photo symbolizes everything about Intense Cycles. It's speaks to their legacy coming from Palmer into the modern era. The color scheme I wore as a grassroots racer for them. The same color combo & styling patterns in my kit and the pros kits were recognized instantly. Racers gave you respect & admired your equipment. Steber appreciated every racer for his brand individually.  
What I see: 
Spy - the crossover moto brand that McGrath & Palmer grew into iconic status.
Intense Shoes - Five Ten "Tennie" approach shoes Steber took a chance on believing in Stealth Rubber to the extent of selling 3 color variations
Intense DH Tires - Again...Steber taking a leap to sell tires with Stealth rubber (even though they lasted as long as a fart)
Dorado - The 1st upside down fork to look STUNNING on a DH bike. It just look like the right thing for our sport at the time. Light & RIGID
TLD D2 - Perfectly painted to match the bike, the brand & the racer
Kovarik - Riding style on OLN Network they announced as "Breaking Rocks"

Not sure if this is the kit & season, but the bike & rider hold (never to be broken) the record for largest winning World Cup DH margin.

From Herbold to Barracuda Bikes to GT iDrives to Peaty on a polished Orange 222, we have so many.
But this pic...it's the bike & brands that just sat as one perfectly timed, purely race bred bike, brand, rider & color scheme that might never be duplicated.

All the matchy match or wild & outlandish kits.  They just can't touch this single look:

I think current Saint falls into this category. launched in 2012 and Luke just won a World Cup on it in 2026. 

Retro bikes have always been cool. I think we see more pros playing on them now because what is a classic bikes now is atleast way more refined then what was classic when these dudes started riding. I think because of Sam Hill the Sunday will always be "The" classic race rig to have. The mans effect on the sport I still think is understated. Not unstated obviously, but still understated. 

That's because there is a decade between the M1 and the Sunday. The Sunday is much closer to the geo of a modern DH bike and is actually rideable. An M1 is so short by todays standards. They are antiques. 

I remember checking out Sam Hills prototype Sunday in Les Gets in 2004 and it looked so different to everything else. Most dh bikes were monocoque with big swing arms (224, Intense M3, DH9, Kona Stab, Honda RN-01), but the Sunday looked almost dainty. It was hard to see how it even had 8" of travel as everything was so compact. 

That was exactly my point as well. The Sunday is not all that far off modern bikes. (Compared to frames a bit before it.) Its also much better looking. I imagine bikes released now a days will still be pretty viable 10 - 15yrs from now. 

On the pow ski topic, I'll also throw out the K2 hellbent.

The reverse camber reverse sidecut thing really was revolutionary but also more of a novelty. They are pretty unskiable in any condition except deep snow.

The K2 hellbent got a bit of a cult following in that it was a soft, heavy, near full reverse camber ski that was insanely fun and playful from the short running length and soft flex yet shockingly stable and damp because of the weight and traditional sidecut with minimal taper. You could do things you never thought would be possible on a 122mm floppy noodle of a ski.

At the opposite end of the spectrum you've got the big chargers like the og blizzard bodacious and cochise, dynastar legend pros, moment garbones and belafonte etc. In general these that flat out suck if you can't hit your edge angles and bend the ski, but will let you go bigger and faster than you ever thought was possible.

It is basically the exact opposite of 99.5% of skis on the market today that have suffered from a regression to the mean problem. These skis and others that have achieved a cult following tend to be  specialty tools that are really focused at doing one thing well or delivering a particular sort of ride feel that may be polarizing or have limited appeal. At the same time, you can truly do things you flat out cannot do with an average contemporary ski on your feet and that is a really cool feeling.

Skis are weird though because if you can adapt your riding style, many vastly different design philosophies can be legendary.

Four of my favorite all time skis are the first gen bright orange Dynastar Legends and Head Monster 103 Teams (the ones with two full layers of titanal), and then the original 172 version of the Line Elisabeth and the Atomic Blog.

Two vastly different groupings of skis, but all super fun to ride off piste at places like Snowbird and Alta.

Oh I totally agree. Some of my favorite skis of all time are the ninthward ngp, og 4ftnt devastator and ehp, heritage lab zf116 and fr110. Wildly different design philosophies and each puts a smile on my face for different reasons. There is no denying though there are things I can do on the zf116 that I would nuke myself trying on an fr110, just like an LP vs Elizabeth situation. And I can ski super playfully, make whatever turn shape I want in shit snow and tight lines at speed with the confidence I can shut things down in an instant on the f110 which would almost certainly bite me in the ass on a ski like the zf116.

Sure you can adapt and have fun but those niche designs do enable the right skier to do ridiculous things. And that is so fun to me that it is absolutely worth optimizing for at both ends of the playful to charger spectrum.

So stoked the NGP is one of your all time faves! It’s on my all time list too.

I wish I still had a pair, even if just to hang on the wall.

I agree with this, I put a -2 degree angleset on mine and it feels just as intuitive as my modern-day park bike. 

Also OG Armada JJ's are the best skis ever made, which K2 Pontoons and Hellbents paved the way for

Man that ski was so good. That and the og 4frnt devastator have been the two most influential skis for my current skiing style/getting away from the old flat tail chargers. Which are still fun but slightly one dimensional lol.

PS this year's heritage lab 192 AM110 is pretty close to a modern take on the NGP imo. It's beefier than the rest of the AM110 line but still very approachable. My feedback for this year's production flex was specifically based on a yearning for the ride feel of the NGP haha. Really looking forward to getting my pair on snow. If you're local to snowbird/alta I highly recommend getting out on a pair - idk if the 192 will make it into the shop demo fleets but I know marshal (owner) will have a pair or two mounted. I have no affiliation just really stoked on their skis and the fact that they are willing to make unabashedly niche stuff to go along with skis that many skiers will love.