Old School Throwback: Chainspotting

Dec 30, 2012
by Matt Wragg  
As it's a quiet Sunday between Christmas and New Year, it's the perfect day to stay indoors and watch old videos. Chainspotting was one of the best to come out of the UK in the late 90s, featuring riders like Steve Peat, Rob Warner, Will Longden, Martyn Ashton and Martin Hawyes. If you're sensitive, it may be best to avoid this video as it contains quite a lot of swearing, frontal female nudity and quite a lot of bike riding without helmets... If that does sound like your kind of thing, it's fifty minutes of old school fun.











If anybody knows where can find this on DVD, please let us know!

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97 Comments
  • 46 0
 Haha rob " a terrorist on a bike "
  • 14 0
 who needs a reason when you have a mountain bike?
  • 25 1
 LOOK AT THE HAIR!
  • 4 0
 Look at the hair? Check the bikes... I used to dream of having a Santa Cruz heckler DH bike. Wish I could re-live those days!
I had Dirt and Getta grip, f*cking good times!
  • 1 3
 Happy new year
  • 19 1
 Still as good today as it was back in the day, sound track still holds its own too. Only just noticed the serious lack of helmets.
  • 23 0
 Lets face it Rob had no brain to protect!
  • 6 0
 he may have no brain but the hair should have the national guard all over it!
  • 11 0
 Rob warner's hair Big Grin
  • 10 0
 frontal female nudity you say? in that case....
  • 7 1
 This is one of the video that really got me into mountain biking (free with MBUK once i think), and still sums up my riding which mainly consists of dicking around on bike with mates! Some class tunes too!
  • 8 0
 those bikes! mad respect! doin' drops on a bike with pretty much roadbike geo!
  • 16 3
 Martyn Ashton these days: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmJtYaUTa0 Even more road bike geometry!
  • 4 0
 yes, 100mm travel dual crown forks haha
  • 2 0
 You should try and find some clips from Martyn Ashtons video 'Tricks and Stunts' - absolute classic stuff on there, had me in tears of laughter back in the day! Love this old school stuff that got me into bunnyhopping
  • 8 0
 never mind dvd, i want a dcd !!!
  • 3 0
 I actually still have one Pimp
  • 6 0
 I love seeing Martin Ashton rocking the trials riding in an outfit that would make Dr. Dre proud. The 90's were so much cooler then the 2010's.
  • 3 0
 no Iphone kiddies, no "16 years old and pregnant" , no justin beiber
  • 1 0
 Yep... pure bliss!!!!
  • 2 0
 Remember having the VHS of this and Dirt too, watched them so many times in my teenage years that certain parts of the tape went all fuzzy. Really funny to watch it back now, all the old school gear and clothes. Shout out to mud cows too, taht was an awesome film.
  • 2 0
 Haha yeah dirt was epic long may JMC's reputation live in! Mud cows was awesome I had a tattoo of the symbol done by a mate when I was about 15! It's truly terrible but every now and then someone recognises it!
  • 1 0
 Mudcows was just terrible , blurry crap disguised as a mountain bike film .
  • 1 0
 I was 12! anything with bikes seemed cool back then!
  • 4 0
 I still love dirty tricks and cunning stunts or the art of bi-king I dont think alot of people have seen those movies but you should definatly check em out
  • 4 0
 That's the video that got me started back in the day... Would watch it before i would go outside and try to bunny-hop a stick.
  • 3 0
 Crud catchers, DCDs, brake boosters. Awesome. I'm pretty sure I have the VHS of this that came with MBUK but never watched it as we didn't have a VHS player. I still have a silver DCD lying around in a box somewhere.
  • 5 0
 That takes me back... Young guys have NO idea how good they have it in terms of the equipment available.
  • 2 0
 I nearly jizzed when I got my first set of v-breaks. Bet the young generation don't even know what they are. 'So the breaks used to clamp onto the rim its self'!
  • 4 0
 RIGHT?!?!?!?!?! I remember getting V-brakes and thinking ALL my problems had been solved, and next to cantilevers and side pull BMX brakes they were. When I got my first pair of Discs I reveled in how I could now ride 4-seasons... But, aside from fade, the braking power wasn't much better then a V-brake (being a that a rim is essentially a 26-29" disc). Now days we have things for our MOUNTAIN BIKES that I would have been stoked to put on my early MX bikes!!!!

My fiance is still riding my 93(???) Cro-Mo Rockhopper with it's ORIGINAL Specialized elastomer "suspension fork" (it has maybe an INCH of travel hahahaha). That bike was used in exactly the same manner and it was actually a ton of fun. What we were doing was so NEW that there were no competitions, or people to measure up against, you were just some nut out in the woods whooping and hollering with a few buddies and everyone thought you were crazy for "taking a perfectly nice bike out and trying to break it..." I remember going into a local shop looking for a "really short" 60mm stem for the bike and describing to the shop guys how I wanted to make a "bigger BMX bike I can ride across town on but jump off things along the way". The looks on their faces were priceless... "you want to do WHAT???" was the reply. I eventually just asked them to see the shortest "Ahead-Set" stems they had (remember when the "quill stem" disappeared...) and built the bike without any further advice. When it was finished I took it back and most of the guys kinda snickered like I was crazy... near 20 years later everyone's on the bandwagon, but I remember the early days and sometimes I miss the simplicity and adventure f those early days.
  • 3 0
 I used to drool over those bikes they had. Just to think my bike I own now would have been space age back then. Dh bikes used to have 3" travel and elastomer suspension!
  • 2 0
 I was thinking the exact same...just to imagine, I was still very young and had no idea that MTB/DH even existed. Let alone, I'm not sure anyone could of predicted how big mtb/DH would be now.

10-20 years from now, ppl will be saying the exact thing. And when we have our own kids and they grow up & we're grannys, they'll laugh at us...
  • 4 0
 hopefully by the time we are old Downhill/Freeriding, or mountain biking in general will be bigger than foot ball is now. I can just see people walking around with Semenuk or Zink or Soderstrom etc. jerseys on.
  • 8 0
 I seriously hope I never see people walking around in "Pro" Jerseys. Reserve that silly stuff for ball sports.
  • 5 0
 Yeah, I get what your saying, and I actully kinda like being part of something non-mainstream.
  • 3 0
 It's defiantly better the way it is. Where I live we have some pretty sweet local trails right in the outskirts of the city, the council are trying to encourage people into riding which is great for getting people interested in mountain bikes. Trouble is the trails are already getting congested at the weekend with slow people on cheap bikes who are having ago, if it got completely commercialised every dick in town will be up there on their £100 special. I love it when I'm asked what football team I support and I'm just laughing to myself thinking football is shit! Mountain bikes to the core!
  • 1 0
 epic vid lol so funny see in the old crew in shellsuits doin tricks an stunts lol....steve peat looks proper young lol far cry from see in him around now...lookin aged but still smashin it! reppin the big steel city! MTB all the way!!!
  • 3 0
 i like it so much!!!!!!!!..oldschool never die....it`s just sad there are not vintage or oldschool picture section on PB.
  • 3 0
 Knock ya selves out, all on DVD here: The Very Best Of Sprung covers issues 1-4.
www.dukevideo.com/MTB
  • 3 0
 steve peat there since the beggining ... im glad i didnt born more early so now i can run on good suspensions xP
  • 1 0
 The old suspension used to go hard in the cold winter because of the elastomer springs they used. OMG I feel old! That was 16 years ago.
  • 1 0
 i feel old too... i had an elastomer rst too ... it was good it lasted alot untill the crown broke...
  • 1 0
 that reminded me the movie "Fire, Ice & Dynamite" from 1990...I watched a few days ago and was funny to see the guys doing mountain biking with no suspension and other extreme sports with old technology, really cool!
  • 3 0
 I've had this on vhs since '98! I'm not sure it was ever on dvd.
  • 6 0
 So have I, as well as Mud Cows, Sprung and Kranked, the only problem is I have nothing to play it on...
  • 2 0
 Different places will convert your VHS's into DVD's.
  • 1 0
 no way!!! been searching this video for years, watched this on a daily basis when i was just starting riding. next we need "SPUN" also brilliant! and also impossible to find.
  • 2 0
 man, sometimes i wish i could take one of these modern bikes back in time, just so i can watch their minds being blown
  • 2 0
 f*ckin class "what you doin at weekend" " er when's weekend " absolute legends.
  • 1 0
 Loved this film, honestly i bet i've seen it over 300 times. Used to watch it before and after rides back in the day!! Miss 90's MTB sooooo much..
  • 2 0
 They need to release all the Sprung vids on DVD, probably my favourite collection of mtb vids.
  • 1 0
 They're all on Amazon I believe mate
  • 1 0
 I can only find 5.1 what i already have on dvd.
  • 2 0
 There is this "Best of Sprung, issues 1-4 DVD" www.amazon.co.uk/The-Very-Best-Sprung-Issue/dp/B00006IXC2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1356897315&sr=8-6
  • 1 0
 awesome film!!! Just a bunch of guys riding (dicking) around and they just filmed it!! Martin Ashton and Hans Rey are monsters..... An awesome throwback!!
  • 2 0
 Even on bikes designed 20 years ago, they're a shit lot better than me on my new all singing all dancing bike Frown haha
  • 2 0
 haha, legendary! takes me back! Please post DIRT for pure old school nostalgia! Wink
  • 1 0
 i had one of those red cannondale's that Martyn rode in that vid....loved that bike!
  • 1 0
 and to think peaty is still killing it with the best of them, i think this was the first bike video i watched
  • 1 0
 ive still got this on VHS. if anyone wants to buy my lot of mtb vhs's get in touch.
  • 2 0
 plus, whats up with all the Ronald McDonald colors?
  • 1 0
 all my hero's i looked up to as a kid lol and i still got the VHS somewhere Smile
  • 1 0
 PS Will Longdon 360-ing Kong at bolehills (RIP) .....i could barely jump that jump back in the day!!
  • 1 0
 Ahh! Those were the days, when people relied on Daves Chain Devices, bliss!
  • 1 0
 For the true old school experience, I have a copy on VHS... cross my palm with silver and you too can live in the past.
  • 1 0
 Heh, I had one of those thermoplastic GT STS bikes...slight design flaw on those lol.
  • 3 1
 No sodding about with 8inch travel, these guys knew how to ride.
  • 1 0
 www.dukevideo.com/prdVHOT6725/Chainspotting-DVD

I think you can find it from here too?
  • 1 0
 So much fun! So many concussions!! Hahaha.. I think I need a few to clear up the blurry picture quality!
  • 1 0
 Thanks PB !!
Cool to see young Ashy and Peaty !!
7" of wet snow this am kept me off of my trails and this helped !!
  • 2 0
 is that laguna in part 5? awesome
  • 1 0
 No helmets long hair and stupendously tight Budgy smugglers!.......
It can only be the 90's Big Grin
  • 1 0
 Im still waiting for Alex Rankin to put up Sprung 3 and 4 on his youtube page!!!! Amazing videos
  • 1 0
 This DVD can be found on amazon.co.uk
got myself one awhile back Big Grin
  • 1 0
 This vid is awesome got me into riding!!
  • 1 0
 Dirty Tricks and Cunning Stunts
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXEg4vy8CE0
  • 1 0
 7:32 WHAT A CHAIN GUIDE?!?!?!?!
  • 2 1
 it sounds like danny hart is talking. you cant understand a damn word.
  • 1 0
 What about superheroes pinkbike :-)
  • 1 0
 Warner hasn't changed much. Legend.
  • 2 0
 Telonix!!!
  • 1 0
 Most importantly, where do I get that Oakley ear flap hat?!
  • 1 0
 Its amazing what they could do on those bike, it would be so sketchy!
  • 1 0
 Good lord I remember this when it came out. I had some of those bikes
  • 2 1
 WHAT NO HD?
  • 4 0
 It's actually in 5k, you're eyes just can't handle it...try squinting.
  • 1 0
 Awesome!
  • 1 4
 its hella funny how the pro skill level back then would be considered novice to todays standard. The sport has grown sooo much in the past 10 years. god I sure miss my long travel 80mil rock shox Judy!
  • 4 1
 You didn't see Steve Peat in the vid then? Wink I'd say technology has changed more than ability.
  • 3 0
 The skill level these guys demonstrate is no less remarkable today than it was then. True, technology enables dh riders to simply bang over stuff that would have ended a ride with a tacoed rim in the era of this video, but the line choice, flow and speeds these guys achieve is impressive. The trials skills too are innovative. Yes technique and equipment has changed since then (except for the Magura rim brakes!) but these guys advanced the sport and inspired riders who have furthered the sport to where it is now. Mad props to all the riders highlighted here. Moves in this I'm still not capable of.
  • 1 0
 Agreed... to do what they were doing on those bikes to a LOT of skill. Keeping the bike alive was a skill unto its self.
  • 2 0
 I do love the old hydraulic rim brakes!
  • 1 0
 hahahaha! Warner!!
  • 1 0
 san diego!!!
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