Originally Posted by
queerpunk
yup. low volume and very modest evolution. everything stems from there.
the flip side is that it means that sometimes, some twenty-year-old products can be nearly top-of-the-line - or at least extremely raceable with few if any tangible drawbacks.
Yup.
The current Felt TK FRD is only slightly modified from the original Felt TK1 from 2009 (or earlier?) and is virtually the same as the 2012 model after they added the current seat mast topper and lighter fork.
The current LOOK R96 is only slightly different that the LOOK 496 Athene (2006?), the major differences are the integrated seat mast and proprietary cranks (both huge downgrades in my humble opinion) and the indexed stem system (instead of friction).
Who wouldn't ride the hell out of this (with some modern bars on it)?:
The Koga Kimera from around 2008 or so was raced well and won golds at Worlds a few weeks ago...round 27.2mm seatpost and all.
The BT Edge from around 2009 or 2010 is still in use today.
I find it odd that road and MTB manufacturers got into an arms race and put themselves on an annual product release schedule.