In 1990 the inaugural Word Championships were held in Durango and won by Ned Overend. In this article I’m going to provide you with an overview of all winning cross-country mountain bikes, because we all know that what you ride is more important than how you ride it.
I looked up who the winners were for the men’s cross-country event for the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships starting with 1990 and ending with 1999.
Here they are.
Ned Overend – 1990 Specialized Stumpjumper Epic
The only thing not featured in this image is the RockShox 1 or RS-1 front suspension.
Julie Furtado – 1990 Yeti FRO

John Tomac – 1991 Raleigh Signature Edition
Image from retrobike.co.uk
Henrik Djernis – 1992 Ritchey P22 Team
Image from steelfightsback.com
Thomas Frischknecht – 1996 Ritchey P-21
Image taken from vojomag.nl
The original version had cantilevers not v-brakes.
Hubert Pallhuber – 1997 Diamondback Axis TT
image from light-bikes.it
Christophe Dupouey – 1998 Diamondback DBR Axis TT
Michael Rasmussen – 1999 Gary Fisher Katai
Image from retrobike.co.uk