Eras as far as UK cycling went:
In my childhood, nobody knew their Campag from their Camembert. Everything was Huret and Simplex.
When I was 20, most people had got into cars and motorcycles. Bicycles were for students and political activists or 'proper racing types'. I just pootled on a 10-speed 'racer'. I'd graduated from 5 to 10 when I was about 19.... 10 gears! Wow!
I was about 25 when rigid MTBs first appeared. My peers had money for the first time and MTBs became a sort of urban accessory. Many, many non-cyclists started turning up on them. This is the first time I remember people having an opinion about tyres, brakes or frame manufacturers. Marin and Kona (as I recall) were cool brands. My road bike (they were now known as that) was old hat and a bit geeky.
MTBs made cycling cool for the first time I could recall. Few people I knew used them off-road. Nobody new to cycling wanted a 'road bike'. I do think the MTB saved cycling in the UK, but its popularity had everything to do with fashion and little (in many cases) to do with off-road riding.
I recall the TdF at that time being something you could only watch in eclectic, foreign cafes in Soho or near Seven Dials. Nobody knew or cared about it or any other road races. Road bikes were as far below the radar as ever they had been.
I hate to say this, but among my non-cycling peers the difference for road riding was Lance. His brand made road cycling cool as MTBs had made cycling cool. People started wanting a road bike and their main frame of reference was Lance. They knew a hundred and seventeen facts about him and didn't know the name of one other rider, or when the TdF took place, or where it finished... anything really. It was Lance. He was cool. He was tough. He nearly died and he beat the Frogs at 'their own game'. Trek was cool. Lance was cool. "I want a road bike. How many Watts are you putting out? I need to work on my cadence. What's the range of your groupset? How do I inflate a tyre?"
This is truly the Golden Age. People I've never met ask me whether I prefer Shimano or Campagnolo. I quite liked it when nobody gave a flying f**k at the Moon which I preferred.
Me? Bitter?