well....
- not many 26" bikes have seats any more
- bb's became roughly ~10mm higher per year, 03/04 would have been +10 if lucky... now about +45-60 is common
- bikes have become longer, from about 1040mm in the old days, to around 1080-1095 nowadays
- people are trying to get their bikes lighter and lighter, some 26" as light as 8kg (and under!)
- tyres went Michelin, Maxxis, now the trend is Continental tyres
- people used front V/magura until front disc brakes became popular around 03-04+, front & rear HS33 became a trend in about 08 onwards
- Benito Ros has become 20" UCI world champion many many times (only a 2nd place in 06!)
- 26" wise, world champs have been Giacomo Coustellier, Vincent Hermance, Kenny Belaey and Gilles Coustellier
- grinding rims is the standard these days, although you can buy tar on ebay
- there are 1385669x HS33 pads out there these days
- bashrings have become half rings (covering only under the front foot) in order to save weight and I guess it makes sense
- the use of titanium in bolts and other products (eg bb's) has increased
- tartybikes is now the world's largest online trials shop
- wide, drilled rims are widely manufactured, some single wall.. including the rear
- Danny macaskill released a video in April 2009 which took the world by storm.. had about 14289515 views on youtube. Increased the worlds knowledge of trials.
- as a result, 24" bikes became much more popular also - many different models of 24" bikes (both street and pure trials) now available
- dual disc on 20" bikes more common now. Not so much on 26"
- trend went from Try-all yourself replica low rise bars, to flat bars, now to riser bars. Some are even made of carbon
- koxx bikes are still expensive.