ye gods i’m actually doing a bike thread (it’s been a while 😯
i actually rode my bike today (i cannot believe how unfit i am at present/no change there 😳
anyhoo i was thinking to myself about some of the old stuff i used to have/lusted after.
some of the things i miss:-
fantastic (i used to have a pink triangle frame/shoulder bag on my first mtb dawes ascent from 1988 😀
YES 3 in one pic here purple onza bar ends,grafton brake levers and foam brake grips CLASS! oh and tinker’s klien adroit isn’t bad either 😉 what the hell happened to grafton/cook bros racing e.t.c. which leads me onto

small companies that made cnc products for bikes (at highly inflated prices/although they were purple anodised so it was worth the expense 😀
so over to you.

Puple anodising’s always cool.
I still reckon thumbshifters rule, but not seen any for years.

Pedro’s milk bottle levers – I got a free pair from mbuk in the 90’s (?) and they are my longest serving lever they flex before they snap and are therefore most excellent!

Thumbies are still around! Either originals still going strong or Pauls mounts with bar ends shifters fitted.

Cook bros have been making an attempt at a comeback and have a dogbone crank on show.

Me I’d like to see more fillet brazed skinny steel tubed bikes please 🙂

Bontrager privateer, made by Keith.

Hite-Rite FTW!

Anodised skinny bar ends. That and rigid GTs, I think

Milk levers… jeez that’s going back some! Always liked the shark finchain stay protector and products by Dave ie DCD. More trick bits that anything

Klein paint jobs
Kona paint jobs (and graphics)
Orange Marzocchis
Those Bontragers

aldi had some frame bags like that 1st pic sometime last year

(one was on my road bike until very recently)

Muddy Ground

Innocence and simplicity please. You know, where all you ever needed for a week in the hills was a rigid Clockwork on 1.8″ skin wall tyres, few mates to take the piss, some sarnies in tin foil for lunch with water for your riding beverage, and beers afterwards in some smoke filled pub.

Actually did any of that ever really happen ;¬)

pro-flex stems, always wanted one!!

X Lite Fly stems in blue
XTR to still come in XTR grey

Klein, i’d like to see them again.

Those pace xc frames with externally butted square tubing.

Tioga disc drives, just for the rumble noise they made!

Proper old Shimano hubs that last forever (20 years and counting on my Exages, and they still do more miles than any other hub I own and get less servicing)

Hmm. Looking at the amount of stuff in this thread that people wish would come back, then having a quick look to see how much of it actually has come back, or never went away, is interesting.

a Ti Hite Rite and Cool Tool

Biscuit coloured tyres.Panaracer smoke and dart iirc. The crud claw and on a bmx,GT 3 spoke mags.

I wish they would bring back….

1) Nice high end steel Kona’s, GT’s and Specialized.
2) Onza bar ends.
3) Grafton bits.
4) M900 XTR.
5) Campagnolo MTB goups.
6) Elevated chainstays.
7) Nike Pooh Bah’s with the ‘world cup’ stripe.

Sat in my shed waiting for me to get back is a GT RTS frame, a flite ti saddle, some yellow judy SLs, yellow onza ule grips, purple USE seatpost and bar with integrated purple bar ends, a full M900 groupset, some xt flat pedals and some white industries on mavic ceramic wheels with Smoke/Dart tyres.

I’m sure it’ll ride crap compared to my ibis, but it’s the bike I lusted after as a kid but could never afford.

Only 60 odd days till home time. 🙂

Oh, and some purple onza chill pills, because they’re the very essence of early 90’s bike bling. Utterly pointless over the OEM stuff, but increased pose factor. 😀

Poobahs, my first pair of proper cycling shoes. I was in fabric walking boots until then.

Bring them back.

It must be time for the DCD to make a comeback. Light and simple and kept the chain on.

Whatever happened to Rox and No Fear? I remember the days of going to a mountain bike race (XC of course) and everyone wearing either a Rox or a No Fear T-shirt.

/rose tinted specs.

With regard to Grafton, I think they had a bad batch of cranks that all broke. The resulting claims put them out of business.

Klein. proper ones.

pace rc 29er would be cool, tioga discdrive(not sure they were any good but i saw jmc race on one so had to be cool) – sounded better than a pro11! campag to do a mtb groupset again.
bullseye cranks!

Proper Iron Horse bikes, not the BSO’s they’ve become.

IRC Kujo’s

Not exactly classic/retro, but I’m not as ‘seasoned’ as you guys

Edit: Pace did a CNC’d stem in the late 90’s-early 00’s and it looked the shizzle, similare to a sunline V1 but just better! I only ever saw one, but I’ve wanted it ever since!

Pedro’s milk bottle levers – I got a free pair from mbuk in the 90’s (?) and they are my longest serving lever they flex before they snap and are therefore most excellent!

I used mine yesterday! They must be pretty much the longest serving tool I have.

a flite ti saddle

These went away? tell me it isn’t so

Ringle bottle cage. I have one but I’d like another!

Angus Wells – Member
Poobahs, my first pair of proper cycling shoes. I was in fabric walking boots until then.

Bring them back.

I thought they were great, loved mine.

LAT – Member
With regard to Grafton, I think they had a bad batch of cranks that all broke. The resulting claims put them out of business

That’s a shame, didn’t know that.

White Onza Porcupine tyres
Fat Chance Yo Eddy
WTB Ti bars

Caroline Alexander.

Marin, Kona and GT steel frames.

Proper mud clearance.

Spooky Metalhead and Pashley 24/7. The two frames I REALLY wanted when I first seriously got into MTB.

Specialized Evil Twin Slalom tyres. Not particularly fast but grippy as ****.

Shimano red DX servo wave brake levers (I think LX were the same at the time?) – only Shimano kit I’ve ever preferred hands-down over SRAM/Avid stuff.

slainte 😀 rob

Chill pills and biscuit tyres!!!! Minted!

2.35 inch red Ritchey z-max tyres, grippy, soft and a lovely colour.

elastomer sprung forks…who wants any travel when it’s cold anyway? 😉

the malverns classic would be good to revisit too!

26 inch wheels

Etto – nothing was cooler

etto helmet by boltonjon, on Flickr