Inbred – when (it used to be) so cheap can any hype be undeserved?

And getting completely ignored by fashion victims, brand snobs and the generally ignorant. Which is a nice definition of underrated,

No, that would be a nice definition of ignored.

Mongoose Khyber. Pedals up hills sweetly then hammers down the Alps . beast. Love it.

I rode one of our Sunn’s for a week or so at the end of the season and really rated it. Lovely, supple susension feel, very light (165mm travel, sub 30lbs!!), but they’re pretty much unheard of here. Highly rated in France mind.

Another one for Maxlight hardtails.
Especially the pha5e

Maverick ML8

Giant Trance

Titus especially Supermoto or the older Quasimoto

Some of the KHS bikes the xct 555 for example can be used as a trail or light downhill bike and can pedal back up and take masses of abuse and for £999 its a steal.

the khs 604 light trail bike was the same great bike but not alot of people buy them.

spec trek and giant for doing a huge range of sizes.i’d love to be a boardman fan but they don’t really do one big enough

Azonic propulsion, probably the best lager bike in the world, 3.7″ of awsomeness 😉

Specialised Hardrock

Maverick ML8

Giant Trance

Replace that with “any Maverick” and “any Giant with the Maestro suspension system”.

It’s funny how vain the buying public is, and how beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like the look of both my Durance and my Reign X, most people don’t, and it seems ratings often have a lot to do with how a bike looks. Both my Maverick and my Giant are 2 of the best bikes I’ve ever owned, certainly the best full sussers, yet they’re massively underrated by the public because of their challenging looks…

Specialized Enduro.

Specialized Pitch – Holy Jesus that is a capable bike when it’s got a decent fork on it.

I hate to sound like some SBC marketing man but the current generation Big Hit is freaking awesome and nothing is written about anywhere (except that one Dirt article)

456 mine rides quicker than my old trance EVERYWHERE.

£125 brand new for the frameset against £799 I paid for the trance

definatly underrated especally for the cost

Ditto the Maverick comments – keyboard warriors generally slag them off for the way they look despite the fact that I have yet to ride a bike that does so many things so well as the ML8.

DMR Trailstars never get mentioned but really good for general trail riding with a longer stem if you don’t mind a heavy bike. Stick a shorter one on and perfect for jumping.

+1 for the stinky
just weighed mine at 40lbs 😀 rode it at caersws this weekend and i was happily keeping pace with guys on sundays, sessions, glorys and lots of supposedly better bikes
id extend that to konas in general my 02 bear (recently retired) did 8 years hard labour, 2 megavalanches, xc rides all over the country, trips to the alps
but people seem to hate them because of their halfords assosciations and their ‘old school’ suspension

+1 for the Trailstar, excellent geometry.

Marin Hawk Hill 2003, I didn’t know how much I loved mine till I sold her. It just had perfect geometry for my size and shape. I keep browsing eBay for a mint one, soon as the garage space permits I’m going to get another.

+1 on the carerra fury, my Dad got one I borrowed it and loved it. I think if you destickered it and a similar priced specialized, then let people ride them the carerra would win hands down. People ARE put off by brand and image or there would be more about.

voodoo wanga – bargain on C2W too

cyclocross bikes too, i’ve avoided anything of the sort for years but loving my cross check with knobblies now

any Carrera ever made 🙂

Fisher Cake.

I always thought Mavericks were drooled over, can’t see how they were ever under-rated. Loads of the bikes mentioned here are viewed very favourably in mags and on here, so can’t really be considered under-rated can they?

Commencal meta 5

I’ve ridden treks, giants, oranges, and some fairly random euro bikes and the Commencal just works and rides better than anything else I’ve ever ridden – and the frame hasn’t cracked yet 🙂

Agree with Molgrips on the ML8, drooled over for good reason.

Most under-rated for me is my Coyote HT3 which in the last 10 years has seen everything from a 120mm fork to it’s current build as s/s drop bar road bike. Only frame I’ve found which meets all three of ‘light, strong, cheap’.

My Dave Hinde Etape road bike. Lovely to ride.