Growing up near Ipswich in the dim and distant past, a few friends rode Fuquays. A couple still have them. Fair to say that, as a teen, I did not really appreciate how lovely they were back then.

riders would want the stiffest fork, like an Accutrax, Pace, Koski or Gumbo, and then search for the most compliant Answer Hyperlite handlebar to soften the ride.

This still makes sense to me now. And big tyres, that bit was missing in ’94.

Love that fork layout – can’t beat crown creativity.

Price £560, for only the frame? Just incase any kids reading think that you could purchase a full bike with those components for £560 back in the day.
A 1995 (available late ’94) steel Stumpjumper complete bike was around £900 rrp. Trek 970 around £750-800.

And big tyres, that bit was missing in ’94.

the biggest tyres I saw back then were the IRC yeti FRO. when others were running 1.95, 1.8 (Ritchey WCS I’m looking at you) and even those 2.1 porcs were skinny.  The fro came in larger than it’s 2.125″ size, with chunky tread and soft compound. I ran one on the front of my old cannondale for about 6 months until it was done. it wriggled and squirmed all over the place!

technology has moved things along considerably.

Hhowever, that Fuquay is lovely, the middleburn/royce combo was standard trick, and everyone at the time knew that the suntour XC pro front mech was the best there was around, way better than XT, though you’d barely notice the difference.

This simple line though:

However, on the right trail – those wild garlic-lined, deep woodland singletracks, or that single chalk line running through a sunny, arable field outside Hastings – it’s an appropriately fast and engaging ride.

I can feel it. I can smell it. This was it, this is the blood in my veins. And maybe it’s because the days are slightly longer, or perhaps that I’ve been feeling pretty rough recently and not able to get out, but this is a reminder of what it all means to me.

I’m going off to find some singletrack this evening.

I have a (maybe imagined) of Chipps having a lovely orange Soulcraft HT as well…

Shown back in issue 4 I believe, at the time I was set on buying an Airborne ti frame but upon seeing the review and the clean slim lines of chips soulcraft I immediately emailed Matt at soulcraft and 5 months later I had my very own, best bike I’ve ever had.

Lovely is that. Has it made an appearance on Retrobike?

lovely, but it hurts just thinking about riding that down anything rocky now

I went to see Greg in 97 planning to get a frame made. We had a good chat for a couple of hours but it was clear he was planning to wind up frame building. In the end I bought a Klein.

Scratched the custom built frame itch with a Robin Mather in 2004. Great bike.

At that time I had a conversation with Chas Roberts but was totally put off when he said you couldn’t make a good riding hardtail with more than 80mm fork travel.

It’s maybe the Fuquay SS I’m thinking of then…

@borosilicate, which part of ‘near Ipswich’ is that?

Bikes in the early 90’s were evolving so quickly. Even in 1994 that Fuquay was both retro and progressive at the same time.

In late 93 / early 94 I was riding a fully rigid DynaTech with canti brakes, long quill stem. By mid 94 I’d fitted a Mag 21 (3rd generation Rock Shox with air spring and oil damping and already quite common) to my 93 DynaTech that even with 43mm of travel really slackened the seat tube. By late 94 / early 95 I was riding a Parkpre (remember them?) Pro Image that had the frame designed around a 60mm travel fork and came with Rock Shox Judy, v-brakes, Aheadeset, 90mm stem, riser bars and conti tyres wider than 2.1.
I can’t think of a time in mtb history when things that became commonplace changed as quickly as they did between 93-95

To be fair to v-brakes they worked really well, a V-brake could lock a wheel in pretty much most conditions. That was probably helped by how light wheels were back then though, the widest tyres weighed around 500g, everything was 26″, rims were commonly 17-19mm wide.
Generally tyres were pumped up above 35psi and compounds were like hard plastic. That for me was more responsible for the lack of modulation and stopping power in braking than v-brakes. I remember having a go of an early’ish set of Hope brakes (O2’s?) and thinking that they don’t work any better than a v-brake probably because tyres were still shit.

I remember the colour choices were chosen by Walkers crisp packets! Lovely bike though!

Lovely bike and great memories bikes of that era evoke. Definitely a retro ride feature due again in the mag please!

I have a basic Kona (97 but simple spec) which still provides smiles for a quick spin round the forest after work. If it was too ‘bling’ I’d likely be over protective so it’s fitting that is was not top end.

Serves as a great reminder how far MTBs have come (my Kona compared to my first MTB in ‘86 seems like a huge difference) but also that you don’t have to be on a state of the art super sled to smile!

@simonl – What year would that have been? If it was pre-94 then I reckon that would have been my dark blue Salsa a La Carte, which I was equally proud of! 🙂

@P20 – that is a bold colourscheme! I approve. Very Fat Chance Shock-a-Billy/Darren Tapp era… Some colours just evoke an era. I still go a bit funny when I see a proper 3DV purple anodised component. Someone (I think Mike Jackson) had a white Roberts with purple Ringlé hits and it was sooo lovely.

You’re right, Perhaps we do need another retro feature sometime soon.