I shouldn't have sold this Cotic Solaris. Back in 2017 I needed the £ to buy my first gravel bike a Sour Purple haze so let it go. Regretted it ever since. I think soon after Cotic went to the new long shot geometry and I never gelled with that.
Which frame or bike do you regret letting go?
My dialled bikes love/hate. Sold it to someone on here, and have regretted it daily since. This was about 12ish years ago!
my 2002 cannondale f800 in matt black with lefty fork. was my dream bike and loved it (sold it in a moment of stupidity and depression have regretted it ever since 🙁
My 1990 Team Marin with Zolaton paint and magenta forks/stem/bars
Only to keep to hang on the wall as it was what I considered my first "real" mountain bike. Certainly the first one I ever had in the right size.
My 2005 Turner 6-Pack was a pretty special bike as well. I had that a long time, over a decade, it was the most dialled bike I've ever had but 26" wheels, straight steerer, QR wheels, all started to age it somewhat. Having said that, I sold it on and I think it's still going strong.
I have initially regretted selling bikes but I still have my first ever bike hanging up in the garage (Raleigh Blazer!) and it just gets in the way so thank goodness I haven't got any more relics, I already need to do n-3 for a starter. I'm now firmly in the "golden age is now" camp so anything that goes will have been replaced by something objectively better.
@Tom83 I've got one hanging in the garage if you want to buy one! 😉
I wish I'd kept hold of my red Pace RC200 (and the matching RC30 forks) I sold a few years ago. No to ride as such, but it'd make a sweet wall hanger.
I do still have my '97 Indy Fab steel deluxe singlespeed frame 😎 tried to sell it a few years ago, but only got lowball offers. Very glad I kept it as it's a very cool bike,/frame.
@Tom83 I've got one hanging in the garage if you want to buy one! 😉
I wish I'd kept hold of my red Pace RC200 (and the matching RC30 forks) I sold a few years ago. No to ride as such, but it'd make a sweet wall hanger.
I do still have my '97 Indy Fab steel deluxe singlespeed frame 😎 tried to sell it a few years ago, but only got lowball offers. Very glad I kept it as it's a very cool bike,/frame.
Oo what size?
My 94/95 Greg Fuquay.
Kinda wish I'd hung on to my 2nd Charge Blender frame, it was one of the raw/chrome ones and looked great. Would probably still be a good bike for the local bike parks that have popped up as it was basically just an oversized DJ.
My dialled bikes love/hate. Sold it to someone on here, and have regretted it daily since. This was about 12ish years ago!
I think that was me you sold it to. Large?
Cotic Solaris in xl, lovely frame and would be great to rebuild one now
@Tom83 I've got one hanging in the garage if you want to buy one! 😉
I wish I'd kept hold of my red Pace RC200 (and the matching RC30 forks) I sold a few years ago. No to ride as such, but it'd make a sweet wall hanger.
I do still have my '97 Indy Fab steel deluxe singlespeed frame 😎 tried to sell it a few years ago, but only got lowball offers. Very glad I kept it as it's a very cool bike,/frame.
Oo what size?
Mines a large, think that equated to a 19" frame - it's the pearl/off white colour.
Great frame/bikes. But I have too many SS frames (is that possible?!) - 2 Stooges, a Surly, and a Pipedream Moxie 😆
My dialled bikes love/hate. Sold it to someone on here, and have regretted it daily since. This was about 12ish years ago!
I think that was me you sold it to. Large?
If it was, you sold it to your mate who was a teacher. He agreed to sell it, during a half term. But my emails got wiped and I couldn't get in contact with him! Inwas gutted.
Shouldn't have sold my Specialized AWOL, a bike that was sort of ahead of its time. I replaced it with a custom Waltly titanium equivalent of the same thing and definitely shouldn't have sold that as well.
Recently bought the Waltly back though so I'll get that built back up again soon and basically never sell another bike again just in case...
a kokua balance bike, it was lush and I wish I’d kept it for when I hit grandparents age (still many many years away)
I’d post a pic if I could work this bloody forum
My 1990 Team Marin with Zolaton paint and magenta forks/stem/bars
Only to keep to hang on the wall as it was what I considered my first "real" mountain bike. Certainly the first one I ever had in the right size.
I'd regret that too tbf, dream bike bitd. Been trying to find a decent one for years but they're rare and expensive.
Don't think I've ever regretted selling a modern bike as the replacement has been better? Certainly regretted selling my original 1989 Orange Clockwork around 2006 and that led me to retrobike. The only retrobike era bike I've really regretted selling was my mint Vitamin T with M900 XTR and period posh goodies.
Sold my Soulcraft option 3 frameset to YoGrant (previously of stw) about 6 years ago, wish I'd kept it.........
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Very happy with my cotic solaris & specialized AWOL thanks 😉 but regret passing on the singular swift I bought & sold on here - it was a non ebb version in bronze, bloody lovely 😕
There's a lot of solaris regret here, and I'll join it. I wish I hadn't sold my cosmic black solarismax a few years ago.
My bontrager.
converted to disc by the previous owner. Such a great handling and riding bike.
No, never felt any regret about selling any bike. The only slight twinge would be for an eighty something Orange Clockwork but that was because it got nicked shortly into my ownership and I felt unresolved issues! I have never been sentimental about vehicles. My wife got all dewy eyed about a car we just sold that we had had for eleven years. It was just a car.
GT iT1
Not because it was particularly great to ride (ace in some areas, awful in others).
They do now go for 5-6 times what I sold it for though…
I've only ever regretted selling one frame, and that was a 2006 Kona Unit 29 in Kermit green. It was just a really nice riding frame.
Not a regret as such but my 1997 Saracen Kili Ultra titanium. Full XTR, the battleship grey stuff. Mavic CrossMax wheels. Rigid titanium forks.
It did look amazing and they were super rare but it was only ever going to hang on a wall and get dusty. Sold it to someone in Cardiff, via this forum IIRC.
Other than that, every bike I've sold (and one that I gave away to a youth cycling club) kind of felt like the right move at the right time.
Norco Optic frame.
So much fun but was a bit of an impulse buy (2nd hand) and when the wife found out, either that or the Rallon frame had to go. I opted to stay slightly overbiked, rather than slightly underbiked so sold it. Gave me some big smiles for those few months I had it!
Now 'biked' with a Cotic Jeht so turned out all good in the end
I regret lending my Marin Bear Valley to a mate who carelessly had it stolen a while ago, but more for sentimental reasons than anything to do with how it rode. I occasionally check them out on eBay and think briefly about buying one, but it's frankly, a really daft idea.
My old 26" Nukeproof Mega, pictured here in the Swiss Alps
It was a phenomenal bike, but I felt I had to sell it as 650b was the future at the time and I convinced myself the new wheel size was just going to be better
Sold the Mega and bought a 650b Spesh Enduro which turned out to be a huge mistake. The bike just never felt right underneath me. Plus it was an absolute dog. Everything that could break on it, did. Forks twice, shock once. Used to eat bottom brackets for no obvious reason. Brakes were terrible Eventually swapped out all the trouble parts and got it working ok, but by that point I was totally out of love with the bike so sold it on and bought a Santa Cruz Hightower LT which was an utterly fantastic bike which I finally sold a couple of months ago
I had a Breezer Storm (1988 or so) which I wish I'd kept. And my Orange SubZero. And maybe my 2016 Martin Pine Mountain 1.
My Brooklyn Park bike
My Curtis S1
For hanging on the wall, my Tomac 204 and my Pashley 26mhz
My dialled bikes love/hate. Sold it to someone on here, and have regretted it daily since. This was about 12ish years ago!
I think that was me you sold it to. Large?
If it was, you sold it to your mate who was a teacher. He agreed to sell it, during a half term. But my emails got wiped and I couldn't get in contact with him! Inwas gutted.
Sound possible as I was a teacher also. Cannot actually remember whom I sold it too.
Sound possible as I was a teacher also. Cannot actually remember whom I sold it too.
Funnily enough I'm also a teacher!
I've had about 35 bikes over 30 years, so sold a lot and a hell of a lot of rare bits
One of them i do regret, which isnt a great bike, or even good for that matter, but one I found in cash converters brand new was a Marin Quake 9.0 FSR
The reason i regret it is because i found it new in 2014, so had sat somewhere (possibly in its box) for 16 years.
I parted it out 🙁 all the top spec of that era all shiny and new, right down to the skinwall tyres.
Regret selling my dialled bikes alpine mk3, to fund a full suspension build regretted and never found another since! 😩
Regret selling my dialled bikes alpine mk3
I liked my Dialled Alpine, but *loved* my Prince Albert.
I do regret selling that, and I thought the Alpine would be even betterer, but I never really clicked with it ☹️ it was partly why I bought a 2nd hand Love Hate, as the geo was basically the same as the PA.
how long do you have.......
rock lobster 853.
bontrager privateer.
jones plus 29
ventana el capitan
singular swift
and many many more.
Also have pangs of regret about passing up stuff when it came up for sale, notably a Giant DH team that Gee Atherton had put on eBay, and a Lahar M9.
My Evil Offering. Loved that but was too concerned about it breaking. 160 for and a coil on the back. If they did a mullet version…….
I have never been very good at selling bikes and I now have a garage full of old frames that will probably never get used again, this thread has made me wonder what they would ride like compared to a more modern bike
Not regretted selling any mountain bikes as generally the tech, geo etc has always meant the newer bike was nicer to ride.
Do regret selling my all city sparkle horse. Let it go for silly money, can’t afford to replace it with anything and it would be well used by me these days.
I wish I still had my Nickel Plated Orange P7 but one in one out finances meant it had to go. I keep looking but I haven’t found one I liked enough to buy a replacement as a project. It would be an ornament now any way since old age and health have me on an ebike these days
There's two, the first GT Fury Carbon. This was one of the spare Atherton team frames. Bloody loved that bike.
The second was this Spesh Demo, a TLD version, the paint job was divine.
Charge Cooker SS
Easily as good (maybe even better) than the Singular Swift, certainly better than the El Mariachi. What made it even nicer was it wasn't suspension corrected, there wasn't that ugly 100mm gap between the fork and the tyre. A decent EBB. Nice neat and tidy frame details and dropouts. I really should just have chucked a slightly higher gear on it and used it for gravel.
86 Hutch Trickstar, and Hoffman Taj.
No regrets selling any of my old bikes as I've always replaced them with something better or more up to date.
That's not to say I don't have fond memories of old bikes though, most notably my old SX Trail. You could chuck it off or down anything and still pedal it back up for more.
I wish I still had my Nickel Plated Orange P7 but one in one out finances meant it had to go. I keep looking but I haven’t found one I liked enough to buy a replacement as a project. It would be an ornament now any way since old age and health have me on an ebike these days
If you put a wanted ad up on Retrobike I'm sure you'd have a few offers. Plenty of nice ones still about.
I should not have sold my GT BMX, because the second I sold it, I wanted something else with stupid little wheels and I ended up buying a 20 inch trials bike which I hated and also a Rocker mini bmx which I believe I have ridden twice.I've kept it though because if I never sell it, it won't open up that space in my head again and cause me to buy another stupid bike.
I don't think I regret selling any of my proper bikes tbh. I'd have liked to keep my Orange 332, I barely rode it but it was lovely to look at and I just kind of linked having it, you know? It was old and yet still awesome. But everything else I replaced with something better.
I've kept 2 old frames, my Cotic Hemlock because a) it was the most important bike to me, I basically learned to ride on it, did so many firsts on it, it kept me alive through most of my racing "career" including one EWS round and the fort william endurance downhill, plus a ton of other enduros and a season of the SDA, against all odds, and it only broke 3 times. But also because b) it is utterly, completely worthless.
And also my Trek Remedy 29, mostly because it's similiarly worthless but also it's a bike I could hop back on and ride. If I break my Bird tomorrow, money's a bit tight, so I'll build the Remedy back up. I've got no affection for it- it's a Trek, you can't have affection for a Trek- but it was so damn competent.
Nope, not really.
Only had 11 bikes over 35 or so years (not counting childhood bikes) and still have 7 of them.
Not really. I kinda miss my old Hemlock (hey @Northwind, Hemlock fam) - had loads of adventures on it including some races and some big mountains but I'd fallen out of love with it and the Rocket I replaced it with was definitely better.
I feel like I might regret selling the Rocket at some point (it'll be going up when my new bike arrives, and I've swapped a few parts over) just because I've had it so long and done so much on it. But I'm also struggling with the forks (Marz 55 RC3ti - AMAZING forks, but I'm not getting any lighter and you try finding a new coil for them) and I'm fully expecting the Aether to be head and shoulders better.
Here's the Hemlock somewhere in Wales...
Absolutely should not have sold my Sonder Transmitter a few years back.
I've ridden faster and more capable bikes plenty since, but it just had something good going for it.
So much so that I picked up a cheap frame recently and built another one up.
My On One 45650b was what I'd call my first 'proper' MTB (after a succession of entry-level Carreras, Boardmans and Giants); I loved that bike and rode it everywhere for years. Sold it to part-fund a Ti gravel bike.
But, really missed riding it, and a couple of years later, at the start of the first COVID Lockdown, picked up a very cheap 45650b frame and built it up SS. I no longer have that now; my subsequent HTs (Ragley BigWig, On One Vandal, Pipedream Moxie) have been better bikes in most ways. But still have a soft spot for that bike.
I also partly regret selling my Swarf Contour frame. It rode well, and looked amazing. The bike that replaced it is much better in all respects, but I'd have liked to have kept the Swarf and build it up as an all-day, light-ish, short travel trail bike.
Oh yeah I've "rebought" old frames- I had a mk2 Soul which was at the time the best bike I'd ever ridden, and really was my way into getting better and more confident, wonderful bike. Sold it without any regrets but I occasionally got curious, so I bought a similiar Soda and had some fun on that in a very light, very xc build, and then another Mk2 Soul which got stolen after I rode it I think twice.
So NOW I have a mk1 Soul, one of the first 100. I built it up with a load of hte same parts- some of them literally the same part- and thought I'd go and do some proper riding, maybe a cheeky golfy trip for the social media likes... Rode it a bit and nope, no thank you. Now it has slicks on and I ride it to tesco. Reality is a blowtorch to good feels.
Mk2 Solaris for me! Absolutely loved that bike… even as I harvested the parts to put on the long shot replacement, the heart was saying no. And I still miss it - have seen it change hands on here a couple of times since!
long distance all dayers, trails, winter riding through snow with the plus tyres…. It was great. Even xc raced it on occasion.
for me it really was the one bike quiver.
I've owned aot of bikes, but the only one I really miss is my Kona Humu Humu Nuku Nuku Apua A that I brought as a frame only from CoastKid on here and built up with Campag hubs and other bits. Gutted I sold it. It was a keeper and so fun to ride
My first Charge Blender. Sold it because I wanted to ‘upgrade’ to a full sus bike. Luckily I managed to buy another one a few years ago for £30, cleaned it up, powder coated it and ride it most weeks as a single speed pumptrack bike. Great fun.
And my Specialized Langster Monaco it looked beautiful in its retro Martini Rally colours. I sold it because a single speed in Bristol and Bath was too much like hard work what with all the bloody steep hills. Actually I think I regret selling the Langster more than my old Lancia Delta Integralé, and I really regret that, even if a McDonalds drive thru is a PITA in a left hand drive car.
My first MTB was bought off the man who introduced me to MTB in 1998. It was a “hand built in the USA” Voodoo Bizango and he had spared no money on the build - parallel push Shinano XTR brakes, super lightweight Mavic rims etc. Years later and much to my shame and regret I left the bike at the local dump when I ran out of storage space and realised I hadn’t ridden it in five years.
None of them, anything i liked BITD i kept and put in storage once it was retired/out of date. I already had a storage unit as i was in and out of the UK regularly. Had a handful of my old road bikes in it (those that i'd owned, or been allowed to keep at least).
Anything i sold it was generally because it was a dog, so i don't regret selling at all, i probably needed the money more at the time! Strangely, when i look back, most of those i've sold have been either Trek or Specialized bikes, make of that what you will.
Had a big sort out when i got rid of the storage a few years ago. Now just have the stuff i really wanted to keep. So mostly the road bikes and not so many MTBs. Most of the rest was stripped down and turned into spares or ebay/retrobike sales. Or chucked in the recycling.
Same as the OP I wish I hadnt sold my Solaris frame. needed to at the time though to pay for a new full suss i'd bought.
I've recently bought a SolarisMax frame though so I'll probably actually get over it now. The QR rear end would also be a bit shit as well...
My 2005 Specialized P1, 14 year old me saved up birthday, christmas and pocket money to buy that bike brand new from BikeScene and loved it. Learned to ride dirt jumps on it, learned trials riding on it, 180's and 360's, crank flips, whips, did epic rides with mates which was mad looking back as it was a singlespeed but I absolutely loved it. Sold it in 2009 when I got into cars for 200 quid, just to spend it on some coilovers for a peugeot 306 that ended up in a scrapyard 2 years later after costing too much to put through MOT
My Trek Domane, convinced myself I needed a full on gravel bike and bought a Crux then actually realised I didn’t and an Enduro road bike is a much better choice for my riding. Now have a Cannondale Synapse instead of the Crux and much happier.
Probably rose tinted glasses but wish I still had my Turner 5 Spot and ball burnished GT Zaskar LE
I regret selling my Dolan L'Etape frame - being able to just throw my leg over something and ride it... or take it abroad in a soft bike bag - without worrying about it. Cracking bike.
And I do miss my old Stumpjumper HT from 2007 - excellent climber, and the chrome finish was super sexy.
Slot Dropout Mk2 Trailstar (in Chrome) - Basically a 26" BMX (but I did Run it with 24" for a long while). would be utterly impractical for a man approaching 50, but silly fun still I'm sure.
I keep a photo record of all the bikes I've had (only since the 90's - before that it had never occurred to me)
I'm embarrassed to say that I have 140 photographs! (Yes, 140 bikes in approx 30 years) - I only have 6 currently on the go (although between my wife and two sons there's another 6 in the garage) - so a lot of bikes have been through my hands and there's a lot that I should have kept:
Reilly stainless road bike
Indy Fab rigid MTB
DeKerf Solitaire singlespeed
Shand Tumshie fatbike
Cyfac Vintage road bike
Also wish I'd keep at least one from my youth (although I do still have the frame I rode to school/Uni, which my Dad raced on in the 70's - not included in the stats above!) - the two I wish I still had from way back then are a Swinnerton Columbus SL and a Pennine Scelta del Campione (if I ever come across either of those original bikes for sale, I'll be snapping them up!!!)
I'm trying very hard these days to stop buying/selling - but its a c ompulsion that started a long time ago!!!
Plenty that i miss or that were great at the time, mainly steel hardtails (ragleys and cotics) however i wouldn't own again other than to hang up and look at due to the harshness on the worn body joints and weak back.
One that i would go back to and still always look at are orange fives, had two a 2012 which was my first "proper" bike and a 2016 model. I imagine i will end up with one again as trail/xc summer evening bike. Just love how simple they ride.
Oh yeah I've "rebought" old frames- I had a mk2 Soul which was at the time the best bike I'd ever ridden, and really was my way into getting better and more confident, wonderful bike. Sold it without any regrets but I occasionally got curious, so I bought a similiar Soda and had some fun on that in a very light, very xc build, and then another Mk2 Soul which got stolen after I rode it I think twice.
So NOW I have a mk1 Soul, one of the first 100. I built it up with a load of hte same parts- some of them literally the same part- and thought I'd go and do some proper riding, maybe a cheeky golfy trip for the social media likes... Rode it a bit and nope, no thank you. Now it has slicks on and I ride it to tesco. Reality is a blowtorch to good feels.
did something similar. Had one of the very first mk1 Santa Cruz Chameleon hardtails in the UK back in 1998ish. Polished frame, 5" Z1 BAMs, Hope brakes - I still look back on what a flippin ace bike that was. But... bought one cheap about 7 years ago for old times sake and it was a POS in terms of how it rode compared to newer stuff so got rid. I don't learn though - theres one cheap for sale locally at the minute and I'm tempted 😀
GT Lobo
Weighed a tonne! Nightmare to get up a hill, Tioga sofa for a saddle, pull shock, polished frame, I absolutely loved it!
Also, a Univega Alpina, whilst nothing special it was the first real mtb I got. Should have kept it too.
1st gen Niner SIR.9.
(...phew...its a good job I still have it then). 🙂
On a serious note, the Kona Ute cargo bike I bought from CharlieTheBikemonger.
A true game changer.
Just stumbled across a few pics of my old Genesis Day 0 from years ago, my first CX and/or gravel bike. I'd actually pimped it up a bit since this pic, XT chainset, Whyte industries freewheel, Moots ti post.
Granted I've still got a gravellable singlespeed in my Charge Plug, but it's (presumably) plain gauge aluminium and not skinny whippy steel.
Double whammy of nostalgia for how much I enjoyed riding it and practicality as I would no doubt still find a use for it now!
