OMG great thread…
my ownership history of bikes you don’t see… there’s 2 out of these I wish I still had, the Klein and the Heckler… beautiful things to look at and ride IMO.
Klein attitude, bought in 99, blue grad colour, RS forks, took to Morzine and rode it down les gets WC course!
Santa Cruz Heckler 2003, trans blue custom colour, fox vanilla 125 rlc, first full susser, loved it.
Cove Stiffee, Marzocchi AM SLs, silver lowers with black stanchion air forks, lovely things, but frame too harsh
On one Inbred 456 powder blue, 99 quid sale frame, simple steel HT, loved it and want it back or a Bfe
Intense 6.6, Fox 36 vans, XTR drivetrain, still got the frame, Fox Vans modded to 120 and built onto Octane Zircus DJ bike!
Lapierre Zesty, BOS devilles, bought frame only off here and custom built, still own and love it!
YT Decoy Elite, Fox 38s, well I’ve earnt the Ebike buzz, everywhere I go on it it turns heads, future classic…
I am a U-Turn fan, have a set of Rev 426 and Boxxer Rides with it.
Another one that's disappeared, Cove Hustler - loved this bike. It replaced a Marin fs that creaked constantly and was just brilliant. Not the lightest but rode so well, also had the Fox TALAS forks which I liked although the stanchions lost the anodising.
For contrast is my Pivot which is perfect (don't see that many of them around either really)
Earthed 4 is on over on Pinkbike if you want to relive the old days when every bike was a Five, a Patriot or a 222.
Marin is the one I never see any more - my dad had a couple in the late 90s/early 00s before he swapped to SC. Mount Visions used to be everywhere - mostly with big mapboards clipped to the handlebars. Martha Gill is doing good work keeping the brand visible on social media, but I never see them on the trails
Santa Cruz I still see millions of, but then LBS is a dealer, and the local ex-world champ and his mates all have them.
I miss Turner. Did some of my best riding ever on my '02 RFX. Brilliantly engineered bike and great backup from the factory when needed - I had a couple of failures when there wasn't a UK importer worthy of the name - ended up speaking to Dave Turner himself both times and got replacement parts from the USA very quickly and FOC.
Have we done Park Pre? I had one of those in 1995 and took it to the top of Ben Nevis with Steve Worland and Brant. (Got the highest puncture in the UK too!)
I had a Turner Burner XC back in the day. Loved that, and had a Flux later on too. Would like to see what a modern one would look/ride like now.
Anyone still running a Trek Stache? Those were fun bikes.
Oh, and MTB tandems! You used to always have a couple at bike events and Trailquests - we got 16 or so together for a STW feature, which was probably all of the ones in the UK!
I loved the pike u-turns. Mostly set at 110mm, but bumped to 130mm for any fun descents or 80mm for any viciously steep climbs.
I had the Pike 454 dual airs and used them in a similar way sometimes, though it was more useful to have the u-turn to be able use the same fork on a range of frames designed for different travel. Didn't have to worry about taking the thing apart to swap to a new frame.
Dawes Cougar (abt 1987)
Here's mine, set up the way I would have wanted if if it had been available in the 1960s. Makes a good rough stuff bike. 🙂
These days we don't see many of the early British traditionally built lugged frame bikes built out of Reynolds finest. I particularly like having a lugged Reynold fork for the aesthetics.
Needless to say, being a traditionally built Dawes it rides beautifully.
I miss the kind of bikes/frames that were cheap, fairly cheerful, but actually very good value. Ones that were affordable on a bit of a whim and often delivered lots of fun. Yes, the On-one/Planet-X of old (yes I am very aware of the old, long threads on their customer service!), and going a bit further back, the excellent range of Merlin and Rock Lobster bikes that again, were excellent value. My first 'proper' mtb was a Rock Lobster 853 frame that was for sale for under £200. Merlin also did brilliant custom wheel builds. Should have gone for a full build with hope mono mini brakes which could be had for £1k.
I know market and industry forces have changed forever (as have PX/O-O and Merlin), but I wish you could get an interesting looking frame for a properly puntable price. Most sites have bargains, but it's more about luck and what ageing stock in S and XL is hanging around. I can't think of a contemporary equivalent?
Nostalgia trip over!
Anyone still running a Trek Stache? Those were fun bikes.
I have massive regrets about selling mine to swap the bits onto a Fuse M4 three years ago. I can't put my finger on it, but the Stache had a lot more fun to it, even though you couldn't get a long enough dropper into it and it came up quite short in the TT. Such a silly, lovely bike.
Oh, and MTB tandems! You used to always have a couple at bike events and Trailquests – we got 16 or so together for a STW feature, which was probably all of the ones in the UK!
A friend still has a bright yellow rigid Cannondale Divorce Machine(tm) in his garage, I think. He's still married. He managed to pilot it through Yoghurt Pots / Parklife on Holmbury Hill without beaching it on the crests, which surprised me a great deal. Interesitng in tight berms, that bike.
Dawes Cougar (abt 1987)
Here’s mine, set up the way I would have wanted if if it had been available in the 1960s. Makes a good rough stuff bike.
Lovely, it's like a bicycle version of one of those mid-life crisis retro motorbikes that blokes get into (except I'm sure you ride it plenty).
How's the braking though? I guess you just have to pull hard and use the terrain to slow down?
@bentudder @chipps - I regret selling mine as well
I also had the one before then, the non chubby Stache. Not sure I ever saw another one of those..
Definitely preferred the chubby one tho. It seemed a perfect compromise between a fat bike and a 'normal bike'. Ended up buying a Mojo3 with 27.5 x 2.8 so was like a gateway drug. From memory the Stache came with 29 x 3.0 - only ever one or two tyres you could buy with those dimensions even during 'Peak Chub' about 10 years ago.
Oh and I REALLY wanted the full suss version that came out a couple of years after. In fact if one ever came up for sale, I'd still be very tempted.
AlexFull Member
I also had the one before then, the non chubby Stache. Not sure I ever saw another one of those..
I had the same colour as you, my first 29er and a brilliant XC/trail hardtail for the time. Lovely colour too.
I miss the kind of bikes/frames that were cheap, fairly cheerful, but actually very good value
Yep. Inbreds with trackends AND a gear hanger. Guard/pannier bosses.
Just made a bit more modern geo and capable of the most sensible ie prevalent standards so you can run rigid or hardtail.
I would be very interested
The reason you don’t see RC100s anymore is because all the retronerds have them tucked away in sheds, guarding them from the bad things actually riding them will do to their ‘investment’
RC200 tucked away in my garage. Complete with the cracked head tube which is a common feature.
With a Pace carbon fibre suspension fork, they were a less common because the fork was constantly having to sent back to Pace to be fixed.
Ha! Also a set of these in the garage which did indeed go back and forth to Pace multiple times to be "fixed." Andy by fixed I mean less crap. Finally managed to get them to retain their air pressure when going over bumps. Never managed to fix their amazing ability to suck in water through the seals.
Looked amazing though and they were so, so light. (Which was handy when it came to carrying the bike through water features to keep the forks dry and operational.
KHS made some lovely bikes - then they seemed to disappear off the map.
bentudderFull Member
I’d anyone wants to fling mud back I have MX-6’s and Sektors in my history!I had a pair of MX6s in pimp gold. Swapped out the oil halfway through an Alps trip once – it was Citroen ATF fluid, so really easy to sort. I also used to undo the allen bolts on the clamps at the end of each day’s riding so the forks would untwist themselves. I might even have had to do that halfway down the Pleney once. An aftermarket 20MM boxxer bolt through axle that could be torqued up from Jason at Goldtec really helped with steering accuracy, but they weren’t actually that horrible to ride. The stock axle was basically a smooth 20mm alloy tube, which was quite terrifying
I still have a set in the loft. Total loss lubrication system, I used them for a Megavalanche once. By the end of quali I had ATF all over my shin pads.
They looked cool tho and worked ok at the time
As to where they all went. A lot of these bikes are in my loft! SC Nomad, Spesh enduro, Marin, mega, etc.
The only bikes that I own are an 2008(9?) Orange Clockwork reissue and a DMR Trailstar. Pretty much every time I go down the local trail centre I get someone walking up to me to look at (and sometimes photograph) my bike. It's kinda weird, but I sorta like it. Puts me off spending 000s on a full susser, when you can actually (shock horror) get round every red fine on a bike with (gasp) 26" wheels.
Lots of stache still about (mines still in the collection, although as a bike with a boingy frontage it tends to be ignored over the joys of more niche and silly stuff now) and still loads of 29+ rubber available as well.
Rigid single speeds and fat bikes. At one point there would be some weird contraption on every ride. Now less so. Unless you could those e-bike things.
@cha****ng
How’s the braking though? I guess you just have to pull hard and use the terrain to slow down?
Let's say adequate, not scary...
It's not as if I'm going to go hurling down a downhill course. Better than a road bike though - I've got one of those gizmos on the front brake that allegedly adds a wee bit of leverage to the cantis.
If we rerun this thread next year, will we all say non-ebikes?
Cove Hustler - seen regularly where I am... but only because my best mate still rides his as his main bike.
Probably because they all broke but... Rocky Mountain ETS-X. I bloody loved mine, sold it to someone on here when I moved onto a 29er Element, but thought the ETS was a great bike. The alloy stay versions seemed to last better than the ones with the carbon rear.
In fact, there's one up on eBay... I'm not tempted, but I'll happily admire it from afar
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205024145474
I just recently put a set of u-turn revelations in my mk1 Soul. In fact literally the same forks I had in my original Soul, I sold em in about 2014 and then bought them back last year without realising. I think u-turn was my first experience of superior products getting killed because of convenience- "totally superior, properly adjustable product gets killed by Fox TALAS which was just a crippled climbing mode and less reliable and didn't work as well as the float and generally sucked donkey balls but works with a single press rather than the hideously onerous "turning a dial a few times"
Aside but i mentioned 26er Zesties up the page, the algorithm overheard and I spotted one on facebook classifieds yesterday and saw one at glentress today.
That ETSX is lovely. I always listed after that era of RM. Psyclewerx in Bristol had a Slayer in the window that I used to admire every time I walked past as a student. Could never afford one and ended up with a Marin hardtail, that admittedly was absolutely brilliant.
Turners
I have a Turner Flux hanging up in my garage.
I have a Flux v4.0 that still sees regular exercise.
https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3970569/
One of the aforementioned huck monsters. NOS, never built.
Actually a bit of a bargain. Last one to sell, having been used, went for £16k frame only.
This thread is a fascinating mix of bikes I wanted but couldn't afford/justify - early Marins, PRS-1, Turners, Ibis Tranny, Salsa Horsethief, and what I actually bought mainly On Ones. Still have a Lynskey 456Ti on U turn Revelations, the original Scandal is now reborn as a gravel/winter bike, my now grown up kids have an assortment of Inbreds and 456s and my son's original 456 small frame has been rebuilt and is ridden by a neighbour's son.
Some of the contents of my bike shed were never that common in the first place, a Montague Paratrooper ( also marketed as a Swiss bike ); a Slingshot Foldtech built up from a frame bought from On One who had somehow come into possession of a batch, never to be repeated; a Ventana El Rey bought from their only agents in the UK, Ventana are still going but I don't think you can get them on this side of the Atlantic anymore.
If fat bikes are now only found in reservations like the one near Formby ( presumably safely co-existing with the red squirrels ) then spare a thought for 29plus. I have a Singular Rooster, bought as a simple winter bike. Now difficult to get tyres for and uneconomic to sell, I had one offer and carriage would have cost more than the frame.
I did ride the Lynskey 456 on one event when MTBO restarted post pandemic. Luckily everyone wanted to talk about the bike I rode in on and not my score. Three people had had one in the past and made a beeline for me as I propped myself up and panted away, one lady said she still had the frame hanging on the wall in her office as she could no longer get parts for it but couldn't bear to get rid of it. We were then joined by a gent who wanted to know what the fuss was about and on being told said, "Really! I read all about them but I have never seen one until now." By the time the conversation stopped my pulse rate was almost back to normal.
However, I think the difficulty of getting sensibly priced, reliable replacement parts is an issue if you ride your decade old bikes regularly, particularly 26 forks with straight steerer tubes, and though I do have a few bits for the 26ers in the shed, the experience above made me realise that I did need to update slightly hence the Scandal being retired from MTBO duties and replaced by a Solaris. The rest? I will probably leave for the kids to deal with when I am gone and they have to clear out the shed, or I will follow the lady's example and hang them on the wall as art.
Now difficult to get tyres for
there bloomin loads of 29+ out there large numbers of stooges are still plus rubber, some the mainstream rubber folks have stopped making whoppers, but terrene, teravail, duro maxxis, WTB, surly, still make them and you can still pick up bontrager xr4's in a lot of places as well.
pretty every ride I go on, at least one person is on some form of plus rubber, rigid singlesspeedy thing. You lot just don't hang around with enough smelly weirdos
Proflex - never that common but way ahead of time. Could well make a decent gravel bike with the Girvn fork?
Scott Endorfin. Carbon Soft-tail back end that was reputed to crack at key stress points. Again, comfy gravel bike?
Neither of the above ever transitioned to Disc Brakes, due to cost of redesigning the back end, i believe, and I'm not sure teh Girvins could have easlily had a mount int eh tight place.
Early marin full suss bikes? Tubular frint end, box section swing arm. Were chuffing everywhere back in the turn of the millenium, transitioned to disk brakes and have had ongoing evolution since. Therre must be loads of Rift Zones in the backs of sheds.
Ohh...did someone mention Girvin foks
Just given my 28 year old set a refresh, along with the Zaskar LE frame that they are fitted with - purchased both back in 96 and still love them. Bike is built up with mixture of period XTR/XT/Mavic stuff
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EPX https://www.epxbikes.com/ep-x-2001-uk-brochure-download-
An Australian brand with a moncoque frame back in the late 90s & early 2000s. Probably way ahead of its time.
One feature was that the rear fork folded under the front of the frame to make it compact for travel.
(Needless to say, got one in the attic)
Fat bikes? Nah. Still riding and loving my Surly Ice Cream Truck. As for Turner, my Sultan is still being ridden regularly. It's funny but even with the chance to ride lots of shiny and new test bikes, I keep coming back to my own bikes and realizing just how much I enjoy riding them. Newer does not always mean better but definitely more expensive.?
I've got loads or at least have owned loads from this thread, but not seen one of these AFAIK. I was also the 3rd owner!!
Was that Ben Nevis ride for MTB Pro mag as part of the three peaks adventure you did? Remember you driving a Ford Maverick SUV between the peaks before they were a thing. Remind me. Did you summit Scafell Pike with the bikes? That was a great adventure to read about. Jesus. Was that really three decades ago? Bloody hell!
I've still got a single speed Inbred and a Cannondale Prophet.
The Inbred is one of those SS specific 853 jobs and is now in tarmac/sort of gravel spec with non knobbly tyres, solid forks and mudguards, I still love it. The Prophet is now ridden by my sixteen year old who absolutely loves it and goes dirt jumping on it, it's on its second frame ( donated by a friend who bought one and never rode it) unsurprisingly.
@sanny Yes, that was the one. Back before magazines knew about not summiting footpath-only Lakeland hills 🙂
I can still taste the Tropical flavour High5 we had to fuel us for that trip...
Pretty sure my 'highest puncture in the UK' record still stands...
My Turner Flux is a lot older than yours. The v4 is about 2014 mine is 2008 ish.
It does get ridden but not that often as I don't think the bearings for the older bikes are available and quite specific to Turners of that era.
Quite a bit more recent than most I'd suggest, but I bloody loved my Evils...
I had a Following first, then a Wreckoning, then an Offering... I probably sold a couple of dozen of them through my shop too over the 3 or 4 years that we sold Evil.
Not seen one on the trails in years now! Probably only a couple of times since I sold my Offering in 2020. Evil have almost entirely disappeared from the UK market.
A bit older, but not seen another Maverick in a while... Still have my Durance frame and DUC fork in the loft, but not seen one in use in a long time!
And Fat Bikes... As literally the last person in the world to join the throngs of fat bike owners (in 2020 during lockdown!), I bought mine literally just as everyone else was giving up on them! Would struggle to give it away now!
I still have a Maverick in perfect working order and keep it for passing visitors or as back up. Took my Genesis Core 40 to France last year and was pleasantly reminded what a spirited ride it provided. Haven't seen a PRST4 or a 456 in a long while.
My good lady has a Maverick. Still a very lovely bike. I saw a Whyte 46 in Ghyllside Cycles in the summer that is still going strong.
Which way did you go up and down Scafell Pike? Must have been pretty tough whichever route you took. Ben Nevis is a big step fest too. Ah yes, bikes and footpaths. You have inspired me to go and look out my old copies of MTB Pro from when you were a young fellow-me-lad. ?
Not seen a Fat Chance in forever......well, other than my own which I am rebuilding for a future article. It was a great bike and to be fair, still is. It was not one of those bottom up, heads down, stem like a tiller bikes that dominated the scene back then. My only nod to modernity is a Salsa Sunrise bar to give me a bit of width and height up front. Will be interesting to see how it stacks up against a modern gravel bike.
I wondered when @sanny would be on this with the contents of your closet.
I mean 'Sanny's bike mausoleum' 😉
The multiple Ibis softails?
The Specialized lugged carbon epic?
Does ginger still have that Cannondale XS, that was a lovely bike..
there should be a special feature on this
