The bike parts got everyone excited, were hyped to the eyeballs but for one reason or another never made a splash. You really wanted them but no-one ever bought them.
Let me start with Rockshox RS-1 forks. Lightweight carbon upside down single crown forks. Looked lovely, really seemed like RS might change the fork market.
In reality they were prohibitively expensive, required a proprietary hub, had XC travel just as everyone was moving big, didn't perform any better than RWU forks and the trickle down technology never happened for the masses ... or maybe it never was intended to.
RIP RS-1. We could have been so good together.
A mate has some on his Turner. Reckons they're noodly.
The upside down Maverick forks were the same, the wheel could twist in the forks. They'd also blow their seals and dump oil all over your front brake.
S.A.F.E. Scott Allen Fife Engineering developed a hydraulic shifter cable. A master cylinder sat in your shifter and was activated with a very short length of cable. Then it was hydraulic hose all the way to the conventional rear mech where the slave cylinder actuated the rear mech with a short cable.
This was back in the day of 3x9 and you'd typically have exposed cable along frame tubes.
It was a really promising system and I think would still offer some advantage today.
Patented backrest, eh?
https://road.cc/content/tech-news/saddlespur-bike-seat-has-patented-backrest-304951
Magura/Rotor made a fully hydraulic shifting system. I've never seen one but really liked the idea. The price put me off though.
Truvativ Hammerschmidt is something I’ve never seen live.
Saw a set at one Mega or other, sort of wanted to stop and get a closer look.
Airlines i saw at a race 2(?) years ago, a guy running an old trek DH bike at the back end of the field for (pretty much) shits and giggles. Saw a few of them when they were current too, not a huge number, obvs. as they only made a couple of hundred sets IIRC.
The Rotor hydro shifters, the local Rotor importer had a few guys riding around on them when they were new. They disappeared quite quickly though!
RS-1 were all the rage about the same time as Lauf tried to break into the marathon MTB market. Used to cover the elite start block with them. Lasted about 2 years, then everyone was back on normal telescopes, mainly so they could steer...
A mate has 2 sets of Airlines.
1 is on an old Turner Burner, the other set is still in the box.
Bet they'd go for a fortune on eBay!
I'm going to go with "roads" rather than "trails" and suggest Campagnolo. It's vanishingly rare! OK, it's wildly expensive but it just doesn't register on most roadie radar (as far as I can tell).
FSA K Force 12 speed electronic groupset
Never seen one in the wild, not even seen one for sale online, all ive seen is reviews
https://www.cyclingnews.com/reviews/fsa-k-force-we-12s-review/
£2,000, reduced from £2,899! Oh and no bottom bracket included.
No wonder you never see it.
reeksyFull Member
A mate has some on his Turner. Reckons they’re noodly
RS will tell you that was a feature called “predictive steering” rather than a bug. Never seen a set though, and don’t remember ever seeing the Marzocchi RAC that was one of it’s predecessors
Any fork brand other than RS, Fox and a few Marzocchi's...
That Pauls derailleur.
Yeah, pretty much anything by Paul Components. Shiny, blingy, never seen in actual use (at least by me...)
Any fork brand other than RS, Fox and a few Marzocchi’s…
You need to bump into me out on the trails and my two Manitou-forked bikes...
Me? Never seen a Tioga Disc Drive wheel in the wild. Think it was more that nobody could afford one, rather than nobody buying one.
I only ever say one Guy with those old Shimano brakes that acted as a shifter, or was it a shifter that also acted as the brake? Anyway, he was swearing a lot at them.
£2,000, reduced from £2,899!
so about half what Campagnolo Super Record EPS wireless is listed for then?
https://road.cc/content/review/campagnolo-super-record-wireless-305625
The first preview I ever saw of the RS1 ended with "we don't know why they've made this when Sids are better and cheaper", and it turned out to be correct, I think.
Never seen a Lauf fork or to the best of my knowledge a modern flexstem, I think they're both ace though.
so about half what Campagnolo Super Record EPS wireless is listed for then?
Yikes!
Tbf, I think all the top end electric group sets are north of 2K now, when bought aftermarket
I only ever say one Guy with those old Shimano brakes that acted as a shifter, or was it a shifter that also acted as the brake? Anyway, he was swearing a lot at them.
Dual Control? The "flappy paddle" ones? I had them, loved them. And yes, they were guaranteed to get loads of comments.
Admittedly the first generation ones were kind of bulky and clunky but that soon changed, the later ones were great. The only thing was that Shimano introduced a rear mech called Rapid Rise at the same time; in theory this "wrong way round" mech was supposed to be used with the Dual Control shifters but in practice a normal rear mech worked far better.
Actually, I might add that to the list of components you never / rarely saw. Rapid Rise. One of Shimano's more obvious cock-ups, everyone hated them.
Plenty of x fusion forks around too, especially when the likes of Bird and Cotic had them as build options
Odyssey Dampenator.
Browning electronic chainset (have one in the box though!)
Shimano Airlines.
Shimano Sante groupset.
Vyro chainset other than my own.
Abs brakes.
Browning suspension fork.
Campagnolo Euclid groupset.
Grafton brakes (other than my own). Same for Syncros forks and Cook Brothers Cranks.
Profile Durango bars.
Fisher RS 1.
So loads!
Beast electronic gears. I saw them in Alpine Bikes back in the 80s and drooled over them. I never ever saw them on anyone's bike. Browning Electronic Accushift Transmission apparently.
Ritchey 2 x conversion kit (got one as well. Ha. Ha.)
Answer Accutrax forks.
Scott At 4 loop bars. Looked mental. Were mental.
Dr swiss suspension forks.
Magura forks (again had one which I managed to kill in Verbier).
Paul's components of any type other than my own Motolite brakes and levers.
Profile and original Syncros cromo cranks.
Folk must have bought them but I never saw them in the wild.
The Beast cost me a tenner. Still in the box. Specialized spec's them on their Team Stumpjumper. They were lovely bikes. Wish they still made steel frames. I look at their bikes now and they just leave me completely cold. Carbon does not interest me even though I have an all original Carbon Epic Race S Works that is some thirty years old that I picked up second hand for £400!
@Sanny. Super jealous. Owning them would be like achieving a life goal. My 14 year old self is green with envy. Another couple to think about Scottoiler (they did try to get folk to buy them for mtbs) and USE Safe-T (I used one for years).
Jeepers. The beast was 1990. 16 year old self then.
Browning chainset?
I got gold of one in the 90s, Zyro had bought a job lot. Never built it up and also lost it might be worth a bit now.
Onza ti chainset - I still want one, I don't care how they flexed.
@leffeboy was the first I knew to have some RS1s (the proper ones 😉 )
Seen a few Hammerschmidts but never a Schlumpfdrive
Bullet Brothers ZZYZX
I wanted a set of those sooooo bad BITD. I think they turned out to be shite though.
Bullet Brothers ZZYZX
Used to see a few of them at DH races back in the day. Bloody awful things, like 2 Carlsberg Special Brew cans sliding inside eachother, except made from thinner aluminium and the 2 cans probably had better sealing.
I remember a brake manufacturer ( no idea if the name) making a twin caliper front disc brake for the original 'zocchi Z1 that had caliper mounts on both legs. Only ever saw them at shows though, probably because they needed a dedicated hub with disc mounts in both sides.
I've seen a Lauf fork. Bloke had it on a Specialized Epic works. Was motoring up the hill.
Bullet Brothers ZZYZX
I saw a few of them. They were renowned for seizing solid at the first hint of moisture.
Here's one for the retro fans. Rockshox Judy DHO.
A 6" travel dual-clamp elastomer sprung fork for the early DH bikes. The bike shop I worked in got a pair in when they were brand new, RRP, £1200! This was an obscene amount of money back then; most bikes didn't cost that much.
They sat on the shop shelves for about 3-4 years, I think we eventually sold them for £350.
I’ve seen a Lauf fork. Bloke had it on a Specialized Epic works. Was motoring up the hill.
Wasn't on Holmbury was it?
Patented backrest, eh?
> https://road.cc/content/tech-news/saddlespur-bike-seat-has-patented-backrest-304951
Perhaps not the ideal saddle for use with a dropper.
Accidents happen 😯
