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Always* wanted a 650b Five, despite many many people thinking they are ugly, I love the lines.
*Well, since they added the seat tube brace and profiled the swing arm - 2016 I think.
Impractical for my local riding (no bottle), expensive new and warranty-less cracking fears second hand has meant its not to be.
Still give an admiring glance whenever I see one, my preference is for a brightly coloured frame with all black components.
A friend had a Cannondale Raven in that pearlescent green with Spinergy wheels and Magura brakes - it was a lovely piece of kit. And I've always liked the way the seatpost is clamped on these, a very neat bit of design!
Looked similar to this...
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Speaking of Orange, the 322 with the shock mounted through the downtube.
Surprised Orange arent making DH bikes at the moment, the trends towards longer wheelbases and lower weight should be suiting the.
God, that pic of the Raven takes me back. Can't say I ever really lusted after it, but I wish there were more of them around these days.
I used to have a weird fascination with the K2 Razorback and its pull shock
At the time it seemed to make sense. But check out how narrow those bars are!
Spooky Metalhead
If I knew then what I know now I should have bought a Kona Cinder Cone as my first MTB. As it was I bought a cheaper Muddy Fox Courier in the sale. No real regrets on that though, I loved the paint job and a MF was a rite of passage for many in the 80s.
Raleigh Maverick circa 1985
Muddy Fox Explorer circa 1998
Trek 69er single speed
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Speaking of Orange, the 322 with the shock mounted through the downtube.Surprised Orange arent making DH bikes at the moment, the trends towards longer wheelbases and lower weight should be suiting the.
Orange DH bike, available from your local dealer now!
In no particular order, these were what I fell in love with when I started biking-
Cannondale Raven 2000
Specialized DH Team FSR
A late Klein Mantra
The Trek VRX with Boxxers.
Now, I really hanker after an Evil Offering but doubt I'll be able to afford one.
Brooklyn Machine Works, either the Racelink or some of the more mental stuff.
Evil imperial, double top tube huck hardtail.
Would love a go on a PRST-1 too
Karate Monkey (the rust coloured Ops one)
Ti Hardtail (Kingdom, Nordest or Stanton)
Swarf Contour
/high fives reggiegasket
GT Zasker (from mid nineties)
Been there, done that (recently with a 1996 Zaskar LE). It's a nice bike but there's no way I'd choose to ride it over my Switchback!
Hmm... bikes I covet but never owned... Probably a Standard Shorty BMX. Waaay too expensive for me at the time (mid to late 90s) and still waaay too expensive now if you can find one. Oh, and the Orange MsIsle, in raw ally please. When it came out I was into the whole dual slalom thing and I think Missy is awesome.
AMP Research Amplifier
If by that you mean the Amp Research B4 (with the funky F4 fork) then +1. I was seriously tempted but heard they were, er, a little fragile...
https://images.app.goo.gl/ZvzmLzz13BVPHCeh6
Back in the late 90’s (when they didn’t have an Uk importer) I tried to order a Lynskey something or other (Pisgah?) from them direct but they would only send it to a bike shop...
When I started out I lusted after a Marin, the ones with the gritty Matt grey frame and dayglo forks... Indian Trail Pine Mountain mebbes?
The only thing I’m covering at the moment is some chunky tyred gravel bike for a planned Camino tour next year...
I could write a book on the Retrobikes I fancy, I've owned a considerable amount mind you so I don't feel I'm missing anything.
Modern bike wise it'd be a Jones and a Stooge. They both transcend the need and fall into the want category. I'd probably never fork out for a Jones but I regret not buying a Stooge. I remember the thread on mtbr where Mr Stooge set out his stall. Really won me over but in the end I plumped for a Singular Rooster. Really wish I'd jumped on the the Stooge bandwagon. Liked everything he's done since too. Too many rigid bikes (that I'm not riding) to buy another but I do keep and eye on developments.
A mate used to be the importer for Fat Chance so rode them all. I could never afford them though, but I still love them.
Trek Sawyer Singlespeed
Maybe I'll hunt one down, when I can spare the cash
Klein 2 tone paint jobs....
Always wanted one of these, but my sensible head overruled my heart.
Dekerf
Fat chance
Moots softtail
Turner stinger
Schwinn straight eight
Chromag...surface but any really
Knolly...
Pole evolink
So many that I bought but sold on almost immediately, Pace/ Cannondale raven/ Nicolai/ santa Cruz blur as someone made a offer and I went yeah ok, choices eh.
Ellsworth Epiphany for me. Lust(Ed) after one for an age
the K2 Razorback and its pull shock
IIRC, that was based on a Turner.
Also...
I came dangerously close to buying one of these when I worked in a bike shop.
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(not my picture, found on Google Images)
Thankfully never did but as it was I ended up being given an S-Works FSR XC on a part-sponsorship deal a couple of years later which was much more my style which was very much a coveted bike, never thought I'd be lucky enough to own one!
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And in my early days of MTBing, I always wanted one of those Manitou full sus:
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Orange P7 nickel finish, any of the Pace square tubed bikes, Scott Endorphin, Mountain Cycles San Andreas, Amp Research B4, one of the last Intense Al frames in candy red but can't remember the model, any of the original Cannondale V frames, Klien Mantra, Independent Fabrication Tungsten Electrode (not sure on the model but it was a DW-link Ti Full Suss). Pretty certain most of them except the IF and Intense would be awful to ride but would still love them in the garage.
Dekerf. First ever internal cable routing?
Then probably some Kleins.
Hmm… bikes I covet but never owned… Probably a Standard Shorty BMX.
Ooooh now you are talking!
I had a series of BMX’s trying to replicate a shorty - Dragonfly Double Dynamite, KHE premium lagger, WTP Pony but all I really wanted was a full Chad DeGroot spec Shorty - baby blue with chrome parts - Standard 4 piece bars etc, skinwall Primo V-Monsters, Graveyard rear freecoaster etc etc.
I really should not open my eBay app now.
Looking at them now, the geometry of some of these bikes is... eye-opening.
Ellsworth Epiphany for me. Lust(Ed) after one for an age
Whatever happened to Ellsworth? They were everywhere in the bike mags for a while.
I read an article in the last year or so about riding a Klein Mantra now. Apparently it's absolutely lethal, in terms of the suspension movement and what it does to your riding...
I only ever coveted one bike and I owned the frame for a day until I realised when building it up that the seat tube was not round, so swapped it for arguably the much better paint job anyway.
My bike…
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The frame I wanted. (Not my pic)
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Would still buy one now if I could.
1995 Kona Hot in bright red.
I went to Whistler with two great mates in the summer of 95 with my Kona Cinder Cone. My parents had given me a credit card for emergencies.
One of the bike shops had a Hot behind the counter on the wall. It was exactly the same amount as the credit card limit...I’d have been in trouble but it was sooooo tempting.
I walked away and still have the Cinder Cone so it’s not all bad. But still...😟
Anchilotti..... I need clean pants!!!
Anchilotti, Brooklyn machine works and a early Klein would be my dream garage.
My dad had one of those (it was a burgundy red) so it was the first bike I rode a lot off road as a hand me down. The stem on his was almost vertical over the steered.
Why did it take 30 years for bikes to get back to short stems and slack angles?
Spooky Metalhead
Yea!!!!!!
Whatever happened to Ellsworth? They were everywhere in the bike mags for a while.
Still falling from the ugly tree, but now in carbon.
Reggie gaskets Kona and the manitous winning for me so far.
A Trimble with a disk drive?
https://images.app.goo.gl/65ZbQE4VwDe3C7F7 7" alt="" />
Orange Clockwork
Proflex 656
Marin Eldridge Grade
Kona Cindercone
GT - early 90’s; one with the speckled paint job?
Cannondale M2000
Klein with the multi coloured paint circa 91
I’d love my Raleigh Yukon back.
OnOne 456 Titanium
Intense Tracer 2017
Transition forget model - 2015.
Mate had one of these with the blue forks and bits. Always loved raw alloy frames with blue anodising on the blingy bits.
He put a big dent into the top tube when a door was opened on it or something at home....
It was like something from NASA at the time.
Would love one even now. Still think it looks hugely sexy.
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GT STS Lobo
Transition Bottlerocket
Spooky Metal Head
Brooklyn Machine Works Racelink - especially the baby blue blue
Rocky Mountain RM9
The original Specialized Demo 9
Karpiel Apocalypse
Having owned an early set of Manitou forks, I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. BITD I can remember lusting after the San Andreas and Proflex 857, but the thread title should be past tense covet[i]ed[/i]. Just not bothered about that aspect of it now, preferring to plan interesting rides than obsess over the tool that facilitates them.
Kona Hot stars ‘n’ bars 👍
Raleigh activator 2
manton69's Fat Chance Yo Eddy does it for me, right up there at the top of the cool wall.
Coolest paint job ever, dripping in Ringle - is that a Ringle crank too? Grafton's or Ringle brakes?, thumbies, Spesh Umma Gummas? Obligatory Flite - seriously 'superbike' stuff from the time.
That Pic of Tinker on the Klein Attitude a close second...must have been really early days, spot the toeclips and looks to be before Klein went with the super oversized tubing, love the bar width and torso angle...proper. Is that also perhaps a Campagnolo mtb groupset, so maybe 1989?
Tinker - Always in the big ring. Legend
First bike I really wanted after seeing it in the LBS was a Scott Endorphin. Really wanted it, a nice deep red colour.
Also saw a frame there a while after, a Transition Bottlerocket. Would have loved to have it but never got it.
Also really fancied a Mountain Cycles Battery frame.
If anyone has any of these looking for a new home......just because
Cool thread boys,
Me? Well I owned a Klein Attitude in the pink/white/green fade and it was superb.. like bigsummerbloke I took idolised Tinker... however thats not the full story.. I owned one of these, I think it was one of the first in the country at the time and whilst I loved and cosseted it.. I also rode it like i stole it.. did a few rounds of the old UKXC circuit on it BITD and had the bike for a whole 16weeks before some arsehole pinched it at a round in Cannock. I hope the person who stole it met an untimely end to their pilfering.. git.
SO my contribution to the thread is "I wished I'd owned it for years, not 16weeks"
The Klein Attitude replaced it and TBH, I adored that bike. I competed a few times after that but ultimately stopped due to Road Racing commitments, and not long after that I packed that shit in too.
SO the Klein went to my old best mate and he still has it, although it's a pile of rusting bits these days.. It sat out in a cardboard box in a lean-too where it was subject to years of snow and rain.. But my memories area s bright and vivid as ever... I loved that Klein.
Gotta be a proflex animal or Cannondale super V