[Closed] What was the first bike or frame you really wanted but never got?

Remember wanting a Mission Cycles Battery frame (I think that's what it was called) too after seeing it in magazines, never seen one in person but looked pretty amazing

Raleigh Activator 2.
Quite glad i didn't get it now as it would likely have put me off riding forever

Always wanted a Pace RC200.
Then I got a set of Pace forks and the terrible build quality and lack of warranty support put me right off

Cannondale Raven. Saw it in a catalogue, wanted it more than oxygen, but it was £3,000 in the late 90’s and that was a bit beyond a 13/14 year olds pocket money.

Won’t ride one now, even if I got the chance. Never meet your heroes. (I did once, a GT pro cruiser, lusted after one at uni, bought one years later, was awful.)

Mountain Cycle San Andreas.
They really should make a modern version, it still looks like it's from the future.

Klein adroit mission control. Ooft.

Orange Vitamin T.

I remember seeing Lester Noble riding around on one at the sailing club. It was stunning.

I had a short (like 1km up 1km back down) ride on it. Compared to my 1980's Peugeot road bike and 1990's Raleigh 'ATB', it felt amazingly light and fast.

Sadly, Orange only gave me cheap sails and a bunch of stickers for the boat at that time. And paper rounds don't buy titanium.

Look at it.

Mine was an Orange 222 and the Sub 5 that the lbs had in the window in the early 00's. Ended up with a Sub 5 from the classifieds many years later but never did end up with an Orange dh bike. Having owned several Fives and Alpines over the years it seems that they have fallen off a bit, i've returned to riding after 4 years out of the loop and they're no longer a common sight on the trails and the newer models seem to be prone to cracking, certainly put me off owning another one.

Cannondale Prophet? Might actually get one next weekend though as a mates got one as his turbo trainer bike and is getting rid 😁

Close between that and the 2005 Specialized Enduro. Living in Sheffield at the time I think I'd figured out that what we really needed was longer slacker trail bikes with lots of travel. Specialized delivered, but I could never afford one as a student! Seemed to take the rest of the industry a very long time to catch up with the concept.

There was a bare, fat tubed aluminium Funk frame sitting in the window of Clerkenwell Cycles for probably a year in the late 80s. I was a bike courier then, and used to ride past there numerous times a week and lust after it, but it was way too pricey. One day, I noticed that it was not there any more, sold to some rich undeserving wretch. About 10 years later, I had moved over to controlling, rather than riding for a living. I was chatting with my co-controller about bikes, and mentioned the Funk. Turned out he knew the bloke who bought it! Only thing was that the rear end was apparently about 5mm out of alignment. Dunno what the end result was, but glad I didn't get stuck with it, already had one Friday Afternoon Bike, but that's gonna be another thread.

Can't find a decent picture but a GT LTS-DH. It's what the MBUK team were riding when I bought my first magazines in 96/97. I obviously never got one as I was a young teenager and the bike was worth more than my step dad's car.

The LBS used to have one hanging up with the obligatory red AC cranks and chainguide fitted. Stunning bike but they were crap in real life.

When I could buy my own bikes I really wanted a Spooky Metalhead but I could only afford a Bandwagon. Nice bike at the time, still got the frame somewhere.

Proflex or that Marin fs bike with the manitou forks at the rear.

I was oddly enamoured with the GT 'Lobo STS' in the late 90s probably the stupidest thing you could want looking back, glued together composite tubes with aluminium lugs... For DH.

It had it all, bike specific Rockshox trunion mounted pull shock, guaranteed to fail and be impossible to find spares for...

Thank God I never had the money.

So many in the mid to early 90’s:

GT Zaskar and LTS

Scott Endorphin

Orange Clockwork

An Alpinesport Al-Mega which was hanging on the staircase in Centresport in Leeds in the early nineties. It looked so radical with fat tubing and elevated chainstays. Just googled it and have somewhat disappointed myself.

A De Kerf SST, Always will be a De Kerf I reckon.

Not a frame but I always wanted a set of those spin 3 spoke mtb wheels.

Kona Hei Hei or King Kahuna then the " Out of Bounds" version the Score. These things very rarely come up for sale when they do the Kona Retro Brigade are all over them and of course the price sky rockets 🙄🙄🙄
Example a few weeks ago a 1997 Hei Hei complete bike came up for sale for £2000!!!!! It sold in a matter of days, it did look nice mind!

The Amp Full suspension frame with the Amp four-bar linkage fork.
This one but it was all chrome

As a kid? a Raleigh Grifter

As a big kid re an MTB? - Probably a Dawes Edge or Alpinestars AL Mega DX

2002 Giant DH Team with cherry red Boxxers.

Pace RC100 - - never owned, never ridden..

I have owned a Yo Eddy , Bontrager Race Lite and a Klein, which were fantastic to awful in that order. The Klein was just too stiff, dead for me (I'm short)

probably the stupidest thing you could want looking back, glued together composite tubes with aluminium lugs… For DH.

Not sure if sarcastic but......

Obe-Dan-Kenobi!

But on topic, it was a Marin from the late 80s when I was about 11. Think it was a Pine Trail, or something along those lines. It was unfortunately too expensive for my folks, so they bought me a Saracen Eiger instead. I totally adored that bike though, so it was all good.

Raleigh Burner BMX in blue.

Sunn Radical from the Vouilloz/Chausson era.

Sunn Radical from the Vouilloz/Chausson era.

This.

Mk 1 Raleigh Burner Tuff II out of my mam's catalogue. She could only afford the basic red and yellow one (which was still pretty cool to 10 year old me!) Thanks mam 😋

It was anything dekerf, a mate had one and it was just stunning. Still look on eBay for dekerf frames every now and then.
Original Santa Cruz chameleon was up there as well. That thing looked all the right amounts of cool when I was a teenager!
Full suspension wise had all the gt frames between my riding group so it was intense m1 and intense tracer/tazer whatever it was called

Probably a Kirk Magnesium frame.

Having ridden one about 20 years ago I think I had a lucky escape.

Yeti ARC with a Tioga disc drive.

Klein Adriot frame that was hanging up at Horswills cycles.

1993 GT Team Avalanche

Early 1990’s and everyone lusted after the team PDM kit and bikes:

https://steel-vintage.com/concorde-squadra-team-pdm-classic-racer-from-the-1990s-detail

And I believe the first iteration of konas ‘Kilauea’ came in a fetching ‘carver cup blue’ colour.

Neither bike manifested into my existence. Sob!

I grew up not a million miles away from Worksop (actually in the village Tom Simpson came from) and the school bus used to go past the Sun Carlton factory. So that was an early lust. Later as an adult it would be a Tommasini Super Prestige. Deeside Cycles were stockists. They did those early Vitus Carbon Fibre tube/alloy logged frames which I also lusted after.

Activator 2 here as well. But it wasn't a "one that got away", I realised it was rubbish and got something else... First "lusted after" was a Xizang.

Despite being 50 yrs old, the bike I wanted but never got was/is an Ancillotti Scarab 29er. I’ve wanted an Ancillotti since the mid 2000’s when I got to ride a DH down the Pleney; it was amazing - the suspension was way ahead of anything I’d ridden, and felt glued whilst still playful. I was blown away.

The Scarab was meant to be for my 50th birthday and despite emailing umpteen times, using Facebook messenger etc. I couldn’t get any response whatsoever. I’d promised my self the trip to Italy for collection etc. But a total comms blackout means it’ll now never happen. I’ve now had a change of plan and ordered myself a new Cotic Flaremax gen4. I can’t wait..!!!

The Amp Full suspension frame with the Amp four-bar linkage fork.
This one but it was all chrome

Had one of those, with the 4.5” travel Yellow RST forks that everyone had. Snapped it clean in half about 5” back from the head tube, down tube and crossbar snapped.
We’d been riding in Wigan when ‘street’ was popular, and had been round the back of whSmiths jumping off loading bays and for anyone that knew the old Wigan tech steps, jumping them to flat. Looking back it was a stupid thing the do with it, but do it we did. Set off home riding up maines rd and just give the forks a squish stood up and BANG on the deck wondering what the F had just happened. Snapped ‘just riding along’

I’d always wanted an RST.

Approaching my 18th birthday (in 1990...) my parents were asking me what my dream bike was. OMG THEY WERE GOING TO BUY ME A PACE RC100! A few weeks later, my birthday came and I was handed a box significantly smaller than a bike..... It was a portable TV. Yay.....

GT RTS1, my dad started laughing when I pointed it out and said his car cost less

Tomac’s 1991 Technium 🤤
https://dirtmountainbike.com/news/tomac-reunited.html

And the Salsa a la carte in jellybean paint that JMC & Sophie Brooks raced on for MBUK, please.

We're going back now... but the first bike that really made an impression on me was a mate's bike, like this (but with flight cranks). Just blew me away.

Never got one myself as got into racing and race bikes, and the PK wasn't really the right tool for that.

First? Possibly the Fisher CR7 after reading a review in MBUK.

Aluminium front end bolted to a cromoly rear.

Never did get it. Around that time I was riding a 1990 Team Marin. I'd love to get that frame again.

mildred
Free Member

Despite being 50 yrs old, the bike I wanted but never got was/is an Ancillotti Scarab 29er. I’ve wanted an Ancillotti since the mid 2000’s when I got to ride a DH down the Pleney; it was amazing – the suspension was way ahead of anything I’d ridden, and felt glued whilst still playful. I was blown away.

I always loved trick framed motorbikes so the first time I saw an Ancilloti I was in love, it's like a spondon mountain bike. Nearly got one, in the weeks-long window n the mid 2010s when you could actually buy one from a shop.

There's a few I remember lusting after as a teenager first getting into MTB back in the late 80's/early 90's and never got to own or ride any of them

Kestrel MXZ seeing it flicking through pages of the Freewheel catalogue pre internet shopping days

Pace RC100, the winner of one of my first races was on a Pace and at the time I thought it was the coolest bike ever. I think the the team riders had purple anodised ones rather than the more common grey/silver?

And the Klein Attitude in the classic pink, white and green

Attitude - pink/white/green

Also a Klein Droit. Saw one hanging in Battersea Cycles in the early nineties in that fluorescent orange and green livery and it became instantly my object of desire. Then later the San Andreas from Mountain Cycle. There used to be one hanging on the wall at a local tea shop in Taiwan with HED carbon wheels. I was lucky enough to ride one as my BIL had one with the original Bombers on the front!

I had a zaskar and was able to get an STS1000 with all its noodly Judy duel crown forks and AMP cable disk brake, (front only)

I always liked the look of the kona stinky/Turner Burner.

I did end up with a 5spot, ride that for about 10 years, it was brilliant.

The LBS had an original spec Pace rc100 hanging on the wall for a while. Lovely looking thing!

Always wanted a Turner Burner, but could get a original Santa Cruz Heckler and a Pace fork for the same money, got it from Stif in Headingley
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Full xtr 8 speed with v brakes and 3 spoke spin wheels with ceramic rims, lovely bike but really wanted the Turner!
Later on I got a Turner 5 Spot, really disappointed, didn’t gel with it at all, sold it on after a couple of months </span>

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Used to lust after the Kleins in the shop in Meadowhall in the early 90’s, bought a Proflex 955 instead☹️ </span>

Theres a lot of bikes listed here that I definitely wanted but I'm not sure any fit the OP

Klein Adroit is pretty close, but I stopped wanting one after riding one so dont think it counts. That was the first bike that made me think "a bike can be too light"

GT Zaskar, well, I had 2 of those (US made ones too) and is one of the few I really want again in a way.

I think, beyond childhood (which would simply have been the first bike I saw with bouncy forks, Raleigh of some description) bikes, it must have been an aluminium Orange of some sort. The first full suspension bike, I'm not sure of the brand, italian, xtralite!?

Edit,  Extralite F1, but having found it, could be superseded by an Ibis Bow Ti

Edit again, Orange E4

tbh probably one of the bmx bikes from e t.

i remember trying to win one in a comp in a magazine (cannot remember the mag unfortunately,was a kids mag from early/mid 80's)

never won it though lol

edit i think the magazine was called look in.

Despite being 50 yrs old, the bike I wanted but never got was/is an Ancillotti Scarab 29er. I’ve wanted an Ancillotti since the mid 2000’s when I got to ride a DH down the Pleney; it was amazing – the suspension was way ahead of anything I’d ridden, and felt glued whilst still playful. I was blown away.

I remember seeing those in coverage of NPS races in the early 2000's and wondering WTF these bikes were when half the field were on 222's and the other half on Ancilliotti despite there being no pro team, not available in shops, no adverts in the magazines.

They just seemed to exist, usually under some privateer on the 5th step behind Peaty, Longden, Atherton (on a badged up M1) and Fairclough.

The bike shop my dad used to take me to was a Klein dealer but he very rarely had anything MTB in stock as they were more road-biased. But one Saturday we went in to get a new set of brakes blocks for my bike and sitting there waiting for it's new owner to pick it up was a Klein Attitude in a crazy metallic green that looked like liquid metal (I now know that's called Sea and Sky). I was 13 at the time so would have been 1994, looking at it in the online catalogues now it's exactly how I remember it. The guy who ran the shop let me have a catalogue to take home which I left everywhere in the vain hope the parents would take the hint. Sadly we were pretty poor back then so I had to make do with a Raleigh that Christmas and birthday (they're a few days apart so presents were combined).

Would still buy one now if the price was reasonable but they're not.

Kona Explosif

The first bike I truly lusted after was the 90s Cannondales , I still love them but I 've never seen one without the tubes being dented.

I think my absolute favourites though, for some reason , for the la st 10 years is a Rocky Mountain Slayer or a Sunn Charger Finest, tbe ones with the Hammerschmidt overdrive box thing . Absolutely beautiful.

Really wanted a Diamond Back Harry Leary Turbo. At the time I had an Ultra Burner, which was pretty good, but always dreamt of owning a “proper” BMX

1989 Marin Bear Valley

Just the black with gold logos really appealed at the time. Shortly followed by pretty much any early 90s Yeti!

A Merlin XLM. I used to spend ages with the M and P catalogue that came with MBUK ('93/94 time) kitting one out. Still want one but can't justify it.

Bought my first MBUK in 1992 and it had a review of a Breezer Storm. I really lusted after one but my paper round money only ran to a GT Tequesta.

I have the Breezer now 🙂

There’s two that stick in my mind as my unicorn bikes:

Cannondale Delta V 2000. I lusted after one in the 90s. That black / purple / orange paint job was jaw droppingly good.

The second was a Dyna Tech Torus (or the identical X-lite equivalent). I still have an eBay saved search on the lookout for one. Prices are bonkers at present though.

Shop opened in Christchurch NZ, back in about 1990- only sold high end MTB's, no road bikes or local stuff, Chaingang cycles I think. Opened by a guy who I think had ridden with Gary Fisher and repack crowd, then come back home. Had a Schwinn that had been Gary Fisher's on the wall iirc. When it opened it made the local papers due to the outrageous prices of the kit it sold- pink/white/green Adroit was 5000 NZD I think, a huge amount back then, but what really caught my eye in the shop was a sloping top tube Cannondale 3.0 series, loved the look, really wanted it but couldn't afford it. I ended up going to another local shop, which supported racing by offering 12 months interest free, but they could only get the 3.0 series frame with a flat top tube. Had it built up with pretty much top end kit at the time, still cost best part of 3k, but everytime I got on it I wished that I'd been able to afford the cash for that so desirable sloping top tube....

So many, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bike that I wanted, only ones I could afford. I’m 38 now so in no particular order

RTS Team - I know the LTS was better but the RTS looked better to my eyes and at the time that was more important.
Mountain Cycles San Andreas
JMCs Specialized FSR
Proflex
GT Zaskar
Cannondale Beast of the East
STS DH Lobo
Dr Jekkl
Santa Cruz Heckler and Chameleon late 90s versions
Orange 5
Not sure what I want now tbh, too much choice these days and they’re all too good for me.

A Haro Freestyler, Bob Haro and a Haro Freestyler were BMX for me. I had a Puch and a Burner and later on a Redline but I never got a Freestyler. I did have a green and white Haro brake cable mind you.

I've now owned most of the mountain bike ones via Retrobike or at least had a go on them. And the road bike ones too(I've a PDM Concorde and a Colnago Master X lite).

My mind is somewhat changed these days as I'm older and as much as I enjoyed the bikes its the pals,trips and days out I remember most fondly. The hankering for stuff isn't anywhere nearly as strong as it was.

There were a couple from the time I really got into MTB but had no cash (for me it was an era of homebuilt klunkers mashed together from Police auctions).

Pashley 26mhz.
Spooky Metalhead.

First frame I coveted and actually managed to own was a 2000 Trailstar. Still got it. Along with a couple of other rufty tufty hardtails (BFe and Transmitter) - funny how our early MTB experiences can shape our view of the sport for years...

Probably a Fat Chance Yo Eddy in that green & blue. No chance on paper round money though.

Sometime after i'd stopped fantasizing about Raleigh Burners, there was bike shop in Lincoln in the early '90s that had mountain bikes that seemed out of this world.
They had a Fuji (i think) that was lustworthy and i'm pretty sure they had Klein as i remember loving the paintjobs. There was also a brand that had what looked like a face moulded into the front of the headtube. I thought that was the mutt's nuts.

A mate ended up competing very well as an U16 year old on one of their Fujis, and his Dad bought the unicycle in the window as well. He took it to Malvern to show off and ended up getting a spread in MBUK doing tricks on it.

Specialized Enduro/SX Trail, a Ti Charge Blender and a Transition TR450 (the wife had one and it was awesome. And probably a Bottle Rocket for a short while.

And a Curtis Hardtail.

I can’t really remember much about bike brands before 2005.

Only really got into mountain biking in my first year of university but the two bikes that I remember really grabbing me sat in bike shop windows on Bristol. Psyclewerx had a Rocky Mountain Slayer with a maple leaf paintjob which I lusted after and also the shop at the top of Whiteladies had one of the early monocoque specialised enduros which just looked cool.
I could afford a marin hardtail but hey.

The opposite of wbo back there, saw and had to buy a Pace rc100 but was smitten with a blue/green Yo Eddy in my LBS.

A Bontrager, I've had a Privateer for a few years but always wanted a 'proper' one, since reading articles about/interviews with Keith back in the day. Finally picked up a Race frame a couple of weeks ago!

Pace RC200 or a Proflex 856, was lucky enough to to have a 1997 Kona Explosif which I still have.

When I was 18/19 in the late ‘80’s I worked in the LBS in Morpeth, where my parents lived. It was run by a cool guy called Frank and he sold some really high end bikes (didn’t last long!) like Funk’s, Klein’s, Pace. I had a Rockhopper but rode a customers Pace RC100 in a couple of race. Fabulous bike for the time. I got an original RC100 / Suntour XC Pro last year which is being repainted at the moment. Never got the Funk though.

Overbury's Pioneer. I would have bought one had it not been for the fact it turned out they didn't open on Wednesdays. I was with friends camping and persuaded them to take a detour only to find the shop closed. So instead I ended up getting a White Spider frame made by Robert's and transferring all the parts over from my Rockhopper.

First “lusted after” was a Xizang.

Worst bike I ever owned.

Sintessi thruster

Bottlerocket for me too. Then the NS Soda which is pretty similar I guess. I love those bikepark style bikes. Ended up with a Scott Voltage which is probably a bit more DH inclined but still managed to lug it round some big xc routes 🙂 don't feel like you see that style of bike so much now, it all gets lumped into the boring serious enduro category.

I wanted so many different bikes. I lusted after dream bikes but never really wanted one because I knew deep down I couldn't afford it, the ones I truly wanted were the bikes that were just out of my reach, affordable but just a bit too much money for a junior office boy.

The one that really got me though after seeing them in the flesh during a trip to the lake district in 1995 was an Orange P7 with a nickle finish, full LX and RC35's. I still remember seeing it at Biketreks, it was like that was God, Biketreks was the church and boy did I worship that bike. Took another 9 years before I had one. Loved it and still miss it to this day. The only other one that came close to my love for that bike was a 95 Kona Cindercone with a pair of Judy XC's in the bronzey/brown, gorgeous bike.

Both of them forged my love for a steel mtb still to this day.

Also when I was bmxing I always wanted a raw T1 Barcode!

GT Xizang - lovely looking bike in the flesh

Diamond Back Axis TT stuff of dreams!

Another one who just couldn't afford a Scott Endorphin back in the 90s. Ended up with a Principia Mac B which was probably better anyway.
Then it was a Rocky Mountain Pipeline. I musta thought I was some kid of freerider 😆