I think it was probably one of the 90's era Marin full-sus bikes. I'd come from riding Dawes/Emmelle hardtails and the change from those to something with suspension was like stepping forward in time.
It never happened though. I took the Cortina XL to uni in '92 and it came home with me in '96 being replaced by another, more modern hardtail in 2002 or something.
Klein Adroit MC2 with the boron overlay in Gator Linear Fade.
I can still remember seeing one in a bike shop and the mechanic was stripping off the XTR cassette, which came apart in many pieces. I was amazed how it all worked back in the days before I knew anything much about spannering. I was dropping off a wheel ahead of my first ever race which I had stupidly decided to pull apart and regrease only to have what seemed like hundreds of tiny bearing roll out all over the garage floor!
What I wouldn't give to find a NOS now......
Way back when (mid 90's) there was a few I would have quite happily sold a kidney for. Marin Quake 9.0 FRS, GT STS DH Lobo, Team MBUK era Santa Cruz Heckler. Mainly though it was the Mountain Cycle San Andreas.
Recently I lusted after the original 26" version of the Cotic Rocket, tested one in the Peak district but by the time I had the funds together, well I think we all know what happened. I did buy a 27.5" Gen2 one eventually.
GT Lobo
Rode one once, was a spectacle.
Like a few others I lusted after the early pace F100/F200 series hardtails. The GT Zasker the Proflex 856 which just looked so futuristic back then the fact that Caroline Alexander rode one might have helped a tad too. Other worthy mentionables go out to Orange P7 and anything by Moots in titanium.
This,
And some time later this.
Never owned either, and would probably disappoint now, but I can still look and lust 😛
I also really wanted a Chuck bike at some point in time, not sure if they even made it over to these shores. Was in a mag though and I thought Yeah!
Can only have been the hardtail.. the full sus is a bit... hmm
https://ridemonkey.bikemag.com/threads/chuck-cr-fs.220602/
Banshee Morphine...
Sometimes it's good not to get what you want.
A GT Lobo - wow. They were megabucks. I always wanted a Cannondale Beast of the East. They weren't even that great or expensive, just looked cool.
Ibis Bow-Ti for me
When I was 11 I wanted Josh Bryceland's 2015 Bronson CC that he had in his Ratboy edit.
Maybe not so attractive now I'm a bit older
I wanted a GT RTS with a ball burnished frame. Couldn’t afford one at the time but a few years later I’d saved up money from my job working on a kitchen (I was about 17 I think) and had my eye on a ball burnished LTS frame that had been hanging in Bike Tech in Bristol for a few years. I made them a cheeky offer well under the marked price as it knew it had been there ages.
With Bomber Z1’s and Johnny T Raceline HS33’s it was awesome (for the time). I think it had a Fox Alps Air Shock and a titanium top linkage 🥰
Raleigh street wolf.
It.
Made.
NOISES!!!!
A bit simplistic but I saw Peaty riding a GT Ruckus in MBUK and always wanted one. Never bought one, but do own a Transition PBJ instead!
I only started riding seriously around 2005. Initially my bike choices were very much budget focussed. I cracked my frame and replaced it with one of the early 456's. But the frame I really wanted was a cotic soul. The early 26" ones were really nice.
Kestrel MXZ
Pace RC100
Klein Attitude
Pretty much my fave 3 from the late 80s/early 90s era, the time I was just getting into MTBing. The Kestrel was mad, nothing like it at that time, the Pace was very striking with its square tubing and Magura hydraulic brakes, and the Klein I liked best was actually the even more exotic Adroit, the one with the massive headset, red and orange/yellow fade. I think it came with a Campagnolo Centaur, or possibly Record OR groupset? I seem to remember other versions with Suntour XC Pro too.
I've ridden quite a few of the bikes mentioned as other people's 'dream' frames; Mountain Cycle San Andreas and Spooky Metalhead were two standout truly terrible bikes! Well, just not my type of bike anyway. But both left me feeling 'someone would pay how much for this?'
I think there's a lot of wisdom in the phrase 'never meet your heros'.
Sandy Gilchrist cycles in Edinburgh had some some mad Rudy Project full suspension thing in the window in the early 90’s. Purple anodised swing arm, purple fork, all the purple!! I was a roadie at the time so wouldn’t have known if it was up to much but by god I wanted that bike!
Got a 2nd hand off-road steel frame, painted it with hammerite and built it up with cheap and 2nd hand bits. It was fine too
I bike shop near me had a 2005 S-Works Enduro frame hanging in the shop, complete with 5th Element air shock. I really, really wanted one of those but didn't have £1,100 hanging around to pay for it (a 2004 S-Works frame was hefty £999). Given the reputation of 5th Element air shocks for destroying themselves, I probably dodged a bullet there.
I finally got to scratch the S-Works itch three years ago when I bought a 2016 Enduro frame.
Always wanted a Skyway TA with Tuff 2's after that a GT Lobo
petrieboy
Free MemberSandy Gilchrist cycles in Edinburgh had some some mad Rudy Project full suspension thing in the window in the early 90’s. Purple anodised swing arm, purple fork, all the purple!!
Hah, I remember that, I couldn't tell you what brand or model it was but I'd just got a purple-and-silver Carrera so it caught my eye.
I also really wanted a Chuck bike at some point in time, not sure if they even made it over to these shores. Was in a mag though and I thought Yeah!
Can only have been the hardtail.. the full sus is a bit… hmm
https://ridemonkey.bikemag.com/threads/chuck-cr-fs.220602//blockquote >I had the CR-FS, for years. I loved it! Rode it until it died, then got it welded and rode it until it died again. I'm still sad that it ended up at the tip. So many happy times on that thing.
Back in the day I lusted after Pro-flexes, Lobos, Xixangs and Merlin, but my biggest guilty crush was the Trek Y-bike. I know it was crap, but at the time it looked SO cool to me!
Santa Cruz Super 8 with Boxxers, T.H.E. fender and full hope kit as per the Stif advert in every issue of MBUK. Wouldn't have one now as if it's not cracked it's going to and 99% out there will have had a hard life at some point.
Brooklyn Racelink was the next one, too expensive and outdated. Superco Silencer I'd still have if Doc ever made them.
They just seemed to exist, usually under some privateer on the 5th step behind Peaty, Longden, Atherton (on a badged up M1) and Fairclough.
They were brilliant and I suspect flattered to deceive the true ability of that 5th step rider 😂 I know the one I rode definitely flattered me - straight after riding it I rode down on my Norco A-line (root beer coloured & monster Ts) and broke my back on the very next run.
When I saw reviews of the Scarab I got very excited. I tried to order one but got not even a sorry we’re currently not building type email in response. Just nothing.
It has to be a Kuwahara bmx after seeing ET for the first time.
Did I get one.... did I hell.
Here you go @peajay
I swapped my warranty replacement Cannondale Scalpel for it in 05 & got my first race win on it. This is its third build.
I think the first bike I really lusted over was the Indy Fab Ti Deluxe. It just so right to my eyes. This was after I'd had a selection of pretty well regarded bikes that included an RTS and a Zaskar as well.
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.
I rode a fair bit at Aston Hill at the time and loads of the locals had them (and I really wanted one for a while), I think someone had links to the importer or they sponsored the local team (at least something like that) and as such ended up being pretty common in the Southern dh scene. My later DH lust was an Intense M1, I ended up getting a second hand frame in the end and it was everything I hoped that it would be.
There have been a lot, the last frame I really wanted was a 2017 Kona Honzo Ti. By the time I had deluded myself it was good idea to spend that much on a frame it had sold out.
I lusted after a Trimble, especially if painted in tiger stripes. Remember seeing one close up at the Man v Horse one year, ride by a now deceased journalist of these parts. that’s as close as I got. An alpinestars Ti-mega was on my target list at one point, perhaps a Nishiki Alien, loved em.
40mpg I use to lust over the Overbury's Pioneer MBUK advert back in the day.
@kiwijohn that’s lovely, I eventually got myself a hummer in 07 but the axis always had my eye.
nice trip down memory lane. for me it was a mid 90’s stumpy hard tail, can’t remember if it was the m4 or m2 incarnation, but would need to have been in red. finally bought a specialised enduro in 2004. still ride it, it was/is my first and only full sus bike….
Intense Tracer, 2001 ish. The red one dripping with XTR in the catalogue.
I'm lucky to have got hold of some of my old unicorns, but still REALLY want one of the Raleigh Torus Titanium frames from the mid 90s.
Always loved the look of the cannondale Delta V with headshok too.
And Slingshots.
And proflex 856 with Girvin forks.
And I still want a DogsBolx...
You get the idea 🙂
Kona Cinder Cone
At the more modest end of the scale it was a 1992 GT Bravado, my local shop had a full bike in the window (Team Scream yellow) and as a kid I used to stand outside and look at it whenever I was passing.
At the other end it was a Fat Chance Yo Eddy. I now own this but after a fresh respray it’s hanging on the wall in the living room. I’ve built retro bikes to ride more recently and it’s not nice, better left to nostalgia.