Bike brands that were of their time and then disappeared

A bit about the beryllium frame in the 1993 section

This is a proper Haro

magic motorcycle. and their berylium bike. anyone remember that.

ABM, shirley?

Source
Magic were bought by Cannondale, IIRC.

Now, what about Funk?

thats the one…gopping.
and what about Trimble and Kirk presision.

Now, what about Funk?

They’re still going. Producing custom built Ti frames.

😉

http://www.funkcycles.com/bikes/

Pauls components[/url]
I had a pearlescent pink funk.Cracked at the seat collar….. chainstays……and headtube.

Ta, Stu! Hadn’t read the whole thread! 😳

Are Christini still around with their two wheel drive bike?

What about the company who had a couple of bikes with a big orange button that used the rear shock to massively extend or shorten the travel on the fork? Surely they can’t still be going…

Vista light.. with lead acid batteries..

Alpinestars

(Greg) Fuquay?

Alpinestars MS Racing

#retro

Sintessi

Sintessi

Oh yeah!

I remember when Windwave started importing them. Looked so ahead of their time. At the time!

Until recently I’d have said Fat Chance but they seem to be making a comeback.

Was it Boulder Bikes that had the shock mounted inside the top tube?

Coyote – the original good ones. I had an F2 like below. Carbon fibre swing arm, 4″ or 5″ adjustable travel. Shame it had a stupid, proprietary shock with an i2i measured in feet. Keep looking on eBay for another. Fairly sure it’s better than a Five 😆

Was it Boulder Bikes that had the shock mounted inside the top tube?

Yep.

Seen here;

😉

I’m kind of surprised no-one has mentioned erstwhile STW darling Solitudeturdtude Cycles. Can’t find any good pics online, so this will have to do:

I think this has been mentioned, but definitely needs a pic:

Also, jumping disciplines, but for me Jad BMX were probably the ultimate “of their time” brand:

There was never a good Coyote.

It’s just a generic hardtail, hardly reminiscent of the world cup winning times of Nicolas Vouilloz & Anne-Caroline Chausson.

But very reminiscent of the winning times of Christophe Dupouey and Miguel Martinez.

Sheldon Brown Hetchins

Hetchins, curly stay loveliness.

Caloi

Kirk Magnesium Bikes

http://www.chathambikeshop.com/%5Cclassic.htm

http://www.kirk-bicycles.co.uk/Kirk-History.htm

Truly a thing of beauty

I want one still

On a can of Tab clear, just to date the photo properly.

Has anyone mentioned Overbury’s Pioneer. That was the first bike I really, really wanted – as a grown-up.

Verlicchi. Made seemingly half of the full suspension bikes in the early 90’s (including the ‘Iron Horse’ that Cully rode, plus Kona, Diamond Back, Sintesi etc).

Bullseye cranks, wtb finishing kit( I know they still make tyres)

Thread.of.the.year.

Ooh, what’s happening at Brooklyn machine works?

Seriously, amongst other things, sweatshirt collaboration with Uniqlo:

Someone mentioned Airborne. They are now Van Nicholas. The Tuareg still has the flat plate at the top of the chainstays that the Lancaster used to have.

Breezer bikes.

Shogun Bikes?

Townsend.
Had one in the early 90’s in Orange with black flecks (I’ve seen a Orange with the same paint scheme) and a odd triple triangle frame

Club Roost had a chunky steam with a I beem running through it, and a raised bar.

Was going to say GT but it looks like they are making good(ish) bikes agin

Another vote for:

Rox clothing.
AC components (have a pair of Lo Pro cranks for my single speed)
ZZYZX forks
Onza pedals (I have two pairs in the man cave)
Zooka cranks
Spooky (the Metalhead was ace)
Sintesi

Plus I’ll add:

Roox (chain devices, bars and stems)
Answer products (still have ao old stem of theirs somewhere)
Stratos forks (have a par of FR4’s in the shed)

bigdummy – cheers for the info.
i did have a look at the bikes on the van nicholas stand at the bike show last year, they really are gorgeous.

Nothing says early 90s more than a Kirk Magnesium, a mullet, and an airbrushed truck.

I blame KHS for 650B/27.5/kitten-killers. They were pushing them in 2009 in Mountain Bike Action mag.

Well after 5 pages and we get to Overbrurys !

Well done LAT as that’s what I was going to post .

Had one when the U brake came out Was a great bike but wish I had not had the u brake !!!

I still have an Overburys frame from before the Pioneer .Its hung on a wall in the garage ,think its a Crossfell or Fellrider

Brands from when I started that have disappeared include a few of those above, like Club Roost.

There were loads of cheap dirt jump and trials brands that were big in the early 2000’s that’ve vanished-

DDG-

Base-

24-7

Or, if you were rich, 24-

I think alot of those little companies like Twenty Four bicycles died with the riding style. There has been a big shift away from street, “BSX”/4X, dirt jumping by lots of peoples. Enduro is so now.

Lots of good suggestions.

So, given that we’ve found plenty, next question. Why did they disappear? Poor marketing? Failed to follow mtb trends? Poor management of the business? Poor product choices/quality/etc?

Back to my original post then

KHS – seemingly dropped out of the UK market as quickly as they appeared due to Scott Dommett similarly disappearing (or was he actually any good? did he just get found out?)

Proflex – K2 made the pretty poor (IMO) decision to rebrand a popular make and then focus much more on the XC market IIRC just as DH/FR was becoming increasingly popular – they certainly squandered a good market position.