[Closed] Bike brands that were of their time and then disappeared

Onza

Or better still, Proflex - pretty successful in mid to late 90s (after Hank Djernis started riding for them) and again seemed to just go as K2 took the brand in a rather odd direction.

K2/Proflex were the one that leapt to mind when I saw the thread title!

Onza's a good shout, I'll go X-Lite too.

Scary fast rocket power parts

Onza are still going, Ibex tyres are great.

Muddy Fox

(-Cue a load of Spesh/Trek/Giant bashing)

KHS are alive and well, they do loads of stuff in the US and sponsor quite a few riders in DH and Enduro on that side of the pond.

It's interesting that sponsorship of a rider who's a mate of the mags can be such a big draw (or at least was back then).

Scary Fast - loved their gloves. they actually carried on for a while after they disappeared as I happened to meet the distributor and buy a pair of the latest model but they weren't as good as the origianl SuperBs.
[img] http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=76821 [/img]

Klein.

Uber expensive, garish but actually built with some smart design features. Bought by Trek and ruined.

Tioga seemed pretty big back in the day. They still going?

Bigfoot bikes.
Were made locally in Malvern for a while but didn't stay too long. We used to make the cable guides etc for them..

Klein.

Uber expensive, garish but actually built with some smart design features. Bought by Trek and ruined.

Just about to say that. Cue some very definite Trek bashing. 😈

Slingshot bikes?

I'm starting to think it's me 🙂 I had a Klein too 🙂

Local motion (frame bags and 'dominator' gloves)
Bula (hats)
Marin (iirc they made bikes)
Girven (stems)
2nd X-lite
Many brand faded away and then the name was bought and rebranded.
See-Onza,WTB,Bontrager,Klein,Gary Fisher (technically these 3 were ok until Trek bought them and ran them into the ground until they were worthless),Syncros etc
Edit.
At least Trek did'nt side with a cheating scumbag and help rubbish the name and destroy the company of a legitimate (probly) tdf winner.......oh yeah.They did.

I'm going to be controversial and say. Pace have all but vanished.

X-Lite. Bar ends, seatposts, levers, and all sorts of goodies.

They were the company that founded Muc-Off, but after the death of the founder, the X-Lite part of the business was sold off.

Funk bikes/frames - always lusted after one of these:

[img] [/img]

Also Ringle purple bits - like Xlite but without the snapping

Edit: Alpinestars! How could we forget Cro Mega

A lot of the brands mentioned may have disappeared from the UK market, but are still going strong elsewhere, or like Onza, Vitus, Nukeproof and others, have been bought by bike shops and are used by them as brands.

For Trek and buying brands add Lemond to that, they totally killed that brand, as well as Klein, Gary Fisher has become a bit marketing term for the geometry, and they have done pretty decent job with the Bontrager brand, although it has nothing to do with what Bontys were BITD.

Add Parkpre (bikes) Bullseye, Kooka, Clark Kent, MachineTech and many others to the list of MIA brands

Ringle - where did they go? They were the dream spec component of choice when I started out - proper bike jewelery in their horrendous colourways ( 😉 )

EDIT - looks like they are now part of Sun Ringle but not really the same sorts of products.

That ^ looks like a Bigfoot. Was that the fashionable frame design back then?

[img] [/img] (borrowed of RetroBike)

Iron horse

KHS have been doing what they do for a long time now. Just because they aren't big in the UK doesn't mean they were of their time or have vanished.
[url= http://khsbicycles.com/ ]http://khsbicycles.com/[/url]

Probably a stronger brand and company than they were then.

Maverick, sadly, but I've been out on my ML7 this morning. Great joy.

I used to sell KHS many years ago - they were really, really good quality, easily on a par with the steel Konas. Slingshot are still in existence too.

OK, I'll caveat it further for you TooTall to make it specific to the UK market 😉

Iron horse

They're just a defunct brand, not sure I'd say they were "of their time", in that they didn't innovate and got left behind or owt, they just didn't sell many bikes!

Pace aren't what they were, but they are definitely still going.

Kestrel

Roberts - I still have my DB but not sure if they still make off roaders.

Schwinn MTB and bmx died in the UK are now toys r us level hybrids and tat
I raced for shwinn on the blue falcon Brian fosters signature ride back then they were as some
Although they seem to still have a booming trade in the states with beach cruisers

Talking of innovation I'm sure I remember Iron Horse bringing out a 'fat bike' about 25 years ago with small really fat wheels or was it a drug fuelled mirage....so much was around then

EDIT: No it was Hanebrink
[img] [/img]

Machine Tech
Mountain Cycles
Formula 1
Suntour

Mountain Cycles is a good shout, haven't seen one for years!
Suntour are still going strong & making some pretty good suspension forks to be fair to them (Torq XC race team are using them for one)

The first name that popped into my head was Sunshine. If I remember the name correctly they produced cycle clothing. I purchased some items from Biketreks back in the mid nineties. If anyone else remembers this or knows which brand I mean please do say, especially if they're still going and I've got the name wrong. I remember buying a bumbag (yes a bumbag) from Biketreks, kind of a brown checked think for cycling. Is keith about to shed some light on this?

Also for me as others have said Klein, Parkpre, Pro Flex. Always wanted a Klein and a Proflex. Sadly never happened.

EDIT: L&M also, I had a pair of their Stardrive cranks and loved them.

njee20 - Member

Iron horse

They're just a defunct brand, not sure I'd say they were "of their time", in that they didn't innovate and got left behind or owt, they just didn't sell many bikes!

Sold shit loads of Sundays, relative to the size of the DH market - but as you say, not many other bikes.

Sunn, although I think the name was resurrected a few years back, they are no longer the brand they were.

On Slingshot bikes (the ones with a steel cable for a downtube) on-one where selling those maybe 4 years ago.

whatever happened to Rox? used to love their T's!

Dialled Bikes

On Slingshot bikes (the ones with a steel cable for a downtube) on-one where selling those maybe 4 years ago.

Hard Knox pads.

Karpiel?

Mike at Dialled is doing the bmx race thing.Really nice frames too.

Raleigh

Used to produce some beautiful machinery now just a pointless brand name like boddingtons

Kirk!

emmelle

Is Prince Albert still about?

Ballistic

How about Kore.
When I was a kid everyone at the local trails/dirt jumps had Kore Saddles/stems/seatposts.
I've not seen any of their components since.

[i]"Sunn, although I think the name was resurrected a few years back, they are no longer the brand they were"[/i]

There is nothing wrong with my 2012 Sunn Tzar S1 thanks!

[img] http://media.chainreactioncycles.com//is/image/ChainReactionCycles/prod115626_IMGSET?wid=500&hei=500 [/img]

How about Kore.

Still going strong...

http://www.kore-usa.com/

Road bike frames (well, they did others but not so well) - Principia were just about as cutting edge as it got in terms of making a light aluminium frame with lots of acid etching and the like and great production values. They are back now, but making very average carbon frames that don't really stand out from the crowd.

O.K. in the 'ice cool for 5 minutes then swallowed up by time' theme here are some of the frames I lusted after all those years ago.

Chuck Racing:

[img] [/img]

Rotec

[img] ~320x480[/img]

Cortina

[img] [/img]

And who can forget.. Spooky

[img] [/img]

I am aware that Spooky are still going in some form but they're not making Mad DH and dirt jump frames anymore so sadly they're just not the same to me.

Ftw ftw

Ooh, what's happening at Brooklyn machine works? Edit, ah, hard tails, no more mental dh bikes, guess they got so heavy they imploded.

AMP Bikes, always wanted a B-4, din't spez buy them or the suspension rights?
Sachs, again brought out, think by SRAM.

Suntour didn't they make lots of mechs/drivechain parts and was "better" groupsets to have back in the day? now known mainly for there forks.

Still going strong...

http://www.kore-usa.com/

Aye, they exist as a company but I have never seen anything since '03 in the wild.

Salmon parts.

Been bag clothing.

Vetta bike computers?

Cosmic Trail

Fat Chance (until recently)

Mongoose

Diamond Back

Are Fuquay still about?

Syncros?

Hercules 🙂

Slingshot bikes?

[img] [/img]

*Although according to their website they seem to thing 1982 was 29 years ago... so maybe they're not still active

Brooklyn machine works? Edit, ah, hard tails, no more mental dh bikes, guess they got so heavy they imploded

if you come out with been bag clothing you are showing your age. still have a yellow jacket of theirs in the loft still draws attention to itself if i wear it outside.

mountain cycle went pop a few years back think intense brought a few bits of them to build better frames

Amp Research
[img] [/img]

I so wanted one of those in the day....

Outland -- They developed the VPP suspension design and later sold the license to Santa Cruz.
Their problem was that they used bushings at all the pivot points instead of cartridge bearings. When the bushings wore out, the frame became sort of a "flexible flyer" and the only way to get bushings was to have them machined as Outland had gone out of business.

I had one and, to this day, still one of my favorite bikes.

Not a bike brand as such, but...

IRC tyres. I think I've got a pair of red side walled IRC Kujo tyres in my dad's garage.

Nokian tyres. My mate putting 24" wheels in his Kona hardtail with 3" gazzaloddi's on was on to something. The Jr T's he also put on it made one unstoppable machine.

*edit: just seen the other thread...*

Klein:

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[URL= http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u161/Razors_kiss/Bike%20Insurance%20Photos/TheKlein.jp g" target="_blank">http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u161/Razors_kiss/Bike%20Insurance%20Photos/TheKlein.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Malcom Smith Racing. The prerunner to Alpinestars.
Wish I'd never sold my MSR for the shitty Alpinestars. 😥
Overburys. Whatever happened to them with their 24" rear wheel.
Etto helmets. They were the shizznit with their bear ears...

Funk bikes/frames - always lusted after one of these:

DeKerf.
Fat Tec.
Highpath.

Not to forget Macaw tyres.

Oh yeah, how could I forget!?

Ladies and gentlemen... my beloved Balfa BB7:

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Mountain Cycles +1

The San Andreas was just mindblowing the first time I saw one in the flesh.

[img] [/img]

Lahar DHV 9 Carbon

Rox was the brand that sprung to my mind.

Pashley as well. I know they still exist but they no longer make the legendary 24/26MHz trials bikes.

The pashly 24/26 snap a lot trail frames were just a blip for pashly who now do what they always did before and also own moulton bikes

njee20

Iron horse

They're just a defunct brand, not sure I'd say they were "of their time", in that they didn't innovate and got left behind or owt, they just didn't sell many bikes!

Pretty sure the owner embezzled a few million didn't he? Probably didn't help the company. They won two or was it three DH world cups and sold a truck load of Sundays so I'd say very much "of their time".

Cook Bros cranks.
Air B tubes
Grafton Brakes

Have only just retired my superBs, literally just a few months ago. A couple of fingers now poking out through the ends and a bit smelly. Still, they must of lasted for the best part of twenty years! I got the reds ones to match my red Proflex 856!

[img] https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/KJGdysNAklrUuP64BZjXyKcH0RuX6y3YcHYUGRvpJIXg=w1269-h714-no [/img]

There is nothing wrong with my 2012 Sunn Tzar S1 thanks!

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

Who said Suntour? Pretty sure they're currently the world's largest manufacturer of mtb suspension forks.

what was the brand that's UK trademark lapsed and Superstar Cycles in Nottingham then bought and put out a product, and everyone went a bit mental?

Aye, they exist as a company but I have never seen anything since '03 in the wild.

Ahem...and very nice they are too!...(Kore Durox bars, pic came out much smaller than i'd anticipated).

[img] http://imgur.com/54U499J ][img] http://i.imgur.com/54U499J.jp g" target="_blank">http://imgur.com/54U499J ][img] http://i.imgur.com/54U499J.jp g"/> [/img][/url][/img]

managed to find a pic of me with my heavily tricked out proflex and wearing my SuperB gloves. September 1997 it says in the album and by that stage I had been mountain biking for 10 years already!

[img] [/img]

No elastomers here.