Bike brands that were of their time and then disappeared

I know they’re still going but I’m talking pre Trek days. Would love the frames to make a comeback.

There’s been no real shift away from street riding.. it’s just not watered down by daft large wheeled bikes, gears or stupidly powerful brakes anymore.
MTB Dirt Jumping has finally gone in the right direction IMO with riders like Aggy and Lacondeguy pushing and building ridiculous FMX style trails.
BSX/4X was only ever properly popular in the South of the UK where there are very few places suitable for DH (and now Enduro).
Fashion means it won’t stop folk turning up to Chicksands on Capra’s and Spectrals.. it’s definitely an improvement from their Demos and V-10s. 😉

I had a shogun trailbreaker 1. I wanted a Caloi but I couldn’t afford the extra 40quid

I bought it at Hardisty Cycles in Byker

In the v late 80s I had a Ridgeback 603. It was my first mtb.

It had Deore components and a huge ‘swan neck’ stem. The brake levers were truly emormous with 7sp thumbies….

However i really wanted the top level model that had some spaceage electrically controlled hinged inner chainrings that moved sections to help gear shifting……it wasnt Shimano, but i cant remember who made it…SUNTOUR?

*Coughs* Marin?

Cool in 1996, uncool for years. Cool again (briefly) in 2008/9 and then straight back to obscurity.

Pace…square profile tubes and carbon forks that didn’t work for long.

Panaracer.

Pace… carbon forks that didn’t work for long.

Wrong. Forks that had poor QC – some worked forever without any issues, others used in the same conditions were rubbish.

AMP Research- Horst Leitner (Mr. Horst Pivot) sold the FSR rights to Mike Sinyard at Specialized.

and Mr Leitner’s assistant at AMP at the time was one Karlheinz Nicolai I believe. Hence his extensive use of the Horst Pivot.

We have 2 Halfords Sarcinz in the garage. Marvellous machines, if I weigh them in for scrap i’ll be rich. I suppose Saracen have been of their time twice, and disappeared once. Nice that the name returned though

*Coughs* Marin?

Marin were just the Santa Cruz of their day. Bronsons and Nomads will go the same way in about 4 years.

Had a couple of Saracens when they were at their first high-point (Ltd Edition and then still got a brazed Kili-Flyer)1989-90 vintage.

Mrs rode for Parkpre (imported by Cambrian Tyres) in 1995. Titanium Pro-Elite was a great bike. The frame still cleans up like new after squillions of off road miles and I’ve lost count of the number of rims it has worn through – currently used by eldest son (who keeps asking for a weld on rear disc mount). I think the bikes were a lot of hassle compared to distributing tyres, and then Parkpre itself disappeared a year or two later.

Sachs were doing some good stuff in 1996-97 before being bought out by SRAM.

Wrong. Forks that had poor QC – some worked forever without any issues, others used in the same conditions were rubbish.

I was generalizing. I know of a few Pace forks that seemed to go on forever, albeit from anecdotal evidence.

The Pace forks I had and the Pace forks a few people I know had all seemed to be somewhat mercurial in terms of reliability…

This thread is great. I’m too new to all this to know any of the brands listed but it’s fun looking through the pictures 🙂

Cook Brothers?

Marin were just the Santa Cruz of their day. Bronsons and Nomads will go the same way in about 4 years.

Er.. Which day are you talking about? Not the Day back around 1987/8 George Pennel imported the UK’s first batch (along with the first Kona’s) I hope?
Comparing the first Bear Valleys to the first Tazmons I could forgive, but comparing Bronsons and Nomads to Mount Visions and B-17s is just crazy talk. 8)

Wow this thread has brought memories flooding back. I love it.

All of my ideas have been posted already. Its funny how a few of these bits we used to lust for are now ridiculous. It makes you wonder what today’s top of the range 160mm fs will look like in 15 years time. Unrecognisable?

Love those cook Bros cranks.

Girvins , loved em …… even the english copies which were called quasars !
and Brahma bars 🙂 …. so very 80`s

This thread is great. So many memories.

Bullseye hubs anyone?

There’s been no real shift away from street riding.. it’s just not watered down by daft large wheeled bikes, gears or stupidly powerful brakes anymore.
MTB Dirt Jumping has finally gone in the right direction IMO with riders like Aggy and Lacondeguy pushing and building ridiculous FMX style trails.
BSX/4X was only ever properly popular in the South of the UK where there are very few places suitable for DH (and now Enduro).
Fashion means it won’t stop folk turning up to Chicksands on Capra’s and Spectrals.. it’s definitely an improvement from their Demos and V-10s.

I used to ride Chicky on my Demo 9! In my defence though I wasn’t local and it was the only bike I had.

MTB street has alway looked wrong – so much better when done on a BMX. It was even worse when MTB riders where trying to grind stuff.

BSX/4X/Dual could be added to this list – all very cool at one point but have kind of died a death.

Just thought of a few more…

Le Toy (horrible DJ / Street frames)
Rocket (I think – old school dual/jump frames)

There was never a good Coyote.

Bullshit! The Coyote Dual is an awesome frame. Bombproof and reasonably light. Still got mine after almost 10 years. Still rides great.

I used to have a pair of Roox risers on my 98 Rockhopper.

I still have a Ringle H20 bottle cage at home on my old Saracen Trekker.

Are Odyssey still going too? I remember everyone used to have their bear trap pedals. And rip their shins open each time a foot slipped off the pedal.

Club Roost risers with the cross brace?

My first set of riser bars were ano blur club roost jobbies with the brace.

A friend ha a pair of Roox bars that used a small thin yellow washer to get them to 25.4mm (they had no bulge). I remember them snapping just before one of the rises.

Don’t suppose anyone remembers these..

Way ahead of the curve in 1992-3 switch on and off suspension, Swiss bike company was threatening to launch the S-bike pronounced like Swatch but never quite crossed the pronunciation barrier into English, allegedly designed by the Actor Anthony Quins son who was a bit of a californian hippy biker from the early days.

AC Stuff – I used to have a headset that was waaaaay too much money for a loose bearing headset. Cranks were quite cool too.

USE – seatposts were everywhere on the XC circuit.

L&M Cranks – Nice, solid, now absent.

Goldtec – I know it’s now BETD but I am not sure why the name disappeared

So much of this stuff died out ’cause it was so eyewateringly expensive, fragile, and just didn’t do what it said on the tin.
My Nukeproof hubs were light, but were seemingly made of French cheese, and decided to separate themselves from the freehub at any opportunity. Stupid shock lengths on a lot of the K2 / Coyote kit meant you couldn’t replace them (although I’d still like a pull shock K2 razorback in red/ blue / white) The Sbikes snapped in multiple places (as did the manitous and kirks) Even some of those jump frames were ropey and so, so heavy and overbuilt.
I know its rose tinted and all but some of the brands that died out were crap!

Odyssey are very much still going in BMX world, my mate had a set of their Black Widow pedals on his Killer-V, I was so Jealous. I think he still has the scars.

Bullet bros chain tensioner?

I know they’re still going, but when was the last time you saw a Breezer?

Here’s mine:

Bullshit! The Coyote Dual is an awesome frame. Bombproof and reasonably light. Still got mine after almost 10 years. Still rides great.

Sorry let me rephrase that – Coyote was never a desirable “brand of its time”. I had one of their downhill bikes. Only because that was all I could afford at the time (along with equally shit RST High five forks).

It was rubbish.

The duel was just a Taiwanese catalogue dirt jump frame wasn’t it?

Bullet bros chain tensioner?

Got a sliver one of those in my toolbox.

Used it quite recently as well.

The chain tensioner is no different to a clutch mech now I guess. I preferred using it to a DCD as it didn’t affect chainline. I liked it

Agree that a lot of this stuff was crazy money (AC componenets – cranks were ace but my god expensive) or just plain rubbish (ZZYZX forks or Onza SPD’s).

I still have fond memories of the ZZYZX fors though – bearing in mind all the other forks had 28mm stanchions, they looked HUGE.

Talking of huge forks that were silly / of their time I nominate the Monster T and Super Monster T – FREERIDE baby! Drop top flat landing.

I’ve got a crud claw kicking about in the garage too.

No, THIS is a proper Haro

White Bros. forks.

Their upside down ud150s were ahead of the game…

^^Haro^^

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, I’m spent!

😀 Drooooool 😀

Has anyone mentioned Overbury’s Pioneer.

Well after 5 pages and we get to Overbrurys !

Page 2. 🙂

Overburys. Whatever happened to them with their 24″ rear wheel.

😳 oops missed that !

Would put pic up but still don’t know how !

USE – seatposts were everywhere on the XC circuit.

They still do all the seatposts, but I rather suspect Exposure lights is a very big part of their turnover now! Certainly not a brand to have disappeared, bigger now than ever!

However i really wanted the top level model that had some spaceage electrically controlled hinged inner chainrings that moved sections to help gear shifting……it wasnt Shimano, but i cant remember who made it…SUNTOUR?

Browning (firearms maker) design, licensed by SunTour

And that’s 200!