Bike brands that were of their time and then disappeared

[/quote]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!

Don’t forget the flat bars with the bar ends that went through the bar rather than be clamped on the end…ideally in ano purple.

Keewee! Stil got a Chromozone frame in the shed that I keep meaning to rebuild.

Spooky.

They did the whole DJ/Hooligan hardtail way before anyone else.

Mountain Cycle? I had a Zen and the San Andreas was “ahead of its time”?

[16 year old self] drooooooool! [/16 year old self]

60lbs, yes sixty pounds! of masterplan

Before folk like Spooky came along we used to just use 14 and 16″ XC frames and snap them a lot.

small XC hardtail geometry was very very similar to old skool DJ hardtail geometry. As you can see, the stays weren’t even very short on DJ frames back then and HA were very steep as a lot of the designers/riders were ex BMX riders.

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

Coyote Dual – Dec 04 – Jul 06 by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

Spent many happy days on that at Chicksands and then turned it into the best London commuter ever. Large set of stairs? Don’t mind if I do. Great bike, cost buttons.

What about Atomlab? Are they still going? Claude Butler? My second ever MTB…

Cook Bros is the brand I used to lust after. Brought a set back from Florida for a mate in 1994…purple naturally! He fitted pace rings to them for his Saracen.
I remember seeing PAUL components rear mechs in Stif in 1993…the price then would make my eyes bleed even now!
Suntour is another brand to have died a death…good gears but could not compete with the big S.
Best thing Marin ever did was the 1992 matt finish they used…loved my Palisades from back then.

Atomlab are somehow still going. churning out shite products as ever.

,

Atomlab are somehow still going. churning out shite products as ever.

You’d have landed that jump on your road bike without even a scratch, I’m sure. Just like you have for as long as you’ve lived. Etc.

*Yawn*

Anyone remember the “tie-died” titanium spokes–haven’t seen those since about 1995

EP-X Carbon Fibre with swing arm, about 15 years ago. Oz design with potential to be big, but didn’t make it. Belt drive capability.

Got one in the attic. It came with a Rohloff hub.

Power grips – looks like they are still going

Nishiki bikes – still going in the Nordics, not sure its the same company

Not sure of the name – Pony boots? Original spd/walking shoes/boots

Louis Garneau
Ritchey P21

Not sure of the name – Pony boots?

Axo Ponys. Still got a pair in the garage.

LOVE this thread! Also loving those Kirk road bikes! 🙂

I have very fond memories of my Pro-flex 656, complete with Odyssey triple traps, Bullet Bros chain tensioner, Tektro V-brakes, Onza Ules grips and Club Roost braced “riser” bar (the rise was that minimal the brace sat higher than the grips but hey, I put them on and felt proper gnarr 😳 ).

Sadly stolen from the local bike shop after it stayed there overnight for a service. Remember being asked to come down to the police station where one of the D.C’s tried to get me to confess to stealing my own bike (on the basis that I’d had a GT Timberline nicked about 18 months previously, so clearly I had “form”)!

Remember liking a green Ridgeback with butterscotch Tioga psychos and Halson Inversions, would that be about ’95?

Always lusted after the Killer V and Super V’s from Cannondale and it was a Super V that replaced the Pro-Flex. Looking back the Pro-Flex was the more fun to ride and the ‘dale was a bit of a lump.

That’s a good one actually – Halson inversions – big in 95 and then disappeared as people worked out that MBUK liking them didn’t actually mean they were any good.

LOVE this thread! Also loving those Kirk road bikes!

I keep going back to the picture and drooling.

I don’t know how, but I will get one somehow, someday.

Cracking thread 🙂 some serious memories from the past haha

Still miss my khs even now!!

etto helmets?

I still have two blue ringle cages like the ones above. They still work pretty well though they scratch bottles to buggery.

Brave Pony? WTF?

I think this picture was inside:

Mountain Goat
Trimble
Calloi
Raleigh

WTB,
As in the Hubs and headsets, the ones you turn the seal over a hole squirt grease in, till it comes out of the other hole!
Great design, help keep cup & cone hubs running sweat for ages!
Why they don’t do something like that now is beyond me!

Epic thread. Too many memories from all the stuff listed here.

I had to check my shins after seeing the Black Widow pedal picture. Yes, I still have numerous marks in each shin from those damn things.

Fred Salmon
Dave Hemming stuff (DCD)
RST forks

Dave Hemming stuff (DCD)

The DCD was a Pete ‘crud’ Tomkins device after Dave Hemming came to him looking for a solution to stop his chain flapping about IIRC.

Although it’s been touched on a few times already but, Spooky. I still want a Metalhead 🙂

Look Fournales forks?

Spin wheels

Shogun Bikes?

Funnily enough, I had one of their road bikes in for servicing just today.

[/quote]RST forks

We all had Mozo Pro 4.5’s ruining the geometry of our rigid XC bikes. Cheap and cheerful but the did an OK job and I don’t remember them being much worse than the far more expensive Rock Shox Judy’s.

Although it’s been touched on a few times already but, Spooky. I still want a Metalhead

Join the club. I nearly bought a Bandwagon off Retrobike last week…I doubt it’d get used much but I really want one. Just because….ideally a blue Metalhead with Z1 Bams. Oh yeah.

5th Element have got to be worth a mention too.

Yay! I was hoping someone would post spin wheels. Heavy but beautiful. GT LTS with Judy SL fork and Spins was my dream bike.

Heard nothing but good stuff about Atomlab rims, that picture is hard to look at :$

24 Bicycles made some amazing frames imo, ridiculous names and pricing however! Still trying to find a Pornking!

Wish Nokian would bring the Gazzalodi’s back, they are very missed!

GT LTS with Judy SL fork and Spins was my dream bike.

RTS FTW!

Oh, and one with Spinergy front, Tioga rear. Retronichetastic!

Nah, RTS was a massive compromise. Like Giant’s NRS.

The LTS had proper, effective suspension. Until the pivots died 🙂

RST forks

you can relive the shitness for a mere £60…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-rst-461-dh-forks-50-gbp-shipped

Atom Lab are still going and dosen’t that Danny Mac fella use them 🙂

Mike scaled things back, a big product line cull as they where doing stems/bars/rims/hubs/forks/pedals/ hardtail and suspension frames/cranks and a few other bits. It was only a few blokes working from a lock up kinda set up, and Mike also had other brands on the go so it went back to basics, always loved the red-white frame colour ways.

I remember the mozo pro adverts, did Palmer ride for RST for a bit ?

Still got an alu LTS and a Thermoplastic one knocking around the trials locally, well we did have, last time i saw either was only like a year or so ago.

Five Kleins: one ’95 Attitude, two ’95 Pulse, one ’01 Adept and a Quantum in my Shed. All still going strong.

Blue bar ends? Why not!

Anyone mentioned JT USA clothing ? Their “bad bones” print was the dogs BITD. Suntour XC Pro groupset with grease guard hubs… Bullseye cranks with their bearing design based solely on dry US States that was toss on these shores…

Wait… WHAT?

They didn’t have photoshop in them days… that chick is off the GNAR scale!!

Anyhoo, back on topic~

Off Road Toad~ may have been the 1st bike I saw in a magazine with discs and as such it burned itself onto my memory:

SWD Racing~ managed to pick a prototype one of these up (high possibility it was the same one in the pic, though it’d had a new paint job by the time I got it) cheap from classifieds~ despite the basic looks, it rode really well~ back end is mad stiff being steel with a big old bolt through axle. The design was refined a bit and ended up looking pretty tidy~ did DH frames too, but sadly, the owner died.

Dirtworks… Never had one, but they looked schweet back in the day:

Stratos Forks… the MX6 had a really good reputation, but really, who’d ride a sarcin?

I think knottie still has a Saracen like that.

I had an Al Carter “Sacramento” in lush mettalic blue. Posh Townsend iirc, bought by chance when I bent the handlebars on the Raleigh I had, and the shop in Windermere sold me a complete ex-hire bike for not a lot…I would need to scan a pic, as I can’t find any.