MTBs you covet but never owned

Orange Clockwork
Proflex 656
Marin Eldridge Grade
Kona Cindercone
GT – early 90’s; one with the speckled paint job?
Cannondale M2000
Klein with the multi coloured paint circa 91
I’d love my Raleigh Yukon back.
OnOne 456 Titanium
Intense Tracer 2017
Transition forget model – 2015.

Mate had one of these with the blue forks and bits. Always loved raw alloy frames with blue anodising on the blingy bits.

He put a big dent into the top tube when a door was opened on it or something at home….

It was like something from NASA at the time.

Would love one even now. Still think it looks hugely sexy.

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GT STS Lobo
Transition Bottlerocket
Spooky Metal Head
Brooklyn Machine Works Racelink – especially the baby blue blue
Rocky Mountain RM9
The original Specialized Demo 9
Karpiel Apocalypse

Having owned an early set of Manitou forks, I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy. BITD I can remember lusting after the San Andreas and Proflex 857, but the thread title should be past tense coveted. Just not bothered about that aspect of it now, preferring to plan interesting rides than obsess over the tool that facilitates them.

Kona Hot stars ‘n’ bars 👍

Raleigh activator 2

manton69’s Fat Chance Yo Eddy does it for me, right up there at the top of the cool wall.

Coolest paint job ever, dripping in Ringle – is that a Ringle crank too? Grafton’s or Ringle brakes?, thumbies, Spesh Umma Gummas? Obligatory Flite – seriously ‘superbike’ stuff from the time.

That Pic of Tinker on the Klein Attitude a close second…must have been really early days, spot the toeclips and looks to be before Klein went with the super oversized tubing, love the bar width and torso angle…proper. Is that also perhaps a Campagnolo mtb groupset, so maybe 1989?

Tinker –  Always in the big ring. Legend

First bike I really wanted after seeing it in the LBS was a Scott Endorphin. Really wanted it, a nice deep red colour.

Also saw a frame there a while after, a Transition Bottlerocket. Would have loved to have it but never got it.

Also really fancied a Mountain Cycles Battery frame.

If anyone has any of these looking for a new home……just because

Cool thread boys,

Me? Well I owned a Klein Attitude in the pink/white/green fade and it was superb.. like bigsummerbloke I took idolised Tinker… however thats not the full story.. I owned one of these, I think it was one of the first in the country at the time and whilst I loved and cosseted it.. I also rode it like i stole it.. did a few rounds of the old UKXC circuit on it BITD and had the bike for a whole 16weeks before some arsehole pinched it at a round in Cannock. I hope the person who stole it met an untimely end to their pilfering.. git.

SO my contribution to the thread is “I wished I’d owned it for years, not 16weeks”

The Klein Attitude replaced it and TBH, I adored that bike. I competed a few times after that but ultimately stopped due to Road Racing commitments, and not long after that I packed that shit in too.

SO the Klein went to my old best mate and he still has it, although it’s a pile of rusting bits these days.. It sat out in a cardboard box in a lean-too where it was subject to years of snow and rain.. But my memories area s bright and vivid as ever… I loved that Klein.

Gotta be a proflex animal or Cannondale super V

First-ever mountainbike I lusted over was an Overburys Pioneer when I first saw one advertised in MBUK.

Then a Santcruz Tazmon though now looking back it was ugly back then. Though I did have an orginal Bullit.

First-ever mountainbike I lusted over was an Overburys Pioneer when I first saw one advertised in MBUK.

Yeah – I remember seeing that and thinking oh no, my bike is shit!

On a different note, why were tyres so low profile back then? They look about half the height of current tyres, yet were only a bit narrower (IIRC Ground Controls were 1.95).

JP

I used to drool over a klein attitude in Harry Halls back in the 90’s, those smooth welds, wawaweewa, nice. Also the purple anodised square tubed Pace with Pace forks and those gold chainrings made for Pace by Renthal, amazing looking bike back in the day.

Poo brown Specialized Pitch.

Always wanted the mid 90’s Saracen TuffTrax Elite – my mate had one with Deore LX – lovely bike (I think he still has it….).
Also the Orange Vitamin-T was another one I lusted after.

henry wadsworth biography

This was the first one I lusted over. Mostly because of the Judy SLs, they had to be the ‘95 all yellow version. I was 11 at the time so a £600 pair of forks was out of the question.

Now I’ve got a few quid, I’ve made my own modern pair! 29er pikes now at 100mm.

henry wadsworth biography

EDIT – not sure who Henry Wadsworth is, or why his biography is linked twice in my post…

That San Andreas add. 😂

Laughable when you look back at it.
A lad I used to work with had one (still has it) and swore blind that it was cutting edge and full of MX tech…
MX tech was better than that back in the 50’s before the phrase MX had even been thought of.
Thankfully in the last few years MTB design has finally got its act together…

The Honda DH bike though in answer to the original question.

A Merlin XLM, a Klein Adroit (in Mardi Gras or Moon Rise) and a GT LTS Team.

For me it was dekerf that got a lot of attention, San Andreas and a proflex were high on the list
I wanted Most of the intense range back then as well. Especially a tracer. I periodically search eBay for all those bikes but don’t think I would ever be keen enough to buy!

Zaskar LE. In shiny metal.

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Nice Zaskar. Needs a retro Syncros stem and seatpost though

(and gears obvs..)

Ohhh I wanted a polished Zaskar LE so badly. They look so lovely. And are so fast. I used to cut out pics of them from MBUK etc. Bikepron No 1. Until got a chance to ride one, and it was horrible, like it twisted my neck and broke my bonch in 10 short metres 😬

I had Sunn Urge UN and/or Sunn Exact hankerings that wouldn’t go away.

the thread title should be past tense coveted. Just not bothered about that aspect of it now, preferring to plan interesting rides than obsess over the tool that facilitates them.

Yeah, it’s all gone very retro. I guess that partly reflects the demographic of the forum; older (mostly) guys that have been into cycling for decades and who now have enough disposable income to buy anything more recent that takes their fancy.

I’ve got a Sunn Enduro from that year 😉

Nice Zaskar. Needs a retro Syncros stem and seatpost though

Has it been welded on the top tube where they all cracked?

That San Andreas add. 😂

Laughable

I rode one for a few miles in the mountains in Morocco. It was laughably poor, but the owner loved it.

To add something positive, I always wanted a Bontrager or a De Kerf. I wouldn’t give up any of my current bikes for one, though.

I had two Zaskars bitd, one of them a LE and neither of them cracked.

There are a few regrets on this thread. Mine was that I bought a Marin Pallisades Trail in ‘92 rather than the red Kona (Cinder Cone?) with the Suntour groupset. It was a fair bit more expensive but I’ve always regretted it.

I lusted after a Marin Team Titanium.

I have always had cheap tastes when it comes to lusting after bikes, and have ended up with them all. All old now but I do not care, I love them all.

24seven dh
Sunn bike from year 1999 (Sunn Enduro)
GT moto 4x bike from 2005
Santa Cruz Heckler from 2005 ( although I liked the Bullit too )

The only bikes I have which I did not lust after are a Marin from 1992 and a gt aggressor hardtail which I use as a pub bike/ commuter. Since getting a Marin I have lusted after some retro bikes though although I love the Marin. It’s so comfy and handles so nicely. It’s pretty slack and flexy with good tyre clearance and has a short stem as std.

Now I lust after old Konas and Kliens although I do not want to get any of them.

I have always lusted after a Hutch bmx and had a Kuwharara back in the day. I wish I still had it now.

I had two Zaskars bitd, one of them a LE and neither of them cracked.

My brother’s cracked and we had a laugh a short while later when every Zasker we saw had been welded in the same place. (It must have been 24/12 or Mountain Mayhem that we started noticing it.)

When i was 17 (1997)  the dream for me was driving to all the downhill races in a golf gti with a santa cruz heckler on the back . I used to stare at them in MBUK on the stif advert .

For me though the coolest bike ever was JMC’s red stumpy hardtail from dirt , i would still love one of them .

“JMC’s red stumpy hardtail from dirt” – Mate of mine still has one of these in his shed, with the original Spesh carbon legged Rockshox too. Used to ride it like he stole it too…probably doesn’t know how cool it is now as he’s into proper adulting.

GT LTS1000 in shiny bronze is a thing of beauty.

Splatter paint cindercone (80’s)

Original SC Superlight ( 90’s)

Ibis Mojo ( 00’s)

Now; the new Soda.

First-ever mountainbike I lusted over was an Overburys Pioneer when I first saw one advertised in MBUK.

I came on this thread to say … still got mine 😉

Original SC Superlight ( 90’s)

My GF at the time has the original Juliana and I had a 1st gen Blur with all of 100mm travel. Both lovely bikes…

Lou's bike at 'That Post' by Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

Blur Mark #3 by Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

I wanted an army green Stinky

No idea what I’d have done with it at the time, was ten times too much bike.

Since getting in to the retro scene I have ticked plenty of boxes but my unicorn is a New York built Fat Chance Yo Eddy in aqua fade. Passed on a couple when they were reasonable money but now they are just bonkers so guess I never will.

1992/3 Salsa Al a’Carte in jelly bean.

2008 Orange Vitamin T.

Hope Carbon.

@fingerbang wrote:

Lapierre DH720 circa 2007 (the chrome one. Just gorgeous – I remember Danny Hart on one of these when he rode for them. The last of the nice looking Lapierre bikes before they got beaten into submission with an ugly stick)

DH920 most expsenive bike I ever bought