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Amazing thread. Bringing back great memories and lots of little details about things I’ve bought.
I remember saving hard and selling stuff to get a Fisher (my dream bike, pre Trek buyout etc). I could ‘only’ afford the entry level Celerity at £440. Although the frame and fork were ripe for upgrades. I bought it from a shop called Pyscho (or similar) and the salesman was called Scott and threw in a Scott branded multi tool. That was carried around in a bright orange seat pack I’d picked up from Schmoos cycles in Swansea while on a family holiday.
That Fisher went through most of the early 90s trends like bar ends (original wedge style Onza then the alu L bend ones), the original GripShift after an article in MBUK on Greg H-Balls bike.
I still have it set up as a SS but it is a tad too small for me now.
I did also buy a Marin Bobcat Trail in 1993 (iirc)for £355 with a free D Lock! I stuck slicks and a rack for commuting and off-road gentle touring (see Bikepacking and Gravel for the modern take 😂)
I lent that bike to a friend years later after his car was stolen and he still has it in his family.
My rose tinted Oakleys probably contributed to me now enjoying a similar feel just with drops and discs 😎
I think they were similar to a point. You can probably get something perfectly off-roadable for less nowadays, accounting for inflation (although it might be quite far away from the top end and sneered at). I don't think the top end has gone up much either, if you account for inflation.
There was the odd discount available even on the current model year's bikes in the LBS, just couldn't advertise it to keep the suppliers happy. Typically threw in accessories or credit instead to stay on the right side of that line.
I remember the Trek carbon HT was £3500, with the top end build. For a hardtail, with V-brakes... Still lusted after it at the time.
£1k upwards got you a really decent bike, maybe £1.5k retail for a full sus (you could get cheaper but it might have compromises - I got a full sus in 2001 for £1k, from the previous model year, it had v brakes but was "disc brake ready" lol)
Things have really come on, but not gone up in price compared with inflation. The problem is they've increased in steps according to world events/exchange rates, rather than smoothly, so whenever there's a big step up you notice it, but you don't notice the prices slowly waning the rest of the time.
I brought a Rock Shox Mag21 from Shorter Rochfords for £300 or £350, I can't quite remember, they also had to order in a 1.25" ahead crown/steerer to get them fitted. Came from the factory in white which was unusual. I later added the long travel kit, bringing them up to a whopping 60mm.
My first ever MTB was a Raleigh Mirage, early-mid 90s, was about £400 from memory. Very special looking purple bike that
After reading this thread I had a quick look in my work toolbox (where the wife won't see) and found a receipt for my old orange p7 with stx RC. 30th September 94. Leisure lakes windsurfing and mountain bike shop. £769.95. That was a replacement for a stolen Marin bear valley se.
Sneaky. That was alot of money.
500 quid for a Rockhopper Comp in 1990. And, I think, 250 for some RockShox Quadras a few years later which had elastomers rather than your fancy pants air.
Surely the only bikes really worth getting excited about in the 90s were priced $CALL in the ads in Mountain Bike Action😎
I’ve got a garage full of stuff from that era. There’s a Merlin titanium from 1991, a Rockhopper Comp from the same era, and a Cannondale M400 (I think - it’s my wife’s old bike) from when they were built in the US.
They’re all terrible to ride on anything remotely technical.
I’ve even got some original Maguras and a very rare Campagnolo MTB groupset, which never shifted anywhere near as well as Shimano, but looked great.
Bikes are much better now.
JP
I just use mine an easy xc and gravel bike stuff. It's quite slack and is great to ride.makes me smile.even has quite a small original stem.the frame makes it very comfy too.it will run decent sized tyres too
My first ever MTB was a Raleigh Mirage, early-mid 90s, was about £400 from memory. Very special looking purple bike that
One for sale on retrobike. 😉
Not connected to me btw.
Why don't you go on retrobike and sell your 3 bikes to someone who will use them instead of moaning about them.the ti might be worth alot.
My 1st bike was a Diamond Back Topanga which was £320 in '91
2nd was an Orange Clockwork LX with DX Shifter upgrade which was £540 in '92, that got stolen so...
3rd was a '92? Team Marin, Zolatone and Pink with full XT, bought for £650 in end of season sale, it rode like absolute shit, is still the worst bike I've even ridden, I suspected the frame wasn't straight as always wanted to turn left. eventually got fed up with it and stripped it, sold the frame and bought...
A Fat Chance Wicked frame for £500 in very bright Orange paint. I loved that bike and upgraded the hell out of it over a couple of years with cash from my summer job. When that got stolen at the NEMBA race in Guisborough, I put a deposit down on a DBR Axis Team Titanium frame that morning as BikeScene had a clearance one on their stand, it was £650.
I rode that bike for 5 years, wish I'd still got it.
First ‘proper’ bike. Carrera Krakatoa 1989. £249.
Second ‘proper’ bike. Dawes One Track 1993. £230.
Third ‘proper’ bike. Kona CinderCone. £699.
Fourth ‘proper’ bike. Marin FRS Pro - Frame only. £650.
I’m not moaning about them; just pointing out that they’re not very good by modern standards.
JP
Back early on the tread some posted up an early 90’s shop price list for Orange. My Aluminium O was Suntour XC pro, £1100. I still have the frame and I rode it for many years. Seriously stiff and probably more like a gravel bike geometry now but I did have lots of fun on it! The frame is still hanging up in my workshop
Paul's cycles, Warminster cycles were both early pioneers of buying container loads of end of season models then punting them out at a discount... had many bikes from former over the years and a classic e stay alpinestars from warminster 91 maybe
GT Karakoram 1995 model, bought for £550 RRP £750
Range chromoly, decent Mavic rims and Deore LX throughout.
Wanted a Konus Kilauea or Explosif but these were £800-950 ish
How simple the options were back then!
Gripshift or rapid fire, Rockshox Quadra 21R or Marzocchis...
My mate had one of the first Hope mechanical disc brakes in 1995... oh how we turned green with envy!!!! He was 14/15 at the time!
Tbf you realistically picked between Pace, Rockshox or Manitou for your forks back then.
Now you pick between Fox and Rockshox.
There are other options, just as there was, but few pick them.
Tbf you realistically picked between Pace, Rockshox or Manitou for your forks back then.
When i got in to mountain biking, which was late 90's admittedly, Marzocchi were the forks to have!
I can't remember Pace being all that popular, since their prices started at £399 for the RC36, and then the Evo forks (with the gold stanchions) were another £100.
RST (do they still exist?) seemed very popular, think I recall the 281's were about £100 or just over. I never tried a pair that rode better than a rigid fork.
I've still got my '94 Marin Indian Fire Trail. Bought 2nd hand at 6 months old for 750, I think they were 1100 new.
Well done for keeping it
I brought a top-of-the line orange MrXC XTRa in 1999 - the first of the '5 a like' designs they made. xtr, carbon forks, was £2700 which is £4700 today. The current orange 5 XTR is £6,300, so they've gone up in price a bit quicker
I remember Pace forks upgrading the rigid stanchion to suspension, at least £200. Go out on a cold day it felt like a rigid bike again the elastomers didn't like the cold
When i got in to mountain biking, which was late 90’s admittedly, Marzocchi were the forks to have!
They were definitely the first to realise that elastomers are a bit shit.
Not a full bike but had a custom built frame made by Greg fuquay in 92/93 it was tange prestige,full custom with a gorgeous candy apple red paint job. It was absolutely stunning. If I remember correctly it cost me about £500 dread to think what it would cost today.
Wow, you guys had some pretty posh bikes.
My first full size mountain bike was a Dawes Tracker (19") which I got for Christmas when I was 12 I think. C.1990. My friends had similar bikes (one had an Emmelle the other I forget which brand). I remember the Shimano group sets on them all had names. Shimano Exage Country was mine, the others I think were Trail and Mountain.
Around 1993 I bought my first mountain bike magazine (MBI), and on the lowly budget of a paper round began modding my Dawes. Kept it for years and changed pretty much everything in it, frame was professionally resprayed Yeti green, even had a Synchros seat post and stem...on a Dawes!
No idea what my parents paid for that bike, but I certainly sunk a whole load more cash into it over a number of years after.
My Muddy Fox Courier was £300 new in 1991.
3rd was a ’92? Team Marin, Zolatone and Pink with full XT, bought for £650 in end of season sale, it rode like absolute shit, is still the worst bike I’ve even ridden, I suspected the frame wasn’t straight as always wanted to turn left. eventually got fed up with it and stripped it, sold the frame and bought…
Nerd alert... The Team was a 1990 or 91, light grey Zolatone 90, dark grey 91. Must have been something wrong with it as that era Marins rode well. Maybe a bit neutral but certainly nothing to dislike.
They were definitely the first to realise that elastomers are a bit shit.
Rockshox didn't use elastomers for years. The RS1, Mag 20, 21, etc were all air/oil. Think the Judy was their first elastomer fork? Elastomers were fine at the time, they just got taken over by technology. Marzocchi used air/oil from the start but the early forks were 'a bit shit' so everyone not on RS bought elastomer based Pace or Manitou. 😉
I had a 1993 Saracen Andes special edition, which I think was £379. I still remember the feel and smell of it when opening the box for the first time (worked sort of in the trade so was shipped to me by colleagues).
My next bike was a 98 (I think) Scott Vail, which was about £500 and had a shit RS fork and V-brakes, and geometry that sure as hell encouraged me to go over the bars on descents (I was shit too). This was followed by a 2001 Scott Comp Racing at £779 with a much better fork and V's, that I put XT discs on and kept until a couple of years ago when I gave it to a mate who still uses it.
You look at a well chosen 600 quid bike now and compare it to what was available for 300 quid 25 years ago (3% inflation) then it would be laughably better now.
Not even close.
I expected the original mtbs to be more expensive than they were.modern bikes are much better value though.although they will also ride better I still like the ride of my 92 marin although i am limited to where it goes.
By coincidence I have just found a copy of MTB Pro issue 6 (March 94)!
Halson Inversion Forks: £285
Fat Chance Yo Eddy Team frame with custom painted Manitou 3: £1129 (Full bike £2850)
Bontrager Race Lite: £999 with custom Judy's
Cannondale Killer V 900: £1200
Kona Kilauea: £989
Slinshot frame and fork: £958
At the time I was still at Uni and riding round Edinburgh on a '92 Diamond back Topanga (bought from Warminster Cycle centre!!! - good shout out by whytetrash above :))
Ended up buying a Bontrager Race OR frame in '96 for £699 with my first pay check.
Nerd alert… The Team was a 1990 or 91, light grey Zolatone 90, dark grey 91. Must have been something wrong with it as that era Marins rode well. Maybe a bit neutral but certainly nothing to dislike.
It was a 91 then, dark grey 'paint'. I'll still stand by the worst bike I ever rode though...
Chester - RS Quadras were their first elastomer fork, I think a year or two before the Judy (Mrs was sponsored by Parkpre and her Judy forks arrived a few months after the main bike something like Feb 1995). So Quadras 1993-94 ish I guess.
As for the 92 Marins you’d have been looking at around the following from memory:
Bolinas Ridge- £279.
Muirwoods- £340.
Palisades- £399.
Bear Valley- £450.
Eldridge- £550.
Pine Mountain- £650.
Team Marin- £800.
Team Issue- £1000.
Team Titanium- £££££££If I can dig out an old MBUK I could confirm
Sounds about right. In 1993 I bought a fully rigid Bear Valley for £500. Kept it up until recently with road tyres on, before I bought my Arkose.
Yup, £399 for my Palisades Trail back in 1992.
It was amazing.
So much better than my 531 British Eagle (from Warminster Cycles, I'd forgotten that!).
It was a choice between the Marin and the Kona (Cinder Cone?).
The Kona looked sooooo much better, but the rear tyre clearance was mince.
I should have bought both.
Chester – RS Quadras were their first elastomer fork
Of course they were! Cheaper alternative to the Mag's.