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I mean, just what was I thinking?
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Sick bikes Sleipnir.
I used to have one of those Trek VRXs! It wasn’t too bad to honest…… till I snapped the swing arm jumping down some steps!
Almost bought a Santa Cruz Heckler (single pivot in Club Tropicana colours). I’d test ridden a few bikes and decided on the Santa Cruz. Went to the shop to order it and they said “we might have something else you’d like to try” rolled out a grubby Orbea Rallon, apologised that it was dirty as it had been racing and said we close a 5pm, bring it back. Came back and ordered the Rallon in Fluoro yellow with custard yellow Mavic wheels. Looking back I reckon it was the right choice.
That's something coming from you Rich given some of the utter dog shit you've bought! Yes me as well 😀
orange five. orange patriot. orange big t. orange p7.
Klein Mantra, glad I bought the Heckler instead.
Macgyver, of course for my comment I'm talking 1997
@mrovershoot +1 on the proflex I looked a lot but good thing it was out of budget.
Also the AMP linkage forks that I nearly bought too. In the end I bought some RC36s.
Kona Explosif. Yeah, I know; heresy. Was all set, and managed to blag a mat's for a weekend, and it was really bad, keep stopping to check that it wasn't snapped somewhere. Awful thing.
I had a test ride on one of those in the OP. Was actually pretty good, but I bought a Marin Attack Trail instead, which was brilliant.
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Orange Sub 3.
Rode a Sub 5 and a Patriot which were both excellent. Looking for a new race bike the Sub 3 was the obvious choice. A test ride convinced me otherwise, so, so low. Never had so many pedal strikes!
When I first started mountain biking, a bike shop near me had a used Klein Mantra hanging on the wall. I don't remember the price, but I assumed that because it was carbon fibre and had an expensive groupset, it must have been awesome. They wanted more for it than I thought any bike could possibly be worth, but I was so tempted. Thank god I didn't.
Edit, also, I've ridden (and later owned a frame of) a Trek VRX. It was actually quite a nice bike to ride, just lacking in travel and also lacking in seatpost adjustability (in modern terms, I think you'd probably get about a 50 mm travel dropper post in there if you were lucky).
Had to think long and hard about this, have had dozens and dozens of bikes over the years, some have been great, some mediocre, but rarely did I actually come close to buying something but then didn't...
Except for one of these...
A Cove G-Spot, circa 2004... I had lusted after one for ages for some reason, loved the look, bought into the BC North Shore style etc... Thank god I actually managed to get a test ride on one. It was bloody awful! The main pivot concentric to the BB shell meant that every single pedal stroke resulted in horrendous bob, the BB was so tall it was in the clouds, and it was actually quite short and steep for its geometry (even when that was what we were used to) and handled like a bag of shit!
That test ride saved me a lot of cash and heartache... Saw sense and bought a Bullit instead thankfully.
I remember the advert for the Trek Y bike where it was painted up in homage to Hawaii Five O thinking how cool it looked , I'm guessing it didn't ride so cool 🤔
Mate had a green one in the late 90s and it rode well...at least he made it ride well...he was fast all over the place on it.
I came very close to buying a 98 Scott FX-dh in 1999. My bike was stolen and had a large insurance payout, one of the local bike shops was desperate for me to buy one and almost convinced me. But I went with a custom Santa Cruz Chameleon which was much much better suited to the type of riding I was doing at the time & cirtainly prettier.
Back in the days of lightweight XC bikes, my LBS had a demonstration bike made in Russia of Magnesium. It was mental light and more importantly bright yellow. I tried so hard to scrape together the money to get one when they ordered a batch of frames, but couldn't.
I don't think any of them lasted a month once they'd been delivered before breaking in half.
I got really close to ordering a the original SC Blur. I bought a stumpjumper in a sale instead and spent the rest on an engagement ring. Zero regrets.
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Specialized FSR ELite. 1998. Triple clamp Manitou forks, it looked so stunning compared to pretty much any other full sus available at that time.
We had one in the bike shop I was working at - my size, £2000 although I could have got it a lot cheaper. Came close to buying it several times.
I then ended up with an XC FSR, followed up by an S-Works FSR a few years later via a part-sponsorship deal and they were far and away more suitable bikes for me so I'm glad I never bought that!
A Cove G-Spot, circa 2004… I had lusted after one for ages for some reason, loved the look, bought into the BC North Shore style etc… Thank god I actually managed to get a test ride on one. It was bloody awful!
I liked the G-Spot that I test rode. I had a Stiffee so it was basically identical in feel and riding style plus I was used to the 4-bar linkage from my FSR days. The G-Spot just felt so planted, it would bulldoze solidly through anything. I'm sure that, compared to modern full sus, it's a bag'o'shite but at the time it felt amazing. I'd done a few short rides on it then I took it round the Borrowdale Bash on a bike shop day out thing. A route I'd done loads of times and this just flew down the rocky descents!
very nearly jacked in my MK5 Cotic soul and T130C RS for a SodaMax... would have been amazing, but then I wouldn't have got the Spur which is just awesomer
I had a '98 Marin B17, similar to this:
Which I traded in for a 2000 GT Ruckus, which would have been something like this:
That bike was taking ages to actually get in stock, so in the end I settled for an 18" frame Orange MsIsle. A bit like this one:
It was not a great bike, but it was a good deal with nice parts, so it was an excellent base for a geared Inbred build the following year.
My local bike shop in Mold were an Orange dealers (Graffiti Cycles). I nearly bought an Orange UFO laden with STXRC.
Bottled it at the last minute and bought a Marin Nail Train instead.
I have a soft spot for aggressive hardtails ( Had a few Cove's over the years Stiffee x 2 and a handjob)
Always fancied the Msisle, glad I didn't now.
I also owned a Chumba HX2 https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/new-chumba-hardtails/ which was not a nice bike at all. (Thanks singletrack!!!)
Matt Chester titanium as I think if I had put a deposit down at the time it would have never turned up.
Almost bought one of these, ended up picking up an aluminium version off ebay instead. Coming off an sworks enduro, it was a big let down, lasted two rides before being sold and going back on the enduro.
That Whyte FS with a swinging arm at the front! Can't remember the designation, PRW something?
I used to see one locally and really,really wanted one. Fortunately, I didn't have the cash, by the time they came down to my price level I had realised the bike was answering questions nobody was asking.
I liked the G-Spot that I test rode. I had a Stiffee so it was basically identical in feel and riding style plus I was used to the 4-bar linkage from my FSR days.
I was coming off a 2003 Spesh Enduro myself. The Cove wasn't a proper 4 bar linkage, it didn't have the Horst pivot, rather a pivot on the seatstay instead. But that wasn't the problem, as designers have FINALLY come to realise in the last few years of suspension design, main pivot placement is by far and away the most important aspect of the design in getting a bike to pedal well, millimetres here and there can change how they pedal drastically, so when Cove decided rather than placing the main pivot above the BB somewhere, roughly in line with the 32T ring (as most other designers were doing at the time) they would make it concentric to the BB, they created a bike that had 0% anti-squat, meaning every pedal stroke you were putting your weight directly into moving the suspension basically! Even the Enduro's main pivot was roughly in line with the 22T granny rings we all used back then, so not ideal, but at least it pedalled ok in the granny ring if not the middle or the big...
On One Hello Dave
I'm kidding, never came close to owning one of these horrors.
You almost bought that?
Oh. Gosh. That Vektar is ACE! I really really wanted one of those BITD.
Almost bought a Scott Hi-Octane-FR ~2004. I'm still not entirely sure it wouldn't have worked out. Living in Sheffield at the time it was blindingly obvious that what the world needed was pedalable downhill bikes at XC-ish weight. I'd test ridden a Yeti ASX which was pretty awful, a DH bike with XC geometry, demo'd the scott and it was pretty damn good.
Actually, maybe I' in the wrong thread. Apart form most of them seemed to crack where the mudguard bolted on just behind the headtube.