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The bike parts got everyone excited, were hyped to the eyeballs but for one reason or another never made a splash. You really wanted them but no-one ever bought them.
Let me start with Rockshox RS-1 forks. Lightweight carbon upside down single crown forks. Looked lovely, really seemed like RS might change the fork market.
In reality they were prohibitively expensive, required a proprietary hub, had XC travel just as everyone was moving big, didn't perform any better than RWU forks and the trickle down technology never happened for the masses ... or maybe it never was intended to.
RIP RS-1. We could have been so good together.
A mate has some on his Turner. Reckons they're noodly.
The upside down Maverick forks were the same, the wheel could twist in the forks. They'd also blow their seals and dump oil all over your front brake.
S.A.F.E. Scott Allen Fife Engineering developed a hydraulic shifter cable. A master cylinder sat in your shifter and was activated with a very short length of cable. Then it was hydraulic hose all the way to the conventional rear mech where the slave cylinder actuated the rear mech with a short cable.
This was back in the day of 3x9 and you'd typically have exposed cable along frame tubes.
It was a really promising system and I think would still offer some advantage today.
Patented backrest, eh?
https://road.cc/content/tech-news/saddlespur-bike-seat-has-patented-backrest-304951
Magura/Rotor made a fully hydraulic shifting system. I've never seen one but really liked the idea. The price put me off though.
Truvativ Hammerschmidt is something I’ve never seen live.
Saw a set at one Mega or other, sort of wanted to stop and get a closer look.
Airlines i saw at a race 2(?) years ago, a guy running an old trek DH bike at the back end of the field for (pretty much) shits and giggles. Saw a few of them when they were current too, not a huge number, obvs. as they only made a couple of hundred sets IIRC.
The Rotor hydro shifters, the local Rotor importer had a few guys riding around on them when they were new. They disappeared quite quickly though!
RS-1 were all the rage about the same time as Lauf tried to break into the marathon MTB market. Used to cover the elite start block with them. Lasted about 2 years, then everyone was back on normal telescopes, mainly so they could steer...
A mate has 2 sets of Airlines.
1 is on an old Turner Burner, the other set is still in the box.
Bet they'd go for a fortune on eBay!
I'm going to go with "roads" rather than "trails" and suggest Campagnolo. It's vanishingly rare! OK, it's wildly expensive but it just doesn't register on most roadie radar (as far as I can tell).
FSA K Force 12 speed electronic groupset
Never seen one in the wild, not even seen one for sale online, all ive seen is reviews
https://www.cyclingnews.com/reviews/fsa-k-force-we-12s-review/
£2,000, reduced from £2,899! Oh and no bottom bracket included.
No wonder you never see it.
reeksyFull Member
A mate has some on his Turner. Reckons they’re noodly
RS will tell you that was a feature called “predictive steering” rather than a bug. Never seen a set though, and don’t remember ever seeing the Marzocchi RAC that was one of it’s predecessors
Any fork brand other than RS, Fox and a few Marzocchi's...
That Pauls derailleur.
Yeah, pretty much anything by Paul Components. Shiny, blingy, never seen in actual use (at least by me...)
Any fork brand other than RS, Fox and a few Marzocchi’s…
You need to bump into me out on the trails and my two Manitou-forked bikes...
Me? Never seen a Tioga Disc Drive wheel in the wild. Think it was more that nobody could afford one, rather than nobody buying one.
I only ever say one Guy with those old Shimano brakes that acted as a shifter, or was it a shifter that also acted as the brake? Anyway, he was swearing a lot at them.
£2,000, reduced from £2,899!
so about half what Campagnolo Super Record EPS wireless is listed for then?
https://road.cc/content/review/campagnolo-super-record-wireless-305625
The first preview I ever saw of the RS1 ended with "we don't know why they've made this when Sids are better and cheaper", and it turned out to be correct, I think.
Never seen a Lauf fork or to the best of my knowledge a modern flexstem, I think they're both ace though.
so about half what Campagnolo Super Record EPS wireless is listed for then?
Yikes!
Tbf, I think all the top end electric group sets are north of 2K now, when bought aftermarket
I only ever say one Guy with those old Shimano brakes that acted as a shifter, or was it a shifter that also acted as the brake? Anyway, he was swearing a lot at them.
Dual Control? The "flappy paddle" ones? I had them, loved them. And yes, they were guaranteed to get loads of comments.
Admittedly the first generation ones were kind of bulky and clunky but that soon changed, the later ones were great. The only thing was that Shimano introduced a rear mech called Rapid Rise at the same time; in theory this "wrong way round" mech was supposed to be used with the Dual Control shifters but in practice a normal rear mech worked far better.
Actually, I might add that to the list of components you never / rarely saw. Rapid Rise. One of Shimano's more obvious cock-ups, everyone hated them.
Plenty of x fusion forks around too, especially when the likes of Bird and Cotic had them as build options
Odyssey Dampenator.
Browning electronic chainset (have one in the box though!)
Shimano Airlines.
Shimano Sante groupset.
Vyro chainset other than my own.
Abs brakes.
Browning suspension fork.
Campagnolo Euclid groupset.
Grafton brakes (other than my own). Same for Syncros forks and Cook Brothers Cranks.
Profile Durango bars.
Fisher RS 1.
So loads!
Beast electronic gears. I saw them in Alpine Bikes back in the 80s and drooled over them. I never ever saw them on anyone's bike. Browning Electronic Accushift Transmission apparently.
Ritchey 2 x conversion kit (got one as well. Ha. Ha.)
Answer Accutrax forks.
Scott At 4 loop bars. Looked mental. Were mental.
Dr swiss suspension forks.
Magura forks (again had one which I managed to kill in Verbier).
Paul's components of any type other than my own Motolite brakes and levers.
Profile and original Syncros cromo cranks.
Folk must have bought them but I never saw them in the wild.
The Beast cost me a tenner. Still in the box. Specialized spec's them on their Team Stumpjumper. They were lovely bikes. Wish they still made steel frames. I look at their bikes now and they just leave me completely cold. Carbon does not interest me even though I have an all original Carbon Epic Race S Works that is some thirty years old that I picked up second hand for £400!
@Sanny. Super jealous. Owning them would be like achieving a life goal. My 14 year old self is green with envy. Another couple to think about Scottoiler (they did try to get folk to buy them for mtbs) and USE Safe-T (I used one for years).
Jeepers. The beast was 1990. 16 year old self then.
Browning chainset?
I got gold of one in the 90s, Zyro had bought a job lot. Never built it up and also lost it might be worth a bit now.
Onza ti chainset - I still want one, I don't care how they flexed.
@leffeboy was the first I knew to have some RS1s (the proper ones 😉 )
Seen a few Hammerschmidts but never a Schlumpfdrive
Bullet Brothers ZZYZX
I wanted a set of those sooooo bad BITD. I think they turned out to be shite though.
Bullet Brothers ZZYZX
Used to see a few of them at DH races back in the day. Bloody awful things, like 2 Carlsberg Special Brew cans sliding inside eachother, except made from thinner aluminium and the 2 cans probably had better sealing.
I remember a brake manufacturer ( no idea if the name) making a twin caliper front disc brake for the original 'zocchi Z1 that had caliper mounts on both legs. Only ever saw them at shows though, probably because they needed a dedicated hub with disc mounts in both sides.
I've seen a Lauf fork. Bloke had it on a Specialized Epic works. Was motoring up the hill.
Bullet Brothers ZZYZX
I saw a few of them. They were renowned for seizing solid at the first hint of moisture.
Here's one for the retro fans. Rockshox Judy DHO.
A 6" travel dual-clamp elastomer sprung fork for the early DH bikes. The bike shop I worked in got a pair in when they were brand new, RRP, £1200! This was an obscene amount of money back then; most bikes didn't cost that much.
They sat on the shop shelves for about 3-4 years, I think we eventually sold them for £350.
I’ve seen a Lauf fork. Bloke had it on a Specialized Epic works. Was motoring up the hill.
Wasn't on Holmbury was it?
Patented backrest, eh?
> https://road.cc/content/tech-news/saddlespur-bike-seat-has-patented-backrest-304951
Perhaps not the ideal saddle for use with a dropper.
Accidents happen 😯
Wasn’t Judy DHO only 100mm?
Seem to remember around the same time as airlines, Shimano made a double rotor disc brake running three pads, the third pad being squeezed between the rotors. Don’t think they made it beyond prototype though
Sunny- i had a pair of Graftons - beautiful made, stopped well but fiddly as heck to set up and i replaced them with V's pretty soon after they appeared. Got them used, still expensive. I wondered where they are now tho' id prefer to get back the frame they were on
I saw a bloke riding a bike with a lauf fork on the canal tow path near Skipton once.
For everyone who looks misty eyed at tech that was, have a read of my piece "Back to the Future" in Issue 120. You can also find it on the site. The reality is entirely divergent from rose tinted notions of retro goodness.
However, in the spirit of not learning from experience, I am currently building up my old Fat Chance Yo Eddy Team for a ride with my mate Roddy on his Open Up gravel bike to see if gravel bikes really are the new nineties MTB. For added value, my mate Rob will be on an 85 Raleigh Maverick. Doing it for the mag.
The Fat Chance was always by far the better bike. More upright, handled much better, sensible components. Should be a giggle........
Grafton had an entirely undeserved reputation as being the best brakes. They really weren't. To be blunt, Deore DX was as good as anything the Yanks came up with and for the most part, significantly better. All the anodized stuff from the likes of Cook Brothers, Paul Components, Gorilla Billet, Caramba etc was overpriced tosh. However, we all thought it was what we needed! ?
Flite saddles were total junk. Uncomfortable as hell. 150mm stems made bikes handle terribly. Racing in the nineties really did hinder the development of mountain bikes. Amazing what we lusted after. Amazed that there are any Klein's still kicking about. Looked amazing but brutally stiff and had a pronounced tendency to crack.
I test rode a Klein in the early 90s. It handled horribly. I bought a Yeti FRO instead, which came with Accutrax forks, which were swapped for Pace suspension forks about 6 months later. The Yeti was stolen years later. I had the Accutrax forks hanging around the garage for years.
The upside down Maverick forks were the same, the wheel could twist in the forks. They’d also blow their seals and dump oil all over your front brake.
One set of mine did that about 20 seconds into the first downhill after an hour's drive to get to the trails. Happy days
Still got 2 pairs, must get round to building a tubeless rim onto the 24mm hub
Flite saddles were total junk. Uncomfortable as hell
Most comfortable saddle Ive ever had and why the charge spoon is such a favourite
I’ve seen a Lauf fork.
Sold lots of those. Could never see the point of an undamped fork myself and the feel weird to ride on
Never seen a Tioga Disc Drive wheel in the wild.
I have! French guy (think he was called Jean-Claude(?) used to ride with Cheshire & Peak MBC out of Macclesfield in the early-mid 90s. Regularly used to fail leaving him stranded.
Ah, Cheshire & Peak MBC! 🙂
Where I started my serious MTB career.
Ride out from Macc on a Sunday morning all over the place in the peak, huge 80 Km XC ride out via Macc Forest, Buxton, Hope. Back over Roych clough or Jacob's ladder.
Inappropriate delicate equipment? December? No lights? No food? no Mobile?
No problem at all!
Mega Bonk coming back through Lyme park. Sit on the brown tiled floor in front of McDonalds back in Macc easting as many cheeseburgers as possible just so you could crawl the 1Km back home )
That's what all the rides were like. Jumpers for goalposts. It was brilliant 🙂 🙂 🙂
That club has got a lot to answer for!
Have we mentioned the AMP linkage suspension fork with those noodle like linkages?
I seem to remember nearly buying a set from On Your Bike in Southampton in the 90s then thinking better of it and buying some RC36s instead.
Rockshox Judy DHO.
@crazy-legs I didn’t ever see those in the flesh, but I did own the little sister of them: Judy XLCs, can’t remember if they were 80 or 100mm, elastomer sprung. This was around 1997 I think.
Sun Ringle Double Wide rims.
I say I never saw them on the trails but I actually had a rear double wide myself on my dh bike as I had a real knack of smashing wheels to bits and I had the misplaced belief that a double wide, big as it was, would be much stronger.
I was wrong. An otb at Hopton, bike flew down the trail and it was a taco.
I remember at the time they looked crazy big on the bike, but by modern standards, I don't think they'd seem particularly outlandish.
But the thing was, I never saw anyone else with one, ever. Just me.
@el_boufador, that sounds strangely reminiscent of my own experiences as a young MTBer Great stuff. Bonking badly halfway back up the Dukes Pass in Aberfoyle (north side) at end of an epic ride in winter conditions, why TF park the minibus at the TOP of the hill??? And not being able to feel anything in my fingers or toes until nearly back in Paisley. That’s another club that has a lot to answer for!
Anyone ride with someone who had Magura HS33s? My mate Phil had some on his Pace RC200. very cool bike. Lucky git.
Looks like you can still buy HS33s new!!!!
What about these?
The upside down Maverick forks were the same, the wheel could twist in the forks. They’d also blow their seals and dump oil all over your front brake.
Yes, then they sucked a load of dirt inside them selves. Only time I've ever blown a seal.
Dual Control? The “flappy paddle” ones? I had them, loved them. And yes, they were guaranteed to get loads of comments.
I had some on a lefty equipped Cannondale scalpel. They took some relearning. Mine had the wrong way round derailer that absolutely did not help.
Marzocchi Monster T's Massive front forks with around 180mm of travel and weight to match, had some on an eBay budget DH build.
I had some on a lefty equipped Cannondale scalpel. They took some relearning. Mine had the wrong way round derailer that absolutely did not help.
One of my old uni riding group had a set of those when I bumped into him a few years after graduation complete with low-rise derailleur. He seemed quite pleased with them.
I quite liked low-rise.
Mnnnuuuggghh
Rapid rise for the missus was a game changer, it meant the same action to "push up" gears.
Still have an XT set in the shed.
Flite saddle, tick (still on my bike)
Scot AT4s, tick (still on my bike)
Flappy brifters and reverse sprung derailleur, tick (on son's bike)
Only ever seen half a tioga disc drive. A fella from a bike shop in the lakes around '92 (supposedly salvaged from a written off wheel from Jonny T - the other side was comventionally spoked).
Onza octopus tyres?
I think there's a big difference between components you never saw, and components you don't see any more.
I've never seen airlines, used to see (and run) rapid rise mechs.
Onza octopus tyres?
Those were an April Fool joke Onza put out. Incredible how many people fel for it ... Ahem
-------------------------
One of my bike builds in its preliminary state
Raleigh RSP Torus 550 Ti frame
Chris King Ti nothreadset
Bontrager by Chris King racelite wheelset
Cook Bros racing RSR cranks
Amp research F4 BLT forks
Paul Components brake boosters
OK, i admit its a bit of a horrid mess and an eyesore, but it turned out a lot better-front xtr front mech,3DV USE post,Flite etc (sorry,no pics of it 🙁 ) Really hard to find middle and granny Cooks rings new and in purple
X-lite triple clamp rigid fork. That was a thing of beauty.
Still got 2 ti Flites in the spares box - they were lovely and comfy. Almost as nice as a leather covered Odyssey MTB saddle I picked up in an Evans sale about 1990. Only Control Tech super lightweight cantis I ever saw in the wild are my ones picked up for a pittance from Loot.
Does anyone remember the "self-energising" cantis (Suntour I think) from the late 80s?
Dunno how Flite saddles made it into this thread, they were *the* saddle of choice in the late 90s/early 2000s, weren't they? Literally every other bike you ran into had one on.
I did own the little sister of them: Judy XLCs
I briefly had a set of dual crown Sids on a Giant NRS that I picked up second hand, rode for three months, and then sold. They had 100 mm travel, I guess they were better than regular Sids, which were skinny little noodly things back then.
Haha! I sold a Whyte 46 that had the Maverick DUC fork on it and the customer wheeled it out of the shop, proceeded to pump the forks up & down before he put it in the car and it promptly popped the lower seal dumping the fluid all over the Hope Mini brake! The bike was no more than 15 seconds old!
Sorry Andy!
Never seen a Tioga Disc Drive wheel in the wild.
Guy i raced with had one, until the wind got under it on when it was strapped to the back of his car on the way back from a race. Then he didn't have one...
Rapid Rise. One of Shimano’s more obvious cock-ups, everyone hated them.
XTR med cage rapid rise, still one of the best, smoothest, fastest shifting rear mechs shimano ever made. I have one on my retro, and two or three in my box of rear mechs. Took until Di2 to get as good a shift as RR again. The flappy paddles were good, but i wasn't a fan of those shimano hydros.
X-lite triple clamp rigid fork. That was a thing of beauty.
Had one of those for a couple of races in the 90's, borrowed from the shop that sponsored me back then. Were on a polished Ti Raleigh at the time... I probably had X-lite bar ends and seat pin too. Horrific fork, looked lovely.
Still got 2 ti Flites in the spares box – they were lovely and comfy.
Think the one race i did with one of them was the longest i was ever off a bike due to saddle pain, bloodstained shorts and proper flesh wounds. Still got a podium finish mind...
Does anyone remember the “self-energising” cantis (Suntour I think) from the late 80s?
Had a set of the Pedersens on a bike BITD. Sold them for more than i paid for them after Dia Compe discontinued the front SE canti. IIRC i was running the Scott/Mathouser pads on them too.
Another couple to think about Scottoiler (they did try to get folk to buy them for mtbs)
I saw plenty on the trails but partly cos we had a very pro-Scottoiler fanboy in our group and a mate who worked for them on the motorbike stuff. I had them on all bikes at one point. Still use the FS365 and Flaerguard as chain lube even now.
Browning chainset?
Beat me to it. Always thought they looked lovely. So I'll add Pedersen self energising brakes which looked like an elegant idea but I have no idea how well they worked
So I’ll add Pedersen self energising brakes which looked like an elegant idea but I have no idea how well they worked
Frame-flex-tastic. And (sometimes) unexpected-endo-tastic.
And unfortunately, not that consistent when run through a typical winter in the north east.
So many memories of thing my mates and I probably owned and rode back in the day. And more worryingly what I spent.
Still have a Ti Flite somewhere in the garage with no corners and the shell showing but its still comfy, still regret selling my old original super narrow pre-trek Bonty Ti saddles back in the day, they were great too.
Had a pair of AT4 Pro bars on my 1st Gen Zaskar LE with Campag Euclid front brake as the rear was a U, also had a polished Tioga T Bone seatpost in it, never saw another ever anywhere plus it had a pair of Pace Hubs on a set of Ceramic Mavic 261s, rare hubs then and rare rims, hubs were screw on so limited to a screw on freewheel. Brother had a set of Profile Durangos on his Zaskar.
Think I had a thing for brakes, remember going to Dorking in very late 80s to pick up a set of early Magura HS brakes directly from the distributor with cash. IRD Switchback up front on my Fuquay that I had bought back from the states, it was an utter pig to setup though. We had a set of Gustav Ms on our tandem for 20 years and only went with it when I sold last year, still the best brakes I've owned completely predicable, powerful and utterly reliable. Mate I rode with had Graftons, also early Magura HS brakes on various bikes plus a Euclid up front and a McMahon on rear of his Xiang.
Stuff you never saw then, first gen mtb Gripshift, had a set on something I owned, they were loathsome, such bad shifters. Sram ESP 9.0, had to screw in a grubscrew over the cable end to add to the push on shifts, I liked it but 10 speed came along not seen any for a long time. USE straight shimmed bars with bolted thru bar ends, 0 rise and 0 bend, probably about 600mm wide, why just why, but looked as trick as in a single anodised colour with a matching shimmed USE post. Again Accutrax forks, never saw another pair to bike in the day, fitted a pair to a 2nd year Cindercone in the mid nineties after I removed some Girvin forks that never worked and I'd probably sold the original Project Two.
Any fork brand other than RS, Fox and a few Marzocchi’s…
I have a Cane Creek fork on my main bike, and it's excellent.
See quite a few Suntour forks out and about on lower end bikes.