YOUR TOP 5 MTB BRANDS/MAKES!

[Cheshire1980]

Just a quick thread in regards to your favourite retro bike makes..

1st) Orange, have always really liked this brand, particularly the early oranges.. my first competitive mtb was a 93 clockwork with Suntour comp and onza porcs! With my old man being a Halifax lad, it was a natural choice for this to be my number one choice!

2nd, Marin). Always been a fan of this Californian brand, particularly as my local bike shop as a teen supplied an abundance of early 90's Marin goodness.. plus my mtb buddy rode a full xtr Marin team, swine.. but fond memories hehe...

3rd Alpinestars) Always had a soft spot for Alpine stars.. The main distribution centre was a mere 4 miles away from my home back then, in portskewitt near caldicot in Wales.. Christ I remember bitd an occasional friend/riding buddy wanting to sell me his ti mega, not knowing the significance then I declined... crazy world...

4th Pace). Always loved the square shaped tubes..radical design.. very distinctive.. But still to have never owned one!

5th Cannondale). The V era, early to mid 90's cannondales, loved them, owned a few 90's road bikes .. really good to ride.. Also remember travelling down to Plymouth in the mid nineties as a teen, to watch the ICU mountain bike world cup in Plymouth, and briefly bumping into a shy tinker Juarez warming up for his race, with his super cool cannondale kit.. so that gets my final vote!

What's your top five!!!!

 

[Kell]

1. Orange. Coveted one for agews since a mate of mine had an early Clockwork.
2. Muddy Fox. For similar reasons, when i had a crappy Raleigh, a friend of mine had a Courier Comp.
3. Klein. Just loved the look of these and I almost went for an Attitude in stead of my second P7 in 1999.
4. Marin. A few friends had the old crackle grey and neon fork bikes. Loved the look.
5. Kona. Something about the geometry of early bikes really appealled at the time. With their long tubes.

 

[The Bear]

Re:

1, Pace. Ive had an RC200 F1 an RC300 and still own a (broken) F8. They've all been beautiful to look at and ride, if a little flexible and ultimately fragile. Never had any suspension forks that weren't made by them either.
2, Klein. Owned two original Attitudes and there's nothing quite like its distinctive beefy build.
3, Kona. No real reason other than an Explosif was my first 'proper' bike after leaving school so I've a soft spot for them. I'll have a Ti Hei Hei soon....
4, GT. Such distinctive designs and the RTS, LTS and STS were (in my eyes) innovative and I still lust after one.
5, Merlin. A dream to own one day, Such exquisite details and I love the look of a brushed titanium frame.

 

[FMJ]

Brodie
Dekerf
Mountain Goat
Yeti
Mountain Cycle

 

[Kez0013]

Re:

1) Santa Cruz - love my old Heckler X, the bike I did the most miles on and being rebuilt at the moment.
2) Proflex - kept me riding when I hurt my back albeit elastomer suspension but was enough.
3) Orange - only recently bought a Clockwork and 2 Patriots but was always on my want list.
4) X-Lite - Its the Titanium Pro frame that is just great to ride plus I use their saddles on all my bikes even the modern ones.
5) Mountain Cycles - The San Andreas was the bike I always really wanted as it looked so different and got such great reviews and didn't disappoint when I finally bought one.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

1- Orange, easily. Lusted after them bitd, got one and loved it, the reason I found retrobike and just bought a brand new Segment having had a couple of 5's and an Alpine 5.

2- Marin, specifically the 90 and 91 zolatones. Just looked right.

3- Fat Chance. Aqua fade Yo was my dream bike bitd. Still never owned one but one of the few bikes to keep my retro juices flowing.

4- Manitou. Just how cool?

5- Saracen, specifically 89/91/92. First proper bike was a 89 Tufftrax and first dream bike a 89 Kili before I found Orange.

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

Blimey, this is a toughie for me! I'll try to scale it down based on what I've owned..in order (sort of)

1) Raleigh. Not an obvious choice but name anyone on this site who hasn't had a leg over one at some point, be it a Budgie, Burner, Grifter, Mustang etc. So many pivotal cycling moments for me have involved the ol' heron. My tribute is the Ti RSP frame that I ride almost every day right now...

2) GT/Kona (can I merge two?) The brands that really opened my eyes to MTB at Secondary School, mostly owned by the kids in the know (with decent paper rounds) whilst we were plugging around on hi-ten stuff with chrome wheels. When both brands were at their peak there was literally something for everyone in their ranges which I still admire. The top end Hot and Psyclone are cracking rides though

3) Pace. So ahead of the game in their time and UK made to boot. The RC100 was in my opinion a technological masterpiece and still a head turner to this day. I'll own one (eventually!).

4) Bontrager. Another game changer for me - reset the bar in terms of what you can really do with steel tubes and such clever geometry. Anyone who owns/has owned one will most likely declare it one of the best riding frames they have. I urge anyone to have a go on one when they can!

5) Yates. Again, I could add several other UK builders here as well but this would be at the top for me personally. Dave's frames are immaculately made and seem to all have that little bit of magical old school English eccentricity built in as well. Still going strong today of course, which is refreshing...

 

[longun]

pace
ritchey
hope
use
panaracer

 

[dyna-ti]

Orange
Hope
Marzocchi
USE
Shimano

Basically -Bought 1998 Clockwork(in 199, added Z2,added Hope hubs/C2's, Shimmed USE posts fit everything, and it always going to be Shimano XT.

In a nutshell

 

[Dossa]

Re:

1. Orange (92-96)

2. Ridgeback (88-90)

3. Saracen (93-97)

4. Diamond Back (91-93)

5. GT (94-97)

All retro of course: nowadays that would probably be a list of brands to avoid (...bar Orange..!)