doctor-bond
Feature Bike
Thats a nice pony you got locked up: ain't no unicorn no more ....
The unicorn bike paradox
- Thread starter Tootyred
- Start date
Thats a nice pony you got locked up: ain't no unicorn no more ....
yakboy
Manitou Fan
It is for someone else
...Which one?
doctor-bond
Feature Bike
True that.It is for someone else
Until they get it .... Shhh ...
Being content with your lot in life ooozes through your entire being, including your material possessions. Sadly living in a consumer driven society where " bigger, faster, better" is the mantra, means unicorns have their horns sawn off by their owners, as they drive and strive to better it.
Im pretty content....i never wanted much and ive got more than i wanted by a long shot.....so my unicorn still has its horn, is happy to come out to play whenever i want, is thankfull for its stabling in the kitchen and still makes me smile every time i ride it.
So unicorns DO exist, you just have to be i the right frame of mind to see one......just like fairies!
Im pretty content....i never wanted much and ive got more than i wanted by a long shot.....so my unicorn still has its horn, is happy to come out to play whenever i want, is thankfull for its stabling in the kitchen and still makes me smile every time i ride it.
So unicorns DO exist, you just have to be i the right frame of mind to see one......just like fairies!
doctor-bond
Feature Bike
Thought i might resurrect this thread I found whilst searching for a photo of something completely else.....which I failed to find! 
Interestingly, having started this in 2021, ive just started building a project I've always seen as a bit of a unicorn.....a 1992 team marin.....its going to be my daily driver.
Gladly, having sold off a stack of bits, ive got enought "shed pennies" to do it how i want....but actually, im quite scared of the outcome!
What happens if i hate it (although ive ridden / own enough marins of my own at at the dealers to probably know it will fit), what if the whole is not equal to the sum of the parts? Also, am i now too old and feeble to get what I think I want from it!?
So...we all talked about our potential unicorns above, but has anybody else now found one since and what was the outcome?
Should we just never meet out heroes for fear of the realisation they are merely fallible "humans" like the rest of us!
Interestingly, having started this in 2021, ive just started building a project I've always seen as a bit of a unicorn.....a 1992 team marin.....its going to be my daily driver.
Gladly, having sold off a stack of bits, ive got enought "shed pennies" to do it how i want....but actually, im quite scared of the outcome!
What happens if i hate it (although ive ridden / own enough marins of my own at at the dealers to probably know it will fit), what if the whole is not equal to the sum of the parts? Also, am i now too old and feeble to get what I think I want from it!?
So...we all talked about our potential unicorns above, but has anybody else now found one since and what was the outcome?
Should we just never meet out heroes for fear of the realisation they are merely fallible "humans" like the rest of us!
Funny and interesting thread.
Unicorns for me are exclusive or hard to find for whatever reason.. commonly cash now or limited numbers / rarity which brings it back to cash..
I would describe my increasing fleet as unicorns to a teenage me, I had no more chance of securing an Orange clockwork or Kona like some people I knew did, ( rich parents ) than the one beautiful older woman that used to appear at one of our regular spots and ride it all like it wasnt there, ( on I think a Parkpre )!!
I was riding falcons and raleigh mavericks and such built near enough from scratch in my early teens, three bikes becomes one.. literally.
I did pretty well riding those things, and did things I only ever saw people on very expensive bikes do other than me!
Point being they were unicorns then. I know own most of them, I am not into them for a huge amount of money, most of them.. mostly £2-350 bracket. I love having them, I ride them , when built, not nearly enough but I do they don't just hang pointlessly in a garage.
( My oldest love does in all fairness live in my work office.. but is ridden )
I like the idea of fat chance, dekerf, roberts etc.. but doubt I will ever succumb for various reasons, but mainly they wouldnt do anything current bikes dont already do.
I have a spread of mostly rigid steel hardtails, but size, set up, weight and ride vary, one has panniers, a couple are very layed back, one is very head down nineties with a crazy long stem.. you get the picture.
My unicorn until recently was a Kona steel frame from the canti era in 20", I have 19" framed Kileuea and Explosif.. and i love them but I am 43 now, and a little bigger , a little more relaxed was my desire. I have hoarded sensible but quality deore lx and curve parts for it, durable but nice kit that works, but not silly money.. I will paint it, and I will add a singlespeed ( my first ) with cruiser bars to my fleet for another niche to be explored.
I have enjoyed this thread today because I can see it means different things to different people but that others have not let finding something seemingly impossible turn into disapointment or debt.
If its meant t be it will happen, my 20" Orange clockwork fell into my lap locally, I could not be happier with it, its more than I imagined, a superb bike. Wrong paint scheme, hence two more purchased since.. but the first one was massive bargain.
My Kona Lava dome 20" took a cheeky message to a guy looking for swaps, on here, I explained what I would want it for but had nothing to swap as he put up... we agreed I was happy to pay him enough he could easily find what he wanted to swap for, he agreed to post it, he made my day and we had a deal. It was a unicorn to me as ive not been able to find one for sensible money in years of looking.. I was not about to pay stupid money on ebay.. I was patient and its happening and I am excited.
The last of the bikes of my mates will forever be a uniccorn and I can live with that but buy if it ever appears at a realistic cost.. that was a purple with paw prints Muddy fox pathfinder. I think its comparitively heavy and less nimble than Orange and Kona rides others had, but thats just a tiny piece of nostalgic collecting..
Unicorns for me are exclusive or hard to find for whatever reason.. commonly cash now or limited numbers / rarity which brings it back to cash..
I would describe my increasing fleet as unicorns to a teenage me, I had no more chance of securing an Orange clockwork or Kona like some people I knew did, ( rich parents ) than the one beautiful older woman that used to appear at one of our regular spots and ride it all like it wasnt there, ( on I think a Parkpre )!!
I was riding falcons and raleigh mavericks and such built near enough from scratch in my early teens, three bikes becomes one.. literally.
I did pretty well riding those things, and did things I only ever saw people on very expensive bikes do other than me!
Point being they were unicorns then. I know own most of them, I am not into them for a huge amount of money, most of them.. mostly £2-350 bracket. I love having them, I ride them , when built, not nearly enough but I do they don't just hang pointlessly in a garage.
( My oldest love does in all fairness live in my work office.. but is ridden )
I like the idea of fat chance, dekerf, roberts etc.. but doubt I will ever succumb for various reasons, but mainly they wouldnt do anything current bikes dont already do.
I have a spread of mostly rigid steel hardtails, but size, set up, weight and ride vary, one has panniers, a couple are very layed back, one is very head down nineties with a crazy long stem.. you get the picture.
My unicorn until recently was a Kona steel frame from the canti era in 20", I have 19" framed Kileuea and Explosif.. and i love them but I am 43 now, and a little bigger , a little more relaxed was my desire. I have hoarded sensible but quality deore lx and curve parts for it, durable but nice kit that works, but not silly money.. I will paint it, and I will add a singlespeed ( my first ) with cruiser bars to my fleet for another niche to be explored.
I have enjoyed this thread today because I can see it means different things to different people but that others have not let finding something seemingly impossible turn into disapointment or debt.
If its meant t be it will happen, my 20" Orange clockwork fell into my lap locally, I could not be happier with it, its more than I imagined, a superb bike. Wrong paint scheme, hence two more purchased since.. but the first one was massive bargain.
My Kona Lava dome 20" took a cheeky message to a guy looking for swaps, on here, I explained what I would want it for but had nothing to swap as he put up... we agreed I was happy to pay him enough he could easily find what he wanted to swap for, he agreed to post it, he made my day and we had a deal. It was a unicorn to me as ive not been able to find one for sensible money in years of looking.. I was not about to pay stupid money on ebay.. I was patient and its happening and I am excited.
The last of the bikes of my mates will forever be a uniccorn and I can live with that but buy if it ever appears at a realistic cost.. that was a purple with paw prints Muddy fox pathfinder. I think its comparitively heavy and less nimble than Orange and Kona rides others had, but thats just a tiny piece of nostalgic collecting..
Takingabreak
Dave Yates Fan
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Unicorns are troublesome things, you search and search for years and then they all come along at once.
Unicorn 1 - the bike that escaped me back when they were available was a Dawes Sardar - I bought a Marin Muirwoods instead as the price was heavily discounted in a new year sale and then spent the best part of 20 years thinking I should have bought the sardar. I now have a sardar and it's slow and cumbersome but most definitely sturdy
Unicorn 2 - a fillet brazed 26" wheel expedition tourer, was open to brand but something like a Roberts Rough Stuff or Yates Expedition. A Yates Expedition came along which has far exceeded my expectations.
Unicorn 3 - a 1996 Dawes Edge, the one year only reynolds 853 version. Well, I have one of those now as well, although as frame only waiting patiently to be built up after a fresh powdercoat and new decals. The problem is, the build I always had in mind would make it a clone of the Yates - almost, so it sits forlorn and alone in the spare bedroom waiting for me to get some better build inspiration
Pics of yates and sardar below (I think they have both been posted previously somewhere on Retrobike), the Edge is an unloved Unicorn without a picture
EDIT - I must admit to feeling a bit without purpose now that I have run out of Unicorns to hunt down.
Unicorn 1 - the bike that escaped me back when they were available was a Dawes Sardar - I bought a Marin Muirwoods instead as the price was heavily discounted in a new year sale and then spent the best part of 20 years thinking I should have bought the sardar. I now have a sardar and it's slow and cumbersome but most definitely sturdy
Unicorn 2 - a fillet brazed 26" wheel expedition tourer, was open to brand but something like a Roberts Rough Stuff or Yates Expedition. A Yates Expedition came along which has far exceeded my expectations.
Unicorn 3 - a 1996 Dawes Edge, the one year only reynolds 853 version. Well, I have one of those now as well, although as frame only waiting patiently to be built up after a fresh powdercoat and new decals. The problem is, the build I always had in mind would make it a clone of the Yates - almost, so it sits forlorn and alone in the spare bedroom waiting for me to get some better build inspiration
Pics of yates and sardar below (I think they have both been posted previously somewhere on Retrobike), the Edge is an unloved Unicorn without a picture
EDIT - I must admit to feeling a bit without purpose now that I have run out of Unicorns to hunt down.
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PanoIgano
Fat Chance Fan
Nice thread!
For me unicorns are the bikes you enjoying riding the most. They don't have to be necessarily linked to what you lusted back in the day.
I am sure it happened to many of us, you lust for a specific bike only to get it and after riding it, be hugely disappointed from it (whether because of size, bike specs, not the right geometry, etc.).
I think it also helps if you are curious about a technology a bike has that you believe sets it apart from the rest (for me these have been Slingshots among others). Or you might enjoy riding a bike from the era just bc your favorite athlete was on it.
I believe eventually, I will end up keeping two or three bikes that I like and enjoy riding the most as I don't like to keep accumulating stuff that I can't properly use (last famous words...
).
For me unicorns are the bikes you enjoying riding the most. They don't have to be necessarily linked to what you lusted back in the day.
I am sure it happened to many of us, you lust for a specific bike only to get it and after riding it, be hugely disappointed from it (whether because of size, bike specs, not the right geometry, etc.).
I think it also helps if you are curious about a technology a bike has that you believe sets it apart from the rest (for me these have been Slingshots among others). Or you might enjoy riding a bike from the era just bc your favorite athlete was on it.
I believe eventually, I will end up keeping two or three bikes that I like and enjoy riding the most as I don't like to keep accumulating stuff that I can't properly use (last famous words...
).
