What bike brands were available BITD in your town?
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thesurfbus
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Midlothian, and everyone used to ride Saracens, I still have my 89 Trekker Comp.
redfern1950s
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Antstark":7wrfh6k7 said:I was lucky, I lived within spitting distance of sshokwave in Nottingham. Purveyor of boutique exotica (Goat, Bradbury mani, boulder, funk etc). It was 1994 before I found out you could buy a bike for under 3k
^^^Sshockwave^^^
although i lived in lancashire at the time, my family lived in nottinghamshire, and when ever over in notts i would call in to sshockwave..
And agreeing with antstark, they had a very impressive stock of boutique exotica. sshockwave also had a shop on one of the spanish islands ( cant remember which one ). hiring out bikes such as mountain goats !!!!
At the time most shops north of london where either raleigh or muddyfox dealerships.
I remember the most expensive bike in my local shop was a 'giant super sierra' it had a black/chrome finish, and was kitted out in full XT. and cost £485 !! ( 485 was how much the XT group set retailed for back then, so buying the giant you got the best group set with everything else for free )
The only thing that let the super sierra down , was the mounting of the 'u' brake under the chain stays, not good and was a 1989 thing only, never to be put there again, was a bad idea..
Although we did have others such as 'harry halls' in manchester who would from time to time order something special in to display or a special order for a customer.
Back in 1990 graham hall at harry halls put a window display up ( lasting one day ) featuring what may have been the first funk in to the UK ( i bought it ! but later found the frame to be out of true ).
They then ordered me a yeti ultimate from 'california' yeti where yet to move to durango !!
Other shops like freewheel in nottingham city sold cannondales such as the '9mx with its 24" back wheel'.. and sm400s upwards,etc.
Piccy below ( taken in 91 on tour in hereford - kilpeck church ) is off the cannondale i bought in 1990 as a frame set, from 'freewheel' in nottingham, built using the 18spd xt group set from my muddyfox ( my fox was also a custom build ) , mavic m6cd rims, converted bmx cook bros cranks and cook bros handle bars,
( the bars came from split sports in manchester ) , the pace forks where a later addition.
The cannondale eventually snapped, free wheel refused to refund, but cannondale did, and sent me the latest frame set, which i sold soon after.
i bought the dale to tour on, but found the trekker to be a better bike for that job..
1990 cannondale custom build by redfern1950s, on Flickr
Another good shop, also in manchester was 'mike cooksons', i remember them having some pretty good bikes, more top end , marin, specialized and may be the odd klein etc.
I must add this : i had travelled to many bike shops back then, searching for parts. sshockwave was the only shop that made me feel really welcome, and would always offer me a 'mug of tea' which was brilliant, they liked to chat and having a brew whilst drooling over their top end kit, was a very good way to run things.. How i wish i could go back there.... those mountain goats where very special... i should have bought one..
Happy days.
PS, should also mention 'saracens' . with their wishbone stays and 'u' brakes, although they moved the rear 'u' brake to the seat stay in 1990..
piccy below ( taken in 1990 ) is my saracen trekker, bought as a frame set in 1990. seat came off my old 87 muddyfox... i still think this was my best bike to date, i certainly used it more.
1990 saracen trekker by redfern1950s, on Flickr
Barnsley area things were pretty sparse....
Raleigh/Dynatech at one dealer and that was their only offering.
Then there was Cycosport with Marin,GT and not a lot else. But that went tits up and is no longer there.
Manchester area was well covered.....
Denmark was crap....
Only quality stuff that was widely available outside a small chain of self-importing (Marin, Ritchey and Klein) dealers was Univega, Wheeler and Kona. Even Specialized and Trek were struggling to get a footing. Rocky Mountain eventually became available as did Stevens and Focus.
Even now, the number of brands represented in Denmark is quite pitiful with most dealers just selling the same stuff as each other.
Raleigh/Dynatech at one dealer and that was their only offering.
Then there was Cycosport with Marin,GT and not a lot else. But that went tits up and is no longer there.
Manchester area was well covered.....
Denmark was crap....
Only quality stuff that was widely available outside a small chain of self-importing (Marin, Ritchey and Klein) dealers was Univega, Wheeler and Kona. Even Specialized and Trek were struggling to get a footing. Rocky Mountain eventually became available as did Stevens and Focus.
Even now, the number of brands represented in Denmark is quite pitiful with most dealers just selling the same stuff as each other.
I live now where I lived then, sunny Weston-by-the-Mud.
We had a Raleigh dealership, that I never visited, also Les Wilkins, who were the long established local shop, Marin, Saracen, Dawes, Kona and possibly GT. Then Somerset Bike Centre opened, and are still in business, they were a Giant dealer, and also had Claude Butler / Falcon and a couple of others, but they seemed to be able to get anything 'fat' John Hollier was the mechanic / manager (now a manger at Madison) and when I wanted a GT STS in 1997, John managed to get me one.
With Bristol only 20 miles up the road, what we couldn't get in town, we could get there, but I also remember going to Noah's Ark in Stroud to look at Orange bikes, which were considered pretty exotic at the time.
We had a Raleigh dealership, that I never visited, also Les Wilkins, who were the long established local shop, Marin, Saracen, Dawes, Kona and possibly GT. Then Somerset Bike Centre opened, and are still in business, they were a Giant dealer, and also had Claude Butler / Falcon and a couple of others, but they seemed to be able to get anything 'fat' John Hollier was the mechanic / manager (now a manger at Madison) and when I wanted a GT STS in 1997, John managed to get me one.
With Bristol only 20 miles up the road, what we couldn't get in town, we could get there, but I also remember going to Noah's Ark in Stroud to look at Orange bikes, which were considered pretty exotic at the time.
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Raleigh, raleigh, raleigh, raleigh, Coventry eagle And raleigh.
cherrybomb
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There's been a couple of good shops in Shrewsbury fro as long as I can remember, Dave Mellor Cycles and Stan Jones Cycles (Now simply Stan's)
I think between them they've stocked pretty much all the mainstream brands available in the UK over the years (With the possible exception of Orange oddly). I can't remember seeing any boutique stuff though (but maybe I just wasn't looking).
I went to DM's for my first mountain bike and I seem to recall they stocked Specialized, Giant and Muddy Fox at the time. I came away with a MF Explorer. That was 1987. After that I tended towards Stan's (still do).
I think between them they've stocked pretty much all the mainstream brands available in the UK over the years (With the possible exception of Orange oddly). I can't remember seeing any boutique stuff though (but maybe I just wasn't looking).
I went to DM's for my first mountain bike and I seem to recall they stocked Specialized, Giant and Muddy Fox at the time. I came away with a MF Explorer. That was 1987. After that I tended towards Stan's (still do).
