Collection Contents

[youngsspeed]

I have been reading some posts, and it got me thinking, dangerous I know.

What do you people prefer for your collection?

Do you like a specific brand or style and only collect that?
Do you collect anything as long as it is the top shelf example?
Do your bikes have to perfect as they came originally?
Do you prefer the restomod style?
Do your builds have to use parts available only within a small age range?

Me personally, I collect ONLY Mountain Cycle products. And to elaborate a little further, I do not consider the later Kinesis built models true Mountain Cycles. All of mine are original SLO built, except my Shockwave 9.5.

I come from the vintage/custom car world so I really like the restomod style.

I always try to keep the parts used in my builds to within 2-3 years of the frame year.

I am curious hear what you others have as preferences.

Later

 

[W7Ford]

I try to stick to Kona's from 1999/2000 but I have drifted a little either way with the age. The graphics/colour scheme are very important to me.
I try to get frames/parts that are in decent condition but they don't have to be mint.

They definitely don't have to be original in spec. My component choices are typically from that period to as late as 2010, I'm not too fussy, it just has to feel right to me. I worked in a sort of 'bike' shop for a while as a student so I'm a bit influenced by later parts than frames. The frame choices are firmly set in my teenage years, and what I liked in my LBS.

Mine are all very much what I like and consider to be the best brands, that doesnt always equal what others would agree with.

 

[Titiritero]

I don't collect, bikes or anything else. But I admit I have a soft spot for early steel Treks. My very first mtb was a '92 Trek 950, so this is a totally biased taste. I have also noticed in others, if they have a dear bike from a certain brand, they tend to get more of them.

I think it was in this forum that I read of a guy that had some early '90s Scott mtb and he then collected the same model in all years that was available. A fun challenge like any other...

 

[Cloverleaf]

For me it's mostly my old bikes; I'm not a collector as such, more an 'I shouldn't have sold that (or broken that)-or'. The only two exceptions to that philosophy are my Trek 950 which is my long distance going-into-the-mountains bike, and built up around the era of the bikes I rode in the same terrain as a kid, and my Intense Tazer HT which is a frame I longed for when seeing Kovarik riding them in WC 4x. Back then I had no real need for one and so couldn't justify (or afford) one on top of my DH and XC bikes, but now with the advent of nearby pump tracks it seemed like the ideal Twofer; I get a bike for the pump track, and if you're going to do that you may as well go retro for something you wanted previously. For me a big part of it is trying to capture the essence of an era where everything seemed bright and exciting, and life was simple. Nowadays bikes have lost that shine for me as I've tested hundreds of them, owned dozens more and had access to basically anything bike related that I could want. They're merely tools, and that's a shame as I know that many of these bikes I consider tools are the bikes for people getting into it today that the likes of a GT LTS or Cannondale Raven were for me 25 or 30 years ago.

When I have been building stuff up I've been endeavouring to keep it reasonably close to how I had the bike originally, but without spending a fortune. With the two misfits I've built them up based on either appropriate spares from the boxes, or parts I similarly liked at the time that fitted. Nothing should be too prescriptive as it kills all the fun IMO. This is but one hobby, and they're all bloody expensive!