Is there a car manufacturer that has made a decent MTB?

[juice]

I'd say the answer to the original question is: No.
And here is the greates mistake of them all.
Pininfarina.

:shock: :shock: :evil: How can a company that has turned out some of the finest looking motors the world has ever seen put their name to that!!!

All i know is that this bike got sold through Esso gas stations. They had some kind of bonous points program. The price was 157€.
I found a website of a guy who did an alp cross with this thing. :shock:
http://vier-zeitreisen.de/pinin/esso-rad.htm
It's all written in german but to sum it up this guy says that you should leave this kind of school children bike to your kids and buy something that works.
I have no idea why Pininfarina allowed Esso to put their name on this BSO. :?:

 

[Senri]

I'd say the answer to the original question is: No.
And here is the greates mistake of them all.
Pininfarina.

:shock: :shock: :evil: How can a company that has turned out some of the finest looking motors the world has ever seen put their name to that!!!

Well, Pininfarina is of course only a design studio and not a car manufacturer. It has designed/lent its name to many products including the window handles in my parents-in-law toilet (in Italy)!!! They are around for a long time, also in less known areas, but I have to admit that sometimes the decision to put there name on something seems more driven by money then style....

BTW: they also put there name on this Hyundai:

 

[Charlieboy28]

well i saw this the other week in Greenwich, it actually made me go over and ogle it, looked like a quality item ,then i noticed the Daewoo badge stamped into the back, I know Fagin mentioned one earlier in the thread, and i have found Daewoo Genuis's which have a similar frame construction, but i think this bike was a bit different, it looked beautifully made, sleek elegant etc, and inspired me to find somethign similar

anyways the sexy (IMO) daewoo

 

[thel33ter]

well i saw this the other week in Greenwich, it actually made me go over and ogle it, looked like a quality item ,then i noticed the Daewoo badge stamped into the back, I know Fagin mentioned one earlier in the thread, and i have found Daewoo Genuis's which have a similar frame construction, but i think this bike was a bit different, it looked beautifully made, sleek elegant etc, and inspired me to find somethign similar

anyways the sexy (IMO) daewoo

Not too bad looking IMO.

 

[terryhfs]

Peugeot and Raleigh both started as bike companies that ended up making cars. Raleigh made a petrol van thing and when they stopped wanting to make it Reliant was set up to take over manufacture.

 

[thel33ter]

Land Rover Moulton APB.

Landrover make some semi decent modern mtb's. Top end one had a scandium/aluminium alloy frame like Kona use.

Hummer also made a folding bike, and the porsche mtb's were, umm, interesting and pretty light if not all that that good. BMW's Enduro full
susser got surprisingly good reviews. Similar sus design to Specializeds of the time.

 

[racer x]

Mercedes Benz had Amp make some nice bikes for them

 

[Kestonian]

Yes, it's an AMP re-badge.

But it's awesome. 24lbs of carbon, alu, disk braked, full suspension, late 1990s goodness

More details here -> http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=67518&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

 

[racer x]

Some one told me that them AMPs with Mercedes on was selling in the mid 90s for 2000 plus £400 more than the AMP named bikes?

 

[jax13]

not sure about the seat tube arrangement on that merc but I really like the forks in a ugly as sin kind of way.

anything that is that over-engineered must have generated a daft pricetag!