I suppose I should stick my Dynatech experience here too.
I worked at Halfords in White City in Manchester between 90 and 93 and I discovered Mountain Biking and cycling in general there, making my way up to Cycle dept supervisor. I got well into it and started promoting things like test rides and so on, so we could sell more serious bikes as well as the usual Lizards and Mustangs (same bike, different colour)
Anyway after my first bike a Spesh Hard Rock I bought in clearance that was way too big for me, I ordered a Dynatech Sentinel, after seeing one in Foster's in Chorlton (just up the road from me now, oddly)
It came with a little toolkit and a docket with the name of the builder on it. How cool is that? What an awesome bike it was too - rigid and springy in all the right places and directions. You could feel it bouncing around beneath you (in a good way) I loved it dearly and was in the process of upgrading it : X Lite bar ends, Zoom seatpost ( I just liked the way it looked ) and a Cannondale Seat Cleat bag, when it got nicked from St Annes Square.
A couple of weeks later I was walking to work and saw a bloke riding past me on it. I gave chase but to no avail :-(
I did sell an Ogre XT sight unseen on the strength of letting someone have a go on my bike it a few months after I bought it. That was a lovely piece of kit too, and I wouldn't let anyone else set it up
The customer loved it, as well he should.
As an aside, Sale Cycles just up the road from the aforementioned Fosters was then owned by Halfords and was used as a clearance outlet (that's where my Hard Rock came from) and was clearing out a bunch of Voyagers really cheaply, but they were all 19inch frames and I really needed a 17.
I have been looking for a replacement Sentinel for some time now and MAY be on to something - I'll let you know how it goes