Rubbish brands that made a good bike?

[dirttorpedo]

Norco was considered a fairly meh brand when I was a kid / young adult, but in the early 90's they made bikes like the Rampage and TNT that were quite good. I bought a Rampage once (too small). It was made with Prestige tubing and a dream to ride.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Norco was considered a fairly meh brand when I was a kid / young adult, but in the early 90's they made bikes like the Rampage and TNT

Norco is still bringing the goods. They just had a hard period in the later 90s while they struggled to find their place during a big boom.

 

[ATBOY]

Didn't Sunn make some nice stuff when they started?

LOL sunn in this topic. Not to be rude.

 

[zetecmk2]

i found a frame in a 2nd hand shop in east london, asked on here if anybody knew what it was. super light steel, with the wisdom of this site, we found out it was a decathlon.....as in the shyte high street store. 531 tubing. lovely flexy frame with orange pearl paint. wish i kept it now!

 

[dirttorpedo]

Norco is still bringing the goods. They just had a hard period in the later 90s while they struggled to find their place during a big boom.
View attachment 707824

I'm thinking 70's and 80's Norco - the era of the Bush Pilot ATB. In the 90's and 2000's Norco was pretty dialed in as a mountain bike company - at least on the Shore. Their VP series bikes and Kona's Stinky's were everywhere on Seymour and Fromme.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I'm thinking 70's and 80's Norco

I dunno, I guess we'll have to disagree on 80s Norco, I think a Sasquatch would be killer

 

[ATBOY]

i found a frame in a 2nd hand shop in east london, asked on here if anybody knew what it was. super light steel, with the wisdom of this site, we found out it was a decathlon.....as in the shyte high street store. 531 tubing. lovely flexy frame with orange pearl paint. wish i kept it now!

They sold quite nice frames in the 90’s. It’s got quite a following in france. Probably the most popular 90’s bike in france if I think about it. Would need to be in a reverse thread though; something like « Used to be good and became rubbish »

 

[Vesatoro]

The Finnish brand Tunturi made some decent bikes that were even competed in DH world cup in the mid to late 90's (Katja Repo 3. in womens 1997 DH world championships). The best bikes were Tunturi Supremes and Equillars (steel, plasma arc welded in Finland) and Tunturi Dominators (alu frame made probably in Taiwan).

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/tunturi-progression-3-0-1999-team-dh-bike.434084/
The brand was mainly known for normal good quality commuting and kids bikes, but also made some good road bikes. They were once made in Finland. Now everything comes from far east of course.

 

[dirttorpedo]

I dunno, I guess we'll have to disagree on 80s Norco, I think a Sasquatch would be killer View attachment 708285

Ya, lots of people got introduced to mountain biking on a Bush Pilot or a Sasquatch, and I'm sure they were competent bikes. But it wasn't what you drooled over. I live a few km from Norco HQ, and I never even test rode one in the 80's and didn't buy a Norco mountain bike until 97 and that was only because I couldn't afford a Rocky or a Kona.