The BEST RIDING BIKES...what's your top three of all time ?

[M-Power]

Re:

"I gotta agree with sinnerman on the component group thing. Put a good premium set of your favourite components on any mid to high end frame and its going to give you good performance (within reason obviously - there were dogs)."

100% agree and good points above. Assuming the bikes were set up properly, which would be expected from a knowledgeable bunch like RB members, it's just YOUR PERSONAL OPINION. Sure it's subjective, it always will be. Mags from bitd always did reviews of different attributes. It would be interesting to get an update from those who rate a particular bike or IDEALLY their top THREE above the rest. We can skip the scoring system

 

[velomaniac]

No two opinions will ever be the same as the bike must be the best for the rider but we are all of varying heights builds etc. But that aside here are mine and please assume they are all size large to mahoosive due to my height.

1990 Specialized Stumpjumper. Best full rigid XC bike I've ridden, sorted geometry that just wants you to pile on the speed. I could not just go for a slow pootle on that bike, big grin factor.

Trek y5, yes I know its a URT and they have their flaws. However it works best if you stay seated and its way comfy as a result yet still feels fast and light. I have 2 so I must like them.

Last one I scratch my head over as its from a brand that has seldom been the brand to own. Emmelle Dolomite circa 1987. Its geometry is sort of half way from the old slack angled stuff and the newer xc geometry such as that championed by Bridgestone. It rides very confidence inspiringly, on any surface although if I'm honest the front could be more planted on sketchy stuff but I alway feel relaxed and happy on it. The bike and I just gel, weird.

I have owned and ridden all three, the Emmelle I feel I cannot part from and for me they represent my perfect riding bikes. The numerous other mtb's I've ridden all seem to lack something no matter how good they are on paper.

 

[danson67]

Good to see some suggestions for the less boutique brands such as Emmelle being suggested.

I think many of them (such as Raleigh, British Eagle, Orbit, Claud Butler, Saracen, Peugeot, Univega etc.) produced some excellent production bikes from their workshops. In following years everything off the shelf tended to go over to sub-contract manufacture in the early 90s and their brands were trashed by building to lower end-user prices and finally bankruptcy.

All the best,

 

[M-Power]

Good to see some suggestions for the less boutique brands such as Emmelle being suggested.

I think many of them (such as Raleigh, British Eagle, Orbit, Saracen, Peugeot, Univega etc.) produced some excellent production bikes from their workshops. In following years everything off the shelf tended to go over to sub-contract manufacture in the early 90s and their brands were trashed by building to lower end-user prices and finally bankruptcy.

All the best,

It was sad seeing the race to the bottom. It was all about making everything cheaper. Halfords discounting ad campaigns on TV. People expecting a DIY build bike for £79.99 to be as well made as a flagship model. Then giving up and dragging it into their lbs for emergency surgery. I can still hear mechanics swearing and then of course the immortal customer retort. " why did it cost sooo much to fix ? It only cost me 80 quid ? " :facepalm:

Reviews on ALL the favourite models and brands that stood out would be interesting. Let's not forget that most of these Iconic bikes can be had for very sensible money now. So many amazing bike builds on BOTM, Instagram and FB but no ride reviews !!

 

[sinnerman]

Re:

Touching on Dans Bontrager comment for a moment, it has to be for me still one of the best riding bikes I had the pleasure of.

Dialled geometry, simple and strong and long lasting.

Whilst never reaching icon status, the NTI Rock Lobster ticked similar boxes, with a slight weight penalty and price adjusted accordingly, for a no frills hard working responsive enjoyable ride.

What I liked about Bontrager BITD, he didn't do catalogues, he didn't do heavy marketing, it simply sold because it was Good, at the time it really did feel like an underground movement as a dealer, a totally different customer to a Klein buyer.

 

[danson67]

the NTI Rock Lobster ticked similar boxes

Although the NTI frames were licensced and sub-contracted out to Taiwan, Paul Sadoff did make fork blades and stems for Keith B. in Santa Cruz, and bought up the remnants of the Bontrager workshop (Blog here), so I suppose something good rubbed off all both directions.

All the best,

 

[sinnerman]

the NTI Rock Lobster ticked similar boxes

Although the NTI frames were licensced and sub-contracted out to Taiwan, Paul Sadoff did make fork blades and stems for Keith B. in Santa Cruz, and bought up the remnants of the Bontrager workshop (Blog here), so I suppose something good rubbed off all both directions.

All the best,

What did the frames get called again, I forget, when he bought what was leftover...?

It does kinda demonstrate the design aspect, of the OPs question, the fit for the rider comes into play a lot.

 

[sinnerman]

Nontragers or something like...?

 

[M-Power]

the NTI Rock Lobster ticked similar boxes

Although the NTI frames were licensced and sub-contracted out to Taiwan, Paul Sadoff did make fork blades and stems for Keith B. in Santa Cruz, and bought up the remnants of the Bontrager workshop (Blog here), so I suppose something good rubbed off all both directions.

All the best,

What did the frames get called again, I forget, when he bought what was leftover...?

It does kinda demonstrate the design aspect, of the OPs question, the fit for the rider comes into play a lot.

Your last point is key and we have to assume most set ups were right for us. RB members are mostly experts on their bikes and getting things right... There are certain optimum geometry settings to make a bike perform best at some tasks like climbing or descending. Then there's optimum geometry to do all things pretty well. I saw a comment on FB from a Roberts DOGS BOLX owner who bought it second hand. It had been custom built for somebody else and he complained of 'frequency shake' and scary instability at a certain speed. :shock: Doesn't make a DB a bad bike though.

 

[Defiant]

- Nuke Proof Titanium
- Serotta Ti-Max
- Fat Chance Yo Eddy