Funny and interesting thread.
Unicorns for me are exclusive or hard to find for whatever reason.. commonly cash now or limited numbers / rarity which brings it back to cash..
I would describe my increasing fleet as unicorns to a teenage me, I had no more chance of securing an Orange clockwork or Kona like some people I knew did, ( rich parents ) than the one beautiful older woman that used to appear at one of our regular spots and ride it all like it wasnt there, ( on I think a Parkpre )!!
I was riding falcons and raleigh mavericks and such built near enough from scratch in my early teens, three bikes becomes one.. literally.
I did pretty well riding those things, and did things I only ever saw people on very expensive bikes do other than me!
Point being they were unicorns then. I know own most of them, I am not into them for a huge amount of money, most of them.. mostly £2-350 bracket. I love having them, I ride them , when built, not nearly enough but I do they don't just hang pointlessly in a garage.
( My oldest love does in all fairness live in my work office.. but is ridden )
I like the idea of fat chance, dekerf, roberts etc.. but doubt I will ever succumb for various reasons, but mainly they wouldnt do anything current bikes dont already do.
I have a spread of mostly rigid steel hardtails, but size, set up, weight and ride vary, one has panniers, a couple are very layed back, one is very head down nineties with a crazy long stem.. you get the picture.
My unicorn until recently was a Kona steel frame from the canti era in 20", I have 19" framed Kileuea and Explosif.. and i love them but I am 43 now, and a little bigger , a little more relaxed was my desire. I have hoarded sensible but quality deore lx and curve parts for it, durable but nice kit that works, but not silly money.. I will paint it, and I will add a singlespeed ( my first ) with cruiser bars to my fleet for another niche to be explored.
I have enjoyed this thread today because I can see it means different things to different people but that others have not let finding something seemingly impossible turn into disapointment or debt.
If its meant t be it will happen, my 20" Orange clockwork fell into my lap locally, I could not be happier with it, its more than I imagined, a superb bike. Wrong paint scheme, hence two more purchased since.. but the first one was massive bargain.
My Kona Lava dome 20" took a cheeky message to a guy looking for swaps, on here, I explained what I would want it for but had nothing to swap as he put up... we agreed I was happy to pay him enough he could easily find what he wanted to swap for, he agreed to post it, he made my day and we had a deal. It was a unicorn to me as ive not been able to find one for sensible money in years of looking.. I was not about to pay stupid money on ebay.. I was patient and its happening and I am excited.
The last of the bikes of my mates will forever be a uniccorn and I can live with that but buy if it ever appears at a realistic cost.. that was a purple with paw prints Muddy fox pathfinder. I think its comparitively heavy and less nimble than Orange and Kona rides others had, but thats just a tiny piece of nostalgic collecting..