The unicorn bike paradox

[enigma]

Nice thread!

For me unicorns are the bikes you enjoying riding the most. They don't have to be necessarily linked to what you lusted back in the day.

I am sure it happened to many of us, you lust for a specific bike only to get it and after riding it, be hugely disappointed from it (whether because of size, bike specs, not the right geometry, etc.).

I think it also helps if you are curious about a technology a bike has that you believe sets it apart from the rest (for me these have been Slingshots among others). Or you might enjoy riding a bike from the era just bc your favorite athlete was on it.

I believe eventually, I will end up keeping two or three bikes that I like and enjoy riding the most as I don't like to keep accumulating stuff that I can't properly use (last famous words... ).

True words in another way of looking at Unicorn bikes, whilst still learning what would work for me in my teens, I worked and saved a whole year to order a new Marin Bear valley se when I was 16. Good bike, very capable I now realise a bit too comfy and neutral for what I was like at the time.. But truly a dream come true initially..
( which is why I have my dads old Bear valley now with panniers and a flexstem for practical duties.. now I am older and boring..?!)
I also made the biggest mistake ever and swapped it after a year for a Cannondale v with headshox... looked amazing but what a total load of shite.. nothing but bother, and way too harsh so I swapped the frame for a Gt avalanche, which was fast etc more nimble but still a little harsh.
Then I bought a second hand kona kileaua for a commuter on skinny tyre's and that was me done with aluminium bikes for years, I found my perfect bike by accident almost, and I fell out of love with the Gt very quickly.

Until I got a whyte prst..! I now have my unicorn whyte, my third and last as its highday's and holidays only a mint prst 4 , thats the weird and iconic unicorn satisfied.. so it changes all the time I guess, I don't have the local friends and people you saw at the jumps spots etc but I still have peer comfort zone pushing me along, showing off many things I then desire by coming here!

 

[minor_LEGEND]

I think it's the vast sum of money required to buy The Unicorn for me. It's not that I can't afford it but I'm frightened it wouldn't live up to expectations or even the guilt of perhaps riding NOS parts the first time. When I began to search for old mtb's on ebay 15-20 years ago, they were surprisingly cheap & not as appreciated as they have seemingly become. So I can't bring myself to pay double what they were worth.

Ultimately I am fully aware these bikes for me aren't for full-time riding.

 

[Tootyred]

Ive realised that "keeping" bikes for (nostalgic, financial, best, riding at some mystical future point, when its perfect conditions, when in fitter, warmer, colder...you choose)......is somewhat self defeating as surely at that point all you have is the joy / guilt of ownership.

Plus, despite all the wear/ damage i might do, If I don't ride them now whilst I can, I sadly doubt I will be riding them in 10 years....then what? I sell them for the same money? Hardly seems a worthwhile hobby or proposition at that point!

Take it off the wall and use it for what it was built for....if it breaks..sad...but at least it died doing what it it loved!

And yes, that goes for my unicorn too....ride it and enjoy it.....why the hell not!

 

[widowmaker]

Ive realised that "keeping" bikes for (nostalgic, financial, best, riding at some mystical future point, when its perfect conditions, when in fitter, warmer, colder...you choose)......is somewhat self defeating as surely at that point all you have is the joy / guilt of ownership.

Plus, despite all the wear/ damage i might do, If I don't ride then now whilst I can, I sadly doubt I will be riding them in 10 years....then what? I sell them for the same money? Hardly seems a worthwhile hobby or proposition at that point!

Take it off the wall and use it for what it was built for....if it breaks..sad...but at least it died doing what it it loved!

And yes, that goes for my unicorn too....ride it and enjoy it.....why the hell not!

Spot on

 

[enigma]

Ive realised that "keeping" bikes for (nostalgic, financial, best, riding at some mystical future point, when its perfect conditions, when in fitter, warmer, colder...you choose)......is somewhat self defeating as surely at that point all you have is the joy / guilt of ownership.

Plus, despite all the wear/ damage i might do, If I don't ride them now whilst I can, I sadly doubt I will be riding them in 10 years....then what? I sell them for the same money? Hardly seems a worthwhile hobby or proposition at that point!

Take it off the wall and use it for what it was built for....if it breaks..sad...but at least it died doing what it it loved!

And yes, that goes for my unicorn too....ride it and enjoy it.....why the hell not!

I ride everything in one piece

 

[benjabbi]

When I first started with retro bikes, very quickly my unicorn became a 94 Explosif. Reason being, like many of us I suppose, it was the bike I first lusted over when young and couldn't afford. It took years for one to appear in 16" but I eventually found one about 6 years ago. I built it up in several different ways over the years, from relatively basic rider to full on bling and back. For the last couple of years it has been a display stand for an M900 group, sat upstairs gathering dust, I've ridden it twice in that time I think. Mainly just to say I have.
It's taken a few months to talk myself into it but today I listed the frame and fork on Ebay. I have a Kilauea that I ride all the time for my Kona fix and it's finally sunk in that I ought to sell it on to someone who'll use it.
In this case for me the Unicorn eventually became just another bike.

 

[JCS]

1. What stops you owning your dream/ unicorn bike?

- Lack of supply. My unicorns are 89-91 Yeti, 91-93 Hei Hei, DOGS BOLX, 90-93 Brodie.

2. What makes a unicorn for you?

- All bikes that I wanted, but were way out of my price range, when I first got into mountain biking.

3. And why don't you have it?

- Not seen any for sale/in my size. Perhaps lack of time is another factor; maybe if I did a load of internet sleuthing I could find one. Haven’t got time for that - would rather be out riding.

 

[hawkhill97]

Here's my unicorn - a 2008 Marin Quake.

It felt like an unobtainable bike for me not (just) because of the cost, or the comparative rarity of the gold paint job models, but also because I never thought I'd be capable of riding the sort of trails the bike is intended for.

Got one last year (involved a long drive but totally worth it)

I've since ridden a fair few features that I never would have thought I'd have the cojones for, which makes it feel pretty special.

Just seeing it in the garage and giving it the occasional polish makes me very happy.

 

[ultrazenith]

I used to know what my unicorn bikes were, but over the years I've realised I have a great (but small) collection of 90s MTBs and frames, plus a nice neo-retro 29er, and what I've really been searching for is a combination of the high of the rides we used to do in the mid 90s, and the bikes I'd drool over in our local Raleigh dealer that were always out of reach price-wise.

When I got back into MTB-ing and found retrobike, I had a list of unobtainium bikes I thought I needed, including Merlin Titanium, Klein, Fat Chance, but I've let those dreams go and I'm now more interested in one or two specific frames that may or may not come up in my size, or in decent condition, again. These would be a Dynatech Torus, and a 1992 or 1993 Dynatech Diablo or Ogre.

 

[Spanky22b]

Unicorn bikes
Like a few have said it can be because they're ingrained in your mind from bitd or in my case just couldn't afford them.
For me the 1988 Marin Pine Mountain i still clearly remember dreaming of owning one after seeing it in Denton Cycles for the first time,Tange Prestige/Shimano Deore,couldn't afford it.
Next was the 1989 Kona Explosif, splatter paint and Tange Prestige again in Denton Cycles and still couldn't afford it.
Next up was Dave Yates' creations the Vulcan prototype and the donkisnob, i was lucky enough to see them in M. Steels when they were in and you guessed it, definately couldn't afford those.
Then we get to Steve Peat riding his Kona Explosif and that was it for me i dreamed of owning that bike or at least a 93 Explosif, off to Dentons again to see the Explosif and nope definately can't afford one of those but there was a silver lining and i got a 93 Lavadome instead and could just try and ride like Steve Peat , still own that bike today.
Fast forward many many years and through Retrobike and good old fleabay i'm in a lucky position to now own all those bikes bar the Donkisnob.
The icing on the cake was last year and finally finding and now owning Steve Peats 93 championship winning race bike, the bike what made me obsessed about the 93 Explosif that was a dream come true for me.
Apart from the Donkisnob there's only really JMC's Hardistys race bike which i know the whereabouts of and Steve Peats 94 Hei Hei race bike (can't see him ever selling that lol) and Peatys Verlicchi (Kona) full suspension race bike, apparently it's out there but can i find, nooope lol