The unicorn bike paradox

[al]

I was very lucky that by the mid 90's, (when I think the very best bikes were being created) I was in the fortunate position to be able to buy any bike I wanted. This funnily enough made most bikes less desirable!
As I grew older and still with a very understanding missus and the means to indulge my hobby/obsession, I bought bikes that I enjoyed riding, the cost never really came into it.

Then came my ill health in the mid 2000's, namely lower back problems.
This turn of events led me away from bikes as just things to ride and commute on. Bikes then strangely became objects of desire, although not the same kind of machines as before. My real passion is for real unicorns, the cul-de-sac of technologies, the rare, offbeat, wonderful and down right strange.
This part of my biking life throws up a unicorn on a regular-ish basis, and is a hobby of discovery, as I unearth bikes that for one reason or another have been lost to time and changing in design ideas, technologies, materials and fashions.

My unicorn is out there, I just don't know what it is, yet!

al.

 

[Tootyred]

Im glad to hear there are so many conflicting reasons....fantastic.

I think it just shows we are all screwed up about the past and our place in it.....just it ooozes out in slightly differing ways.

Keep chasing those unicorns, even if the do seem to be getting further away....one day you may just catch up.

 

[M-Power]

Great thread. Lots of different reasons for desiring and chasing iconic retrobikes it seems. With the fashion for all things retro and gravel bikes, I think our old classics have plenty of life left in them. Just hope my spares can last.

 

[Tootyred]

Just hope my spares can last

Oh no! Don't start a "spare part" panic buying frenzy!

Or will SPAS* be the new syndrome we all overwhelm the beleagured NHS mental health services with.



* Spare Part Anxiously Syndrome ( current treatment is being placed in a room full of cushions and back copies of mbuk, surrounded by piles of late 80s components and 26" amberwall tyres).

 

[pw_pw_la]

That sounds more like a symptom than the treatment mate!

 

[shedobits]

I always like the higher end bikes from the big producers such as Kona, Specialized, Marin and Cannondale and have been lucky enough to find most on here, (always looking though).
By the standards of this site a 2009 Orange Five is a bit modern but it is my true unicorn ride in that it took so many years to find in the right size / colour / condition. In answer to the question "If you could only have one bike for the rest of your life" this would be it for me? Luckily, I don't have to make that choice.
I think I might be OCD SPAS though.

 

[jonboy]

My unicorn would be my '92 Roberts White Spider Pro that I sold in 1996. I worked and saved hard as a kid to have that made for me. It was every bit as good to ride as I hoped it would. I can clearly remember bringing the frame home on the train from Croydon and building it up in my bedroom. In hindsight I have no idea why i failed to see in the long term I would deeply regret parting with it.

It was a metallic ice blue when I sold it. If I see one for sale I hope as a I click that it might be mine. I hope i'd still recognise her, even with new paint, as there were a few non-standard tweaks to the design that I specified. I still know know a few of the numbers... 18" c-c seat tube. 74 deg seat angle, 72 degree head angle. 16.75 chain stays. The top-tube escapes me - maybe 23.25? Forward facing seat clamp. Oh the beauty of those smooth fillets.

I hope she remembers the good times as fondly as I do.....

 

[widowmaker]

Any pictures of the White Spider jonboy ? Here is mine. Sadly not used very much

 

[M-Power]

Dont settle for the bike you can live with, settle for the bike you can’t live without.

Still got my favourite after 32yrs, purchased during the long hot summer of Rave, now with a few upgrades.

 

[reanimation]

I Joined here about 13 years ago. My first impulse was to look for a 1990 Pink Muddy Fox. Seeker Mega. Nothing special a 500LX bike at best. Still haven't found it. I've almost got a frame but not quite right. I'm less bothered now but if anyone has one at a sensible price...
Equally I'm after replacing my 1990 shaped Orange Prestige too. I got mine from Orange's new old stock in 1992. A replacement would never be the same but doesn't stop it being a Unicorn for me. It'd only need an LX build too. Thats it really I'd like some posher stuff from the era some time in the future but really that's it!