Old School Bike Companies

[tekknics12]

Anyone know of some cool old school bike component companies that were popular in the 80's and 90's?..

Remember "Kooka" Components and their anodized brake levers, chainrings, cranks? They were a phenomenon in the mid 90's.....Yes..they're functionality wasn't the best but they had a huge following and every person on the mountain had those things!...

Can you guys think of any other companies that had a short stint of glory?

[guero]

Odyssey comes to mind.

[slowSSer]

hmm. trimble, fat chance, cook bros, real Ibis, real (?) swobo, halson racing design (awesome overly anodized inverted fork- i finally had the cash for one and they went out of business), IRD (also made suspension stuff), manitou frames....

also, there was a early FS design w/ "CT" as the logo- they made the cover shoot of MTB Action doing power slides down mustard.

olde school bike shops: Bike Beet in fullerton.

as for the kooka stuff mentioned above, I still have two sets of brake levers, a rasta seatpost, square taper cranks w/ a red ano 50t big ring.

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by guero

Odyssey comes to mind.

Um...they're still around and very popular in the BMX scene.

More like Cook Brothers, Suntour, Campagnolo (well, their mtb stuff is pretty much dead), or Pulstar (hubs - I just found a shop that has a NOS set)

Give me a few minutes, and I'll come up with some more. I worked in a bike shop in the early to mid 80s. I hated those one piece bar/stems. Those things sucked!

[Rascal]

Hmm, you referring to component manufacturers for mountain bikes or BMX too?

I recall Onza (still run their pedals) for MB, and CW, Landing Gear... and ... wow, my memory sucks.

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by slowSSer

hmm. trimble, fat chance, cook bros, real Ibis, real (?) swobo, halson racing design (awesome overly anodized inverted fork- i finally had the cash for one and they went out of business), IRD (also made suspension stuff), manitou frames....

also, there was a early FS design w/ "CT" as the logo- they made the cover shoot of MTB Action doing power slides down mustard.

olde school bike shops: Bike Beet in fullerton.

Bike Beet old? I worked at Sunny Hills Cycle on Euclid in Fullerton. I don't think Bike Beet existed back then.

IRD is still around - they're popular in the cyclocross crowd.

How about those crappy Hanebrink or ZZYXX forks? (sorry, I don't remember how to spell that damn name)

[Fired Yo Momma]

For BMX how about Peragrin mag wheels

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by Rascal

Hmm, you referring to component manufacturers for mountain bikes or BMX too?

I recall Onza (still run their pedals) for MB, and CW, Landing Gear... and ... wow, my memory sucks.

As far as I know, CW was only BMX, not mtb related. Landing Gear was just a name of the forks from SE Racing, who is still around (under new ownership).

Old-school BMX is entirely a different subject - we could go on and on about that, or simply review some of the OS BMX websites.

http://os-bmx.com/
http://vintagebmx.com/

[DeeZee]

Originally Posted by slowSSer

hmm. trimble, fat chance, cook bros, real Ibis, real (?) swobo, halson racing design (awesome overly anodized inverted fork- i finally had the cash for one and they went out of business), IRD (also made suspension stuff), manitou frames....

also, there was a early FS design w/ "CT" as the logo- they made the cover shoot of MTB Action doing power slides down mustard.

olde school bike shops: Bike Beet in fullerton.

as for the kooka stuff mentioned above, I still have two sets of brake levers, a rasta seatpost, square taper cranks w/ a red ano 50t big ring.

I rode a few times with the owner Jack W. back in the day. Also visited his shop. Cranks were lookers but brittle


ps. AMP comes to mind and a guy that used to work there and then started building frames in his Laguna Beach garage Dave Turn...somthing or other

Oh one more Merlin Ti frames. Wish I still had mine.

[slowSSer]

you're spelling is correct on zzyzx. hanebrink had as much diameter on its lowers as a fosters can.

sunny hills was around before.

anyone remember two wheel transit?

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Bike Beet old? I worked at Sunny Hills Cycle on Euclid in Fullerton. I don't think Bike Beet existed back then.

IRD is still around - they're popular in the cyclocross crowd.

How about those crappy Hanebrink or ZZYXX forks? (sorry, I don't remember how to spell that damn name)

Originally Posted by DeeZee

I rode a few times with the owner Jack W. back in the day. Also visited his shop. Cranks were lookers but brittle


ps. AMP comes to mind and a guy that used to work there and then started building frames in his Laguna Beach garage Dave Turn...somthing or other

Oh one more Merlin Ti frames. Wish I still had mine.

so, why do i occasionaly see an amp van around? what's the company doing now?

edit: oh hell- they went from bikes to this? http://www.amp-research.com/

fock. looks like the same logo.

while we're at it, what about when GT was just over on barranca and red hill?

[allroy71]

Mantis Cycles, Dia Compe, Hutch, ?Skyway Tuff Wheels. I still have an old AMP Frame with ProForx on it.

[slowSSer]

Originally Posted by allroy71

Mantis Cycles, Dia Compe, Hutch, ?Skyway Tuff Wheels. I still have an old AMP Frame with ProForx on it.

nice pull on mantis

anyone remember macaw bike tires?

[HUGH]

Grafton! King of the purple.. TnT parts as well.

HUGH

[slowSSer]

Originally Posted by HUGH

Grafton! King of the purple.. TnT parts as well.

HUGH

ooh- caramba and their "double barrel" cranks.

no one has mentioned nuke proof yet OR original Ringle stems and hubs. odd.

[Evil Chocula]

Anyone remember Proflex?

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by Evil Chocula

Anyone remember Proflex?

Ah yes, the infamous Proflex Animal - there's a reason they use "flex" in the name.

But Proflex turned into K2 and is now Iron Horse...

How about Oakley grips?

[Fired Yo Momma]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Ah yes, the infamous Proflex Animal - there's a reason they use "flex" in the name.

But Proflex turned into K2 and is now Iron Horse...

How about Oakley grips?

wow I did not know Oakley had their own grips? How about ODI Mushroom Grips?

[Evil Chocula]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Ah yes, the infamous Proflex Animal - there's a reason they use "flex" in the name.

But Proflex turned into K2 and is now Iron Horse...

How about Oakley grips?

Proflex had that parrellogram(sp?) fork right? I often wonder why that design isn't the norm today, seems like it works for rear suspension, and would eliminate all flex.

[slowSSer]

Originally Posted by Fired Yo Momma

wow I did not know Oakley had their own grips? How about ODI Mushroom Grips?

oakley started with grips.

ODI mushrooms were the shiz-nit. their downside was their gumminess- they seemed to get "eroded" pretty quick.

[COLEKO]

Originally Posted by slowSSer

hmm. trimble, fat chance, cook bros, real Ibis, real (?) swobo, halson racing design (awesome overly anodized inverted fork- i finally had the cash for one and they went out of business), IRD (also made suspension stuff), manitou frames....

also, there was a early FS design w/ "CT" as the logo- they made the cover shoot of MTB Action doing power slides down mustard.

olde school bike shops: Bike Beet in fullerton.

as for the kooka stuff mentioned above, I still have two sets of brake levers, a rasta seatpost, square taper cranks w/ a red ano 50t big ring.

I thought Swobo came back?
Anyone remember Auburn Bikes?