Foes

Foes Fabrication started back in 1993 I think. They started with a monocoque swingarm full suspension frame. And Foes pushed the envelope of rear wheel travel, with the 6 inch travel Weasel at a time when the Rock Shox Judy DH with 3 inches was considered a downhill fork.


Zig Zag - I sure hope this slalom-specific frame rips the rider down the hill fast, because you wouldn't want the crowd noticing that this is one of the ugliest bikes ever.

FXC - Foes' answer to the Intense Tracer, and all the other XC oriented, longish travel bikes. And you don't see too many bikes set up this nice - RaceFace cranks and stem, Marzocchi fork - very nice.



LTS - I'm pretty sure Foes had the name "LTS" before GT, but I don't really know. Now that forks have caught up with long travel frame, anybody with one of these has a pretty decent DH bike. No disc tabs though...



DHS - The S stands for "Slammer." It looks very complicated to me, but I guess that's what you have to do to get the center of gravity down on a long travel bike. Consider the Rocky Mountain RM-9, which has the same wheel travel.


LTS - Another example of someone trying to keep an old FS frame going with a new fork. It might work, but this frame was designed back when 3 inches was as long as forks got...

Fluid

I think Fluid is from Oregon. That's all I know.


Hardtail - I don't really like to post pics of bikes that I don't know anything about, but this is such a great picture and a great bike, I can't resist. The owner has great taste in suspension too.

Fisher pt. 2

Sugar - This is the (supposedly) revolutionary Sugar. You may not know this, but this bike saved your life. It saved you from the tyranny of the "Freeride" bike, circa 1998.

Short travel, not too active (the racers wouldn't have it any other way), and light-weight. It's exactly the bike you've been waiting for. Or already have, if you ride a Specialized FSR XC...

** TeamCow Joke Bike **

Joshua - The only good thing I see here are the pedals. Pretty sad really.

How do you get this heap up a hill anyway?

** TeamCow Joke Bike **

Joshua - Dude - check out that Buffy poster!

Sweet!

Supercaliber - This is another of the Trek OCLV framed Fishers. It's a good thing that they finally got Fisher their own identity, because this was like the Cadillac Cimarron of mountain bikes.


HKII - Only the second old Fisher I've ever seen sold on the internet. Either guys that own old Fishers never sell them, or they just hand them down. Or maybe they've never heard of Ebay...

Fisher

Gary Fisher quite often gets credit for inventing mountain bikes. Which probably isn't true. But I'm not about to get into that - because I really don't care. Anyway, Gary made some of the best-handling bikes of the early 90's. Then around 1994, He was bought up by Trek. I'm not sure if they still have the same reputation because they've been so ugly I wouldn't be caught dead riding one. They are getting better though. [edit] Now Gary seems to get the credit for inventing 29ers. Which also probably isn't true, but whatever.


Advance - How much do people like their Fishers? Well this is the only pre-Trek bike I've ever seen for sale on MTBR or eBay, so I'd say a lot. I used to own this very same bike, and it was really good for a $600 bike.

** TeamCow Joke Bike **

Supercaliber - Being an oldtimer - when I hear the name Supercaliber, I think huge, double-butted aluminum tubes, team colors (yellow, orange, and black), and lightweight SunTour components.

What I don't think of - is a Trek OCLV.

I miss the good old days. This bike just looks wrong. [edit] The TeamCow jokebike is a bike so ... wrong, that it begs to be cut up by me.

Supercaliber - The '01 Supercal is a major improvement. The colors are back, as is the frame material. And while the graphics are way better, I believe there's still a way to go.

Procaliber - I think this bike was from just before Trek took over. It's Funny that a guy as bizarre as Gary is with his personal appearance, would have such unobtrusive graphics on one of his bikes.

Fat City Cycles pt. 2

Fat Chance - I love those old skool bikes... This 1988 model Fat seems to be totally stock. I guess Fat wins the "Bike Most Likely to Never be Upgraded" award.


Buck Shaver - There's a lot of cool things on this bike : Marzocchi Atom Bomb, old-skool SunTour Micro-Drive cranks (they invented compact cranks by the way), Syncros Ti seatpost, carbon barends, twisted-spoke wheels, and of course, that paint job.

Fat Chance - I'm not sure which model this is - but it is ultra-retro. Chainstay brakes, Rock Shox Judy DH forks, cantilever brakes, and old style Cook Bros. parts. Pretty nice bike...

Fat Chance - another cool, old Fat Chance. This one notable for the Scott AT-3 handlebars that were all the rage for about 12 minutes in 1992. I have a friend that cut them off and made a good commuter bike with them - about all they're good for I'd say.

Fat City Cycles

Fat City Cycles are the quintessential east coast bike. They've been around in one form or another since 1986, or earlier, and still make some pretty decent steel bikes.


Yo Eddy - Totally a race bike - SID, long, flat stem, flat bar - all for racin'.


Yo Eddy - Another bike with an inverted Halson PDS fork - what are the odds? Take note of the Avid Arch Supremes on this bike - TeamCow's favorite rim brakes.


Yo Eddy - Another serious XC bike with an upside down Kore stem. Gotta keep that front end down. Get down! You know, I've always wondered who Eddy was...


Wicked Fat Chance - This bike is really nice. An all original Wicked Fat, with SunTour stuff, Manitou forks, and a Salsa stem. And check out that frame; is there anybody who makes a frame with a top tube parallel to the ground anymore?

Hats off for maintaining this old beauty...

Ellsworth pt. 2

Truth - The Truth is Ellsworth's XC style bike. This one has a lot of nice stuff on it; Race Face seatpost, Next cranks, and I like the flat black finish on that WB fork.


Truth - This Truth is built for racing. A SID, Avid Arch Supremes, and flat bars with bar ends.


Absolute Truth - This was a special version of the Truth - hence the name. It looks like a pretty kick-ass XC bike - good fork, good cranks, and a cool color. Still those awful graphics though...


Id - This is the new trail/freeride bike for Ellsworth. Long travel, but light weight. This one has cool parts on it, looks like a winner.

Ellsworth

Tony Ellsworth's bikes are revered in the hardcore community. And I mean hardcore in the sense of spending $3300 for just a frame. Now they might not look like much in these pictures, but I can tell you that up close, these are very impressive bikes. [edit] There's a saying that goes; light, strong, cheap; pick two. Ellsworth only picked one - and it wasn't strong. I'm not saying their bikes are made from golf clubs, but they're not Banshees...


Dare - The highly regarded Ellsworth Dare. This one built up with a Hanebrink Z-6 and Hope DH discs. This frame probably works really well, but it's ugly. The rear section on this bike just looks goofy, and those graphics - seriously - are Ellsworth's corporate headquarters in East L.A.?


Dare - I like the theme here - black. And the skull is a nice touch. Those DHers are such a happy bunch. Seriously though, doesn't that Manitou look cool?


Dare - Well, I guess people buy the Boxxer because it's light. Which doesn't make all that much sense in the downhill world given how heavy everything else is. And why does that shock have that long extension on it? More importantly, why does this Dare have a Truth rear end on it? Maybe it's an older model...


Specialist - You are so not cool nowadays if you don't have a freeride/dirt jumping/'hucking' bike in your lineup. Something with a beefy frame, Marzocchi fork, and a general BMX look.

Ellison

Ellison was one of those little guys from 1993. Or maybe sooner. Out of Texas I believe.


FS - So-called 'new' designs like the Sugar/Fuel/Adept get a lot of hype, but like most things bicycle, it's already been done. This Ellison dates back to the early 90's. It looks a lot like the latest crop of XC-style full suspension bikes.


HT - [edit] This image was in the Ellison folder but I never wrote a description for it. It looks like it has a bent seatpost? Anyway, elevated chainstays seemed cool to me, but it's a dead idea nowadays.

Dirt Works

Dirt Works makes some pretty decent looking FS bikes. I think they started out with just DH bikes, but now they have something to cover everybody's needs. Which is good.


Termite - Is that a 24" wheel on the back? The angle is a little odd, it almost looks like a 24 on the front too. Looks really weird...