The British and global bike industry is going through something of a rough time of late, and we’re seeing many great brands either disappear completely or fall by the wayside due to future uncertainty. Here, we look at nine (of many) classic brands that helped shape the very early days of British mountain biking, that either no longer exist or carry on in a different shape or form from their British-made glory days.
Cleland Cycles
Cleland Cycles is arguably the great, estranged pioneering granddaddy of British mountain bikes and mountain biking. From the late 1960s, way before mountain bikes existed, in his home workshop on the edge of the Chilterns, inventor, engineer, off-road motorbike rider and genius, Geoff Apps (RIP) set about creating what didn’t exist at the time – a capable true off-road bike.
He wanted to make a bike that could be ridden on serious natural terrain, and that eventually evolved into Cleland Cycles, which produced models such as the Range Rider and Aventura. These bikes were eccentric-looking, yet recognisable ancestors of what would soon become the mountain bike.
Apps was very much involved in nurturing this brand-new sport during the 1980s, but sadly Cleland stopped producing bikes due to supply issues in 1984 – just as the sport was about to take off. Although it ceased business in 1984, Geoff Apps did make the odd custom order Cleland-branded bike up until 2018.
Muddy Fox
Through a chance, tipsy meeting of Cypriot entrepreneur Ari Hadjipetrou and Scottish graphic designer Drew Lawson in an expat bar in the UAE came Muddy Fox, a brand that was to put 1980s British mountain biking firmly in the mainstream spotlight.
Neither of the pair were cyclists at the time, although they had spotted a potential gap in the UK market for something that virtually didn’t exist outside of a group of core pioneer small builders – that being selling mountain bikes.
We’ve told their story here before, and it truly is the stuff of fat-tyred fireside tales and legend. Through the very early days of the sport, Muddy Fox was very much the British mountain bike brand, and their cunning marketing, along with full-throttle passion, firmly set the sport on its way here.
Sadly, things went pear-shaped in the early 90s, and although the brand continued under different ownerships over the years, things were never quite the same again. The brand does still exist, albeit in a very small way, and is owned by Frasers Group.
Overbury’s
During the second half of the 1980s, Overbury’s bikes were the weapon of choice for serious pioneers of the art of mountain biking, and they had a huge home-grown presence on the UK race scene. Overbury frames were made in Bristol by Andy Powell, and their models included classics such as the aptly named Pioneer.
Sadly, as the major manufacturers entered the fray, Overbury’s slowly wound down the MTB frame-making side of the business, although its bike shop remained open until 2011.
Chas Roberts
Roberts Cycles in South London had been around and earned a reputation as one of the land’s best frame builders before mountain biking came around, and it made frames for many larger premium UK brands.
Chas, the son of the founder, recognised the potential in making mountain bike frames in the early-mid 80s. From the late 1980s to mid-1990s, Chas Roberts produced some of the finest MTB frames around. Even Tim Gould raced and won World Cup rounds on a Peugeot-branded Roberts frame.
Names such as White Spider and Black Leopard were amongst the premium Roberts range, although the wonderfully named D.O.G.S.B.O.L.X was the absolute standout frame.
Sadly, Roberts closed shop in 2015.
Dave Yates
North Eastern master frame builder Dave Yates was one of the most respected in the game for decades. Metalwork teacher and bike racer, Dave started making frames in his garage before becoming head builder at M. Steel Cycles.
As mountain biking came along in the early 1980s, Dave started to build them under his own name, and what things of simple beauty they were. The most iconic model he made was the Diablo, an elegant and supple frame that was amongst the very best custom bikes around in the late 80s to early 90s.
For some time Dave continued to run frame-building workshops and make occasional custom frames, and rumour has it that he still does – on occasion.
Zinn Cycles
West Midlands-made Zinn Cycles – not to be confused with the Colorado-based custom bike specialist Zinn Cycles (that is still going strong) – were something of a purist’s high-end steel dream ride in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Founded by experienced frame builder and rider Andy Thompson, Zinn frames were masterpieces (at a premium price). Zinn bikes were largely made from top-draw Reynolds tubing, all neatly fillet-brazed, and often featuring a signature Sturmey Archer gear cable roller near the seat cluster.
Zinn’s frames were ultra-light and very race-responsive, and often came guided by short-rake reactive rigid forks. As aluminium and mass-market frames took over the market, Zinn called it a day around 1993.
British Eagle
The long and storied history of British Eagle Cycles dates way back to the late 1880s, and the motorcycle and bike makers Coventry Eagle. The brand name came and went, along with Coventry Eagle, and then emerged as Falcon Cycles, with all three brand names being made and sold over the years.
In the 1980s, the brand shifted the building of its bikes to Newtown, Powys, and British Eagle saw quite a surge in prominence for a while. With classic models such as the entry to mid-level BOSS and the Summit, British Eagle soared high back in the late 80s and into the early 1990s, and they gave many a British biker their start in the sport.
Sadly, like many British brands, British Eagle couldn’t compete with the mass arrival of bikes made in the Far East. British Eagle ceased to exist in 1994, and the name is now owned by Tandem Group.
X-Lite
More likely than not, any 1990s mountain biker will know the purple anodized allure and supreme engineering of X-Lite products, which are sadly no longer with us.
The X-Lite brand was launched by motorcycle racer and designer/engineer Rex Trimnell (RIP) and his wife Marilyn in 1991. X-Lite brought us premium quality and super light bar ends, seat posts, skewers, and much more. These were the bee’s knees, and with their glorious, coloured anodising they were the bling of much desire.
Along with this, Rex brought his motorcycle experience to mountain bikes and produced the first-ever twin crown MTB fork – a rigid fork. In 1994, he also came up with a pink bike cleaning liquid called Muc-Off.
The bike parts side of X-Lite faded into what is now Muc-Off, a global brand headed by Rex’s son Alex. In 2010, bike-making entrepreneur Brant Richards briefly revived the X-Lite brand, but only for a short while.
Dawes
Dawes Cycles was founded way back in 1906 in the West Midlands, and remained family-owned right up until the late 1970s. Known primarily for its touring and road bikes, Dawes was an extremely well-known and respected brand in the UK.
Like many other brands, in the late 1970s they changed ownership, and subsequently went through several different investment and leisure holding group ownerships, and are now part of the Tandem Group – along with other classic Brit brands. Unfortunately, the kids and hybrid bikes it offers now are a far cry from those of the distant past.
Dawes started making mountain bikes around 1984, or ATBs as they were termed, including their first Ranger model.
Although the Dawes name didn’t carry the chic of the US and custom brands, from the early ’90s on they made some pretty good bikes, with their Edge hardtail (which I rode Megavalanche on) and Double Edge tandem especially being popular. They also had a pretty decent UK-based MTB race team through the ’90s, during its MTB ‘glory days’.
Have we missed any of your former favourites? Let us know in the comments, and they might make the next update
