Soody

I see really nice Kliens and Cannondales for sale pretty often...

Would you ride an aluminium frame from the 80s/90s?

IcySmooth52

Yes, unless it had been under obvious abuse. But this applies to all frame materials.

chaadster

Man, I'm having a hard time coming up with any more Tour de France winning brands, $4k framesets, NAHBS winners, hall of fame inductees, and cycling greats with eponymous brands to add to this list of under appreciated bikes.

Oh wait, ai've got one: Pinarello. I hardly ever see those, so they must be under appreciated.

[/sarcasm]

Stucky

I DO ride a Klein from the 90's (look to the left)- I bought it 2 years ago. It got damaged when being shipped to me- so it has a small dent in the downtube. No problemo. It is the SWEETEST bike I've ever ridden. If I had to choose between my fancy, expensive '13 Venge and the Klein, I'd take the Klein. It is truly amazing!

Are you seeing good deals on Kleins in your area? The prices I'm seeing for them online, are getting ridiculous (But still worth it, considering that even a $5K new bike has nothing on them)

With aluminum, as long as there are no cracks or no major dents/creases, they fine.

whatever84

Scott is another I don't see much of here.

Mark.

IcySmooth52

Do you have any Scott dealers around you? I think they're starting to compete with Trek & Specialized. They already outnumber Cannondale here!

whatever84

Yes. We live in Ankeny Iowa and there is a Scheels in West Des Moines that carry them. They also have Fuji. We got her a Scott contessa speedster 25 and she loves it. Very impressed with Scheels here, took there time fitting both of us on our first bikes in years.

Mark.

robncircus

I've owned all 3 of these bike. Spooky and Tsunami are both Made in in America which I think is pretty cool. I've seen 1 other Spooky in the wild in So Cal, 1 Tsunami, and I've never seen another Van Dessel.

Van Dessel Rivet:


Spooky Skeletor:


Tsunami Custom:

a77impala

Lots of people believe Trek just rebadged their bikes to make LeMonds, but Trek dropped their steel frames long before LeMond, never made a titanium Trek, only LeMond had the Spine frame. LeMonds are known to have a longer top tube than Trek.
I bought my first LeMond because everyone was riding a Trek. I just spent seven months in Austin Texas and didn't see more than a half dozen LeMonds.
I hope Greg is successful in his new line of bikes.

Pistard

How about Jamis? I own several, nice rides.

IcySmooth52

I thinks Van Dessel is very well known and respected as a brand, but of course isn't often seen because of it's price. However, for a bike of that price and component value, it's a pretty common one here!

As for the other two, funny how a made in USA brand is named after a word that's also in an Asia! What's Spooky about though? Never ever heard of them.

chaadster

Spooky, isn't that Frank the Welder's, of Yeti fame, company?

robncircus

Spooky is a northeast based company. I think they started with mountain bikes in the 90s. I knew of them as they were into the hardcore music scene at the time. I actually had a Spooky bikes east coast hardcore shirt at one time. I think the current owner only does custom now. The Skeletor is a great crit frame with steep angles. Corners like a champ at speed. They are also unique in that they use externally butted tubing and they andonize their frames. No paint here.

Interesting about Van Dessel. I've never seen another one here although I did see them back east.

Tsunami is imo the best deal in affordable custom. They are great to work with and the frames are relatively cheap considering they are custom. Mine was stolen unfortunately.

roccobike

I didn't see Bianchi on anyone's list. Granted Celeste doesn't seem to get as much respect as it did only a few short years ago.
In Europe, Nishiki still markets some nice bikes, but in the US, it's a Dick's house brand with only low end bikes.
Also, need to add Waterford.

khuon

I have always mourned the loss of respect for Nishiki. One of my most loved MTBs was my 1990 Nishiki Ariel (Cunningham designed w/full DeoreDX; poor-man's Mantis XCR). It was part of the same line as the Alien and AlienACX. In general, Nishiki was always a middle-of-the-road brand in the US but did have some standout designs back in the day. But then I guess I don't need to tell you that.

IcySmooth52

I think the celeste color still gets too much attention for what they are. They're not handling like a BMC or Look, and so what if their Italian?

Stucky

Yeah, when the most famous attribute a bike is known for, is it's color, it probably doesn't have too much else going for it.

Ridelots24

+1.

LBS has them now, great value from what i've seen so far.

IcySmooth52

I was not impressed at all with their previous Xenith I test rode for 50 miles or current Endura I owned, but have never tried their Icon or redesigned Xenith. Could be wrong now about how much appreciation they deserve.

Dudelsack 

Sandoz.

Dan333SP

Not sure if this was posted already (search doesn't like looking for 2 letter names), but BH is a brand I rarely see mentioned but they're making great bikes. The shop I ride/race with here sells them, most of my teammates are on either G6s or Ultralights. Nice looking, well-made frames and a lot of the guys that have bought them in the past year or two prefer these bikes to whatever they're coming from (usually Madones, Tarmacs, Supersixes, that sort of thing).

Stucky

Wow, I've never even heard of that brand! Sounds interesting.

SevenTwentyNine

These......

Argon 18 Nitrogen





Orbea Orca



Bergamont


CBoardman Air

Dan333SP

BH Bikes | BH Bicycles

One of the guys in our little local bike community won the collegiate TT national title on a G6 (they mandate road frames without aero bars).

qclabrat

many brands listed aren't really under appreciated, but instead uncommon

brands such as Raleigh, GT, Masi, Redline and Fuji are no longer viewed as premium marques since being acquired or branding sold off

I believe KHS, Kona, Marin, Norco and Rocky Mountain are names which were never household brands which on the higher models could compete with the bigger brands.