There are certain models of bike that we’ve heard great things about. Bikes that we’ve seen and loved the look of, or maybe you’ve had one in the past that sold on, grown out of or, God forbid, had stolen (swine!).
No matter how much you search for them they seem to have disappeared from the face of the bike retailing planet. Sometimes they have, but often they’ve been re-modelled and re-named in an effort to ‘keep things fresh and exciting’
Looking for a Specialized Stumpjumper? No problem, they’ve been in continuous production since 1981. The current 2009 range of 9 models may bear no similarities to that original single model but you know what you’re getting because of the name.
And therein lies the problem. A change of name can make a bike seemingly vanish. The list below is not exhaustive by any means but will hopefully provide a few answers to the question of the missing bikes.
Specialized:
A common search is for the ‘Rockhopper womens’ model. This changed to the ‘Myka’ series. Specialized have in recent years introduced a dedicated D4W (designs 4 women) range with their own dedicated names but they still have parallels with the gents range.
GENTS D4W EQUIVALENT
Hardrock Myka HT sport and sport disc
Rockhopper Myka HT elite and expert
FSR XC Myka FSR
Stumpjumper FSR Safire
Allez Dolce
Roubaix/Tarmac Ruby
Sirrus Vita
Also worth a mention is that the Globe range and the Expedition range have become the Vienna, San Fransisco and Carmel (formerly the Expedition), all available in both Gents and D4W models.
A lot of people are still hunting for the 2009 Specialized Pitch Pro; if that includes you then you're out of luck... Although the Pitch Comp is still available (at the time of writing) and is possibly even better value for money.
And so on to Giant:
A lot of people are searching (in vain) for the old OCR and SCR range of road bikes. Fear not, this great range of bikes didn’t vanish they simply became the Defy range; same spot on sizing and comfort, new name.
The Giant FCR is another bike range that seems to have vanished. Not a thing of it, it simply another Giant bike that's grown more than three letters. The Giant Rapid is now their speedy flat bar road bike - with the Giant Dash being the womens equivalent.
Ok, here's where it gets a little more confusing. The Giant Escape range used to be this. For 2010 the name replaced the now defunct Giant CRS range (phew, am I the only one glad they ditched the letters?), becoming the all new Giant Escape range.
Stay with us...
The NRS range was replaced with the improved Anthem range
The Faith range was replaced with the improved Glory range
The Acid/STP became the Brass models.
And so it goes on. When models vanish altogether it’s sometimes due to evolution of technology or sometimes just that it was a bad idea in the first place (in this instance we won't name names..). But more often than not they just change names to ‘keep things fresh and exciting and blah blah blah’ but often ends up confusing the poor old customer.
Rest assured that there’s a bike out there to suit you. If you cant find a particular model then feel free to get in touch with us and we’ll try to point you in the right direction. Or think about the riding it was intended for and look for the same qualities as opposed to specific names - you might be suprised at how much choice there is.
