Here's some more examples of innovation.
The black bike is an MB2, probably '90. A GREAT bike. I rode this a lot up until last year. The Achilles heel was the U brake. Whichever genius invented that should be sentenced to use them for the rest of their lives. Powerful, yes, but heavy and prone to fill with mud. Constant maintenance. Great geometry on that frame, though.
The white bike is a Nishiki Alien. This bike probably did as much as anything to help kick off the lets-give-anything-a-try revolution that happened throughout the '90's. The elevated chainstays are an attempt at eliminating the dreaded chainsuck, a problem known only to the editors at Mountain Bike Action magazine, as far as I can tell.
The wheelbase is a little short on this bike, but the frame's in good shape. Worthless to anyone but me, I guess. Old mtn bikes just don't seem to have much value.
Check out the stem-mounted urethane suspension. Cottage industries cropped up every day. I'm going to restore this bike with some good parts including these like-new Manitou shocks - these use urethane tubes of various hardness to soak up bumps. The fact that they're like new should tell you how well they worked.
(This bike was converted to a townie for an old girlfriend who rarely rode it)
