That's one hell of a collection, all immaculately presented with some or the finest parts you could buy back in the early 90's. Then he goes and builds them all with black spokes ffs. They might look better than silver but black spokes first appeared on the 1st gen Mavic Crossmax in 97, then DT and Sapim offered them in black and wheel builders everywhere started using them. Maybe I've spent too many hours over on Retrobike but black spokes on an early 90's MTB are just wrong in my eyes.
Rant over, allow me to whore a picture of my old Merlin again -
I bought the frame about five years ago after searching for a few years for one in my size. I had a 93 Merlin Mountain a few years before but sold it for some reason, so almost immediately started looking for an XLM made before 97 when the company was taken over. This one is from early 96 and was initially built from the parts I had on my Raleigh Torus at the time, so Pace forks, Hope ti/Mavic wheels, Middleburn cranks and XTR M950. I mixed it up a bit with 1st gen Crossmax wheels, Rockshox SID's and Raceface Turbines, but that unused canti hanger was bugging me... Then I was perusing RB one day and spotted an old Diamond Back in showroom spec with a full XTR M900 groupset and bought it for the parts. The purple rims were removed from the XTR hubs and replaced with nos Campag Stheno rims, Syncros Revolution Cranks and rings were sourced along with a set of Rockshox Judy FSX with Englund air cartridges for that mid-90's lottery winner build. The vast majority of my miles are covered on this bike as it's just so versatile, and I love the fact I can chain it up outside a shop and if scrotes come along they'll probably go for the £500 Boardman parked next to it first.
The Mrs also rides retro on the few occasions she goes out each year -
When we first met I bought her a cheap GT and then over the years it got upgraded with my hand-me-downs. It got to the stage where the only original parts left were the frame and saddle plus she'd complain about discomfort on the trails, so I bought her this early Santa Cruz Heckler frame and swapped the parts over. The spec is arguably better than my Merlin with XTR M950 etc and it's just a shame it's too small for me to ride, so I'm keeping an eye out for a mid to late 90's Turner in 16" which I can use with the 100mm stem then swap the saddle and fit a shorter stem for the Mrs. That's been the plan for a couple of years now but the right frame is proving elusive...