Always admired Manitou' aluminum creations. Sold one new (full suspension) back in the day early 90's after Fisher went under (for the record they were being force fed crap from Taiwan since Gary had to sell out). Manitou was VERY light for the time. Cycled by Doug Bradbury' (I think?) Manitou workshop in CO circa late 80's. I was at the OTC for road racing then. Always regretted not stopping in but was freezing cold coming down the mountain that day from about 9k up. After breaking my Cyclo-X bike while there met Keith Bontrager (introduced by one Mr. Eddy B of Olympic coaching fame). He brazed me back up. Ten years later I'm making sure his stuff works and fits on high production level bikes. Got to ride with a few of the biggest names in world while there. Unforgettable.

Wasn't directly exposed (in a shop setting) to Turner but he's bit of a legend as well. Those are big name races. Longest ATB/MTB race I did was Revenge of the Siskiyous in Ashland, OR at 50 miles. Serious ride, very fast with mega climbs. So steep many pushed (hence "revenge"). I did fairly well against the big boy pro's beating some notables as a kid/junior. Even at a Nationals in Idaho. I was sorta sponsored by.....Peugeot. Yeah. It was against the odds as Peugeot was losing it's tail in the market. The bike was a well made tank. Descended awesome due to slack angles, a low BB- could drift it at high speeds descending while clipping pedals like a roadie in a crit next to ravines with teeth. Hoohaa! Another good one up in Wisco is the Sequamegon 40 (sp?). Oldest race in the nation? Huge, like 1600 en-mass start. Greg Lemond won it once, maybe it was Lance Armstrong- both were Trekkies in the 90's. Greg was into entry level Formula racing. He was pretty good - saw him race once.

Seems we're the only pedal bikers here Dave. Couldn't possibly be?

RS6 Avant, now you're talking. Push the loud pedal and go. Maybe we'll hear about it.

Maybe I can keep this VAG V10 diesel long enough to mate it to a C6 V10 RS6 Avant someday...I'll be equally satisfied.