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Solomon commissioned a custom X in team colors for the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in 90 or 91, which made the cover of Ski Trade News. This same bike surfaced in 2004 and is now part of Jeff Archer's collection at First Flight Bikes (below).
Below: 1991 MBA test of the X - they were pretty happy with it.
The Grove-X was the frame that got the most press, being a bit radical for the time. This is from the 1992 Mountain Bike Action Calendar.
As recently as this 2001 poll suggests, the Grove-X still had a cult following, ranking 3rd in Top 5 classics.
This X showed up on ebay in 2006, in Woodward, PA. This is one of the early, and rare, versions of the X that had internal cable routing. Note the braze-ons in front of the head tube. Cables entered the frame and exited in the noodle visible under the bottle cages. The rear der. cable exits the seat stay at the dropout. It was a bit of a PITA to string the cables, but looked clean. In the era of friction shifters, it worked well, but wouldn't have worked with those new-fangled and finicky index shifters.
This 1991 purple, 19 inch Grove-X was originally built for Kurt Merrill, who sold it to me in 2004
For those who haven't seen an X in real life, this gives a sense of the work involved in 'swedging' the main tube. The only section of tube left 'round' was an inch or so in the very middle. It has a very fluid, liquid appearance.
Stan Smith has this small (15in) X set up BMX style.
Chad Rockey grew up racing bikes and has known Bill Grove his whole life. He has lots of Grove toys - this X belongs to his wife, Marcie. Bill made that cool wall-mount repair stand also.
Jeff Roush picked up this teal X in 2004 at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome swap meet in Trexlertown PA. It was built in 1994, one of the last original X's before the Xtreme was introduced. Jeff writes: I was very lucky to find this at a local swap meet a few weeks ago. It features the Hot Rod cranks, Hammerhead bar/stem combo and painted-to-match Mag 21.
Andy McCray in the UK sent a picture of his X in Screaming Warning Orange - just like the X featured in MBA. He writes: These bikes are like rocking horse poo! I’ve never seen another over here and the only others I’ve seen are pictures on the internet – why is that? Were only a few made or do people tend to keep hold of them? I'd say the answer is a little of both. We've since traced this bike to its original owner, Sean Phillips, former State College local boy who raced BMX in the late 1970s and knew Bill Grove from the Titron days. Sean was working in the UK and saw the test in MBA. He ordered one just like it through The Bicycle Shop in Pennsylvania, and had it shipped it to the UK. Sean later sold it to Andy.
I'll let the owner of this green and black X speak for himself: Glad to see you keeping the Grove legacy alive! Attached is a photo of my '93 or '94 X (bought it new from the Bicycle Shop in State College in the Spring of '94). Take care, Chris Marenghi
Another one-off paint job was this All-American red-white-blue stars and stripes X frame for Randy Moore, former owner of the Bicycle Shop in State College. This picture was e-mailed from a former Bike Shop employee, Ron, who raced it at the Coburn race in 1992. It has a set of the prototype Deerheads on it - notice the odd handlebar configuration.
Steve in Los Angeles, CA sent me a pic of his X with HED rims. Steve says: I race this bike almost exclusively, from local NORBA events to 24 hr races. Its agile, nimble, stiff, compliant; I can toss it around like a hackeysack. It is also one of the best trail bikes out there.
Sky from San Diego sent these pics of his X purchased at the 2004 Denver Velo Swap Meet, in near perfect condition. The stem isn't fully inserted in these pictures.
The Grove-X cow bike
Just picked up on your excellent Grove sight. Very cool that you are in the position to have the knowledge and the time to keep a great part of bicycle history alive. I had a shop in Southern Vermont years ago (Cross Country Bicycle Shop) that was one of the first to cater specifically to mtn. bikes. Of course I got into Grove bikes for the works of wonders that they were and sold a few of them. Our team name was "Team Holstein" and the good folks down there (at Grove) obliged to paint it up in the team colors, white with black splots and pink cranks. The smaller photos are from a scan of some slides that I had taken at a friends studio when I first built the bike in 1991? - Bob Poor
Some Glow-in-the-dark Xs going thru decal/paint. The way this paint seperated on the surface, like oil and water, no two paint jobs were the same. You can find this built bike (below) on the paint rack (above) in the middle, 5th from the left. Look at the shape of the two big splotches by the head tube- like a fingerprint. It hadn't been decalled yet. There is a good chance I decalled and shipped these.
This glow-in-the-dark X is in Germany, and is pictured prior to decals in the previous image. I'm not sure whats going on with the steering tube/stem set-up, I suspect they didn't want to cut down the fork so they stacked it.
Howdy fellow Grove owner, I bought this beauty back in '93 from The Bike Shop in State College, PA for around $1500.00 mostly as is, except for the cranks (Specialized Strong Arm), had Shimano LX and I killed them when I was bicycle messaging in Manhattan. Feel free to post the pics on purple liz. Thanks for keeping the Grove lovers entertained. Eric D.
Matt's original X (below):
From Matt in North Carolina, who still rides his Groves on occasion (he also has a Grove suspension bike) when he isn't jumping out of airplanes in a wingsuit: I came across your website after Googling "Grove Innovations" ... and saw you mentioned dropping you a line if I had any Grove info. I googled Grove to see if I could find some parts to get it trail worthy again. I found the website of First Flight Bikes and just ordered a pair of new-in-the-box Ritchey Logic levers for cantilever brakes and a 1" threaded WTB headset. Hard to believe they still have those parts ! Time to make the X-Frame a full rigid bike ! I got a set of XT 8-speed shifter pods and will use the wheelset from my full-suspension bike on the X .... I can't wait until next weekend when I have time to put all the "new" 15-year old parts on my X and ride it again.
Matt's rebuilt X (above)
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