>>2021849This is where the off road tourer came into its own, makers like Roberts in the UK, who were all at the forefront of driving ATB technological advancement during the late 80s and early 90s, used the best MTB racing tubing in some of their more sedate product lines.
Roberts made the Rough Stuff, a bike that goes back to the 1970s inspired by the Rough Stuff Fellowship, the worlds first off road cycling club, and as the tubing improved this bike improved. Granted, it's a relatively niche product from a now defunct custom frame builder, however, these bikes do surface fairly regularly and for a fraction of a far inferior new bike.
There was an explosion of small boutique builders churning out off road bikes that weren't MTBs using the best light tubing fillet brazed. Names to look out for are Roberts, Overburys, Jack Taylor, Paul Donahue, Dave Lloyd, Ellis Briggs, Dave Quinn, Dave Hinde, Orbit, Sonic, Zinn, FW Evans, Nigel Dean - there are more. All these builderss made their names building custom MTBs for the top riders, but also used the same skills and materials on tourers and other less performance focused machines long after the 90s ended.
Sorry for the British-centric response, but I'm British and mad about British made steel bikes.
