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  • 30 years of mountain biking
  • YoGrant
    Free Member

    Got my first MTB 30 years ago this weekend, age 11. After trying multiple sports and done BMX racing as a sprogg, it’s the only thing I’ve ever stuck at! First bike was a very shonky Raleigh Mustang, replaced by a diamond back axis 3 years later which then lasted nearly ten years until a spesh FSR, then an M2 Stumpjumper. A move to the south coast then corresponded with the start of going through multiple bikes of a retro stylee and first joining STW. I’ve been through fat chance, salsa, Klein, ventana, surly, fat bikes, full sussers, singlespeed, Singular’s and many more. The garage now has a 1990 attitude, 1990 yo Eddy!, 1988 Roberts, kona humu, Niner RLT9 and a Jones.
    All my friends ride, and they will stay friends for life. Here’s to another 30 years!

    NormalMan
    Full Member

    Congratulations! Time flies hey! It was my ’30 year mtb’ anniversary last month.

    jobro
    Free Member

    Well done Grant.
    I think you were the first person I ever saw riding single speed! I’ve still got a Roberts DB in the barn(and its ss) . 32 years for me, but then I’m quite a bit older than you whipper snappers.

    kayak23
    Full Member

    Pictures!

    YoGrant
    Free Member

    Cheers chaps! Pics from anything before the last ten years are minimal but I do need to sit down and put something together from more recent times. Even just a slideshow of bikes might be good.

    simondbarnes
    Full Member

    Only 20 years here. Would have been longer but windsurfing sucked away all of my money until then.

    badgerbater
    Free Member

    Congratulations! Only 25 years here, but then I didn’t start until I was 31! Yes here’s to another 30! Oh no, wait a minute…!

    ton
    Full Member

    31 years here on mountainbikes. 35 years riding offroad.
    love it more than ever, just dont manage to get out as much.

    started on rigid steel, still on rigid steel.

    tang
    Free Member

    Same here! I was 11 when I got my first mtb. Amazing how time flies

    gaidong
    Free Member

    27 years here, sort of. First ‘MTB’ [as was sh1te] a Prompto Equalizer for my 9th birthday in ’89. Mostly remembered for my dad shouting at me for skidding the tyres to nothingness in a couple of weeks. Several nice bikes (Boss, Muddy Fox) to ’98, then moved to London… There followed 13 years of motorbike and roadbike but I’ve been back where I belong four fun-filled years.

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    Monday 27th May, 1991, with the purchase of a behemoth of a Raleigh Dakota from Halfrauds in Cannock.
    Followed by a Kona, GT Timberline, GT Zaskar, Rock Lobster, Giant NRS, SWorks Enduro, Pace 303, Ventana El-Ciclon, Inbred (26″), Inbred Summer Season, Inbred (29″), another Ventana El-Ciclon, & the two I have now, a Five & my ever present Niner SIR.9. I’ve not counted the BMX, road bikes(s) & the favourite of them all, the Kina Ute cargo bike.
    It’s been quite a journey. I’ve had plenty of periods where I’ve not ridden at all, but bikes, especially the single speed ones, have always picked me up when I’m down.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    I feel Young. A paltry 24 years this September just gone – first student grant went partly on second hand Raleigh MTB to get to uni and around hills……

    mountainman
    Full Member

    Way back in 1986 an early ridgeback bought from our local shop DJCYCLES (Derick helis) good recommendation it was too.
    Lasted me 4 years till i sold it when cash was tight(young family)
    Year later picked up a 2nd hand ridge back again via relative,that moved to WALES with us -mountains n moors of ceridigion became my back yard.Also used it for a 17 mile each way commute in n out of Aberystwyth.
    Sold that after 5 years as moved onto first full suss a Saracen (bright orange),but truefully found that heavy.
    Then picked up a Marin bolias ridge with modified forks ,that was fantastic,kept me going till 2012 ,when i moved to ireland n left it at previous work to use between shifts (as working back in wales for a while).
    Now have Carrera Fury not fantastic but good enough.
    So 30 years of fun

    superfli
    Free Member

    Giant Sierra with Mountain LX groupset, featuring the all new Hyperglide cassette! That would have been 1988, so 28 years ago for me.

    maxb
    Free Member

    27 years here since my first (1989 Muddy Fox Courier Comp) ‘official’ MTB but I’m kind of celebrating 40 years off off-road riding this year as ’76 is the first year I can really remember building my first ‘tracker’ and riding every day in Epping Forest.

    BTW I highly recommend this truly fantastic current topic on Retrobike ‘trackers’ – worth a read for the oldies like me who don’t believe ‘mountain biking’ (or ‘offroad biking’) was ‘invented’ in the US!:

    http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=334891

    pennine
    Free Member

    Only 24 years here so just 6 more to go to reach 30. By then I’ll be 75 I hope I make it! 🙂

    DrT
    Free Member

    Next year is the 35th anniversary of my first off road bike related trip to a&e. Ruptured my spleen messing about on some dirt jumps. My jumping skills still haven’t improved, in spite of numerous more trips to a&e in the intervening years.

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    Congratulations!
    25 years of MTB’s, 42 years on two wheels here.

    I pretty much ride the same type of stuff now as I did back then, but just slower and with more cake stops.

    Only ever had steel hardtails.
    Freeride, enduro, all mountain, ultra light XC are all trends I’ve steadfastly ignored.

    The thing that has increased my enjoyment of cycling the most is having a partner that enjoys cycling too.
    She bought a new AWOL yesterday, just off for a blast.
    🙂

    hamishthecat
    Full Member

    24 years MTBing this summer – ’92 Marin Palisades Trail bought from Behind Bars in Abingdon. Should have bought the red Kona with Suntour though, but couldn’t afford it.

    LD
    Free Member

    Hmmm, must be around 30 years since I started, sadly I can’t remember specific dates.

    Can’t even remember the name of my first bike but it was a Raleigh Hi-ten steel, 15spd. Heavy but fun.

    Then moved onto a Giant coldrock like this one – Linky which I upgraded with a Girvin Flexstem. Did WHW, 1/2 of Nevis, Ben Lomond and many other highland adventures. Lasted until my student days where I spent too much time on the water to bike much and it was then stolen from outside the flat 🙁

    Next got a Kenesis Maxlight with a RS Judy built up by Ric when he was at Mabie. Great bike and many more fun adventures exploring the joys of front sus. Even made it down Nevis range DH when it first opened (really could have done with a clutch mech for that one!). Still going strong as a hack/shuttle bike with an ancient pair of Psylo’s, which continue to work.

    2004 and invested in a HL 5-spot which was a wonderful bike for doing a bit of everything all over Scotland. Sadly put it to sleep last summer, to be woken up when my son grows into it.

    Replaced with a Burner 650B which is just as good an all round bike and continues to put a smile on my face. 😀

    kcal
    Full Member

    how can you tell which weekend?! blimey!

    I got my first MTB in – I reckon – 1986 as well..
    Yellow Rockhopper.

    It’s still going strong somewhere near Peebles.

    Likewise, the mates I had then still bike and we still go for jaunts out. Magic!

    maxlite
    Free Member

    Congratulations! Just done the calculations and I’m on my 30th this year!

    Raleigh Maverick, Araya rims, Suntour gears and slack as hell:)

    Yetiman
    Free Member

    Congratulations! Just done the calculations and I’m on my 30th this year!

    Raleigh Maverick, Araya rims, Suntour gears and slack as hell:)

    31 years later this month and it was a Raleigh Maverick for me too

    singlespeedstu
    Full Member

    Grant.
    Would you say “those shorts” were a high or low point of your 30 years? 😛
    Be great to see pics of some of your old bikes. Seems back then I was more interested in riding than pic taking and as a result have no record of some of my earl stuff.
    It must be brilliant to still own some stuff from that era.
    First bike was a DB Ascent with plastic Exage brakes. £300 second hand. **** me it took me months to save up to buy that.

    Kojaklollipop
    Free Member

    23 years proper mtbing, first had a go about 1988 on my brothers Raleigh Mustang, awful. Used to ride my old Raleigh Chipper round the local woods back in the 70s, so riding about 45 years.

    First proper mtb was fully ridged, rode that everywhere and for everything, still ride the same routes, can’t imagine how I did it back then, youth and fitness I suppose. I feel beat up after a ride on my full sus these days … All bloomin good fun though!

    YoGrant
    Free Member

    Stu, those shorts were ace!! Like a reverse mullet, business at the back and party at the front!

    I only remember the weekend as it was a month after starting secondary school and my
    Mum bought it for me as she’d just split from my dad. It was basic bribery to make up for being a ****!

    All I did back then was ride with my two mates and paw the latest copies of Bicycle Action!

    richiethesilverfish
    Free Member

    A solid 27 years for me.
    Interestingly my parents cleared out their attic last week so I now have my collection of MBI/MBR magazines dating back from 1992.
    There is some real gold when you read back through those beauties.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    2005 for me really – 11 years. I had a bike before that but it was only occasionally used for getting into some Highland glens before dumping it and climbing the mountains.

    qwerty
    Free Member

    I think it’s 26 years of MTB ing for me. Never owned a road bike, I have previously dipped into CX though. My first was a 21″ British Eagle with 500LX, my current bikes a 15.5″ frame!!! I wish they’d remake the AXO Pony, I loved mine, I’m sure they could sell a modern version to the EndurO crowd.

    singlespeedstu
    Full Member

    AXO Pony

    Got a purple and green pair in the garage.
    Size 10 if you want to buy them. 😉

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    The first MTB I saw was a Muddy Fox in a shop window in Oldham.
    I used to ride up from Manchester just to stand outside and look at it.
    Never had the nerve or cash to go in.
    🙂

    A few years later Gary bought a heart stoppingly beautiful splatter paint GT Tequesta, and let us all have a go…

    DiscJockey
    Free Member

    28 years for me.

    Dad and I hired out some Offroad MTBs to help reach a remote munroe in 1987 (when I was 13). That got me hooked.

    Bought a Dawes Jackal in 1988. It had round chainrings; I was convinced I needed BioPace, so talked my parents into getting me a Kona Explosif in 1989. First race was the next year.

    Qwerty – still got my AXOs….brilliant shoes, very well made.

    el_boufador
    Full Member

    26 yrs for me, giant hurricane. Was a good bike!

    Northwind
    Full Member

    At a guess, 28 years since I got my Raleigh Marauder Index. Don’t forget those last 3 letters, they important, it had SIS on one side!1!! Totally shit but we had some great crashes together.

    bigrich
    Full Member

    1989, pink Raleigh mustang age 10

    So that’s what, many years?

    tomaso
    Free Member

    No proper mountain bike until 1990 but always off-load on singlespeed old fashioned steel rimmed hacks. Kid down the road had a Raleigh Bomber that I thought was the dogs bollocks. In the mid-eighteenth we took a Grifèr frame and a Puch moped front end and went down hill fast off the top of the Downs. It weighed about 45lbs but suspension was amazing.

    smiththemainman
    Free Member

    1984 Madison Ridgeback, mail order , first ride parked at Rydal Hall and went over Jenkins Crag not a clue where I was going!! Happy days!! Couldn’t ride it round town as everyone stopped to ask what it was!!

    peelywally
    Free Member

    30 years. Started out on a Freespirit Meteor 10 with bullhorn bars that I bugged my Mum and Dad about until they bought it for my Christmas in 1986. £99 special from B&Q. Quickly moved onto a Trek 850 after riding the Freespirit into the ground 🙂

    jimplops
    Full Member

    It’ll be 30years for me next year, been a lot of fun along the way, and met some great folks too.

    NZCol
    Full Member

    I was thinking exactly this while riding on Monday night – my first MTB was 1988 – Kona Explosif, so 30 years in 2018. Might buy a new one then !

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