Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 84 total)
  • Do you remember your first?
  • CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    Another nostalgia thread…
    What was your first MTB (Why is it called MTB?)
    What was the first MTB you remember seeing? That which awakened your desire?
    (this might just be for the old folks)

    Andyhilton
    Free Member

    1988 Emmelle Dolomite. Went up Rivi for the first time on it with my Dad and Uncle. My Dad had a matching dolomite and my uncle had a yellow stumpjumper

    grim168
    Free Member

    My mate bought a muddy fox courier comp which sparked me into buying a saracen limited edition back in the late eighties. It had a 23" frame bearing in mind my road bike was 25". My orange crush is 19" in comparisson.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    My first was a Dawes Jackal although a 23.5" frame so I "could grow into it" was perhaps not the best choice! I think my parents thought I was going to be 8'!!!!

    One of the first bikes I really hankered after was the Fisher CR7. Until then, everything seemed to be prestige and XT. The CR7 was something different.

    tron
    Free Member

    Apollo full sus thing. First "proper" MTB and actually used for MTBing was a Giant.

    IHN
    Full Member

    A 1995 Marin Hawk Hill. I still have it (well, the frame and forks built into a super bodge SS).

    Muddy Fox Courier Comp, probably about 1989. A couple of the posh/spoilt kids at school had them. Oh, and someone had a Tushingham.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    First: (26", borrowed off Dad) Raleigh Maverick

    Had a 22" MBK and 24" Diamondback before that.

    Then a Saracen Rufftrax (weighed 40+lb, horrible geometry, but lasted a good couple of years before the cassette was beyond the ninja throwing star phase)

    Then a carrera fury (well built, good spec, crap geometry)

    Then a DMR switchback (arguably a proper mountainbike)

    Then a 456, my first sideways step in MTB, untill now everythings been a huge leap forewards, this was just a change.

    Had a few flings allong the way, full sus, carbon, but they've all been sold in under a couple of months.

    Aidan
    Free Member

    The first one I rode for what could be recognised at mountain biking was a "Concept Arrow".

    Basically rubbish, and lasted less than 10 rides before I was hooked on the sport and frustrated by the failures (bent wheels, bent seatpost, wobbly BB, seized forks, rubbish brakes, seized gear shifters). So I went and bought a Specialized Rockhopper which was fantastic.

    Oddly enough, I just wrote a blog post about my first MTB ride on that original piece of junk.

    mangoridebike
    Full Member

    A Schwinn woodlands (lived in the US at the time) bit of a gate of a thing but it did have massive risers on it and was great for blatting about in the woods. I was 11 I think.

    donsimon
    Free Member

    GT Avalanche I bought in about 1998/9. I just thought it looked great, I was getting measured up for a road bike at the time and I saw it. I walked out with two bikes. 😆
    Road bike was retired after a big off split the head tube and the GT retired a month ago due to a small crack in the top tube head tube join.

    montylikesbeer
    Full Member

    First proper MTB was a diamond back sorrento that I got in 1992'sh and I carted around the Outer Hebrides on it.

    My GF at the time got a rockhopper !

    First MTB a saw was a muddy fox courier as they had a shop in London off Tottenham Court Road somewhere I think.

    finbar
    Free Member

    Raleigh Even More Extreme was my first mtb, aged about 8. I hated it for years because my parents did the trick of buying it much too big for me so "i'd grow into it". My 16" wheel bmx was much more fun, i could bunny hop that thing like a beast.

    Mounty_73
    Full Member

    Had a Claud Butler & Holdsworth back in the day….

    Then….which I consider to my first real MTB……a Kona Lavadome, of which had plenty of time in my local forest, by this time I was totally hooked on mountain biking 🙂

    I think I saw a specialized bike out on the trails, recently gave in bought my first full susser……….love it even more now!!

    Whos_Daddy
    Free Member

    First proper MTB was a diamond back sorrento that I got in 1992'sh

    Monty – Was it black & high viz yellow? if so, that was mine too, in fact its still in the garage!! 😆

    joolsburger
    Free Member

    Mine was a Marin it had the Luminous forks and stem and that grey teflon style paint would have been around 88. Had a muddy fox before that, was a huge gate of a thing and didn't go off road but that Marin was the fiorst bike that got me into the woods. I think it was a Palisades trail.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    Well it wasn't a mountain bike, but a £100 canti-braked Apollo hybrid I bought in the early 90's. I started riding a few bridleways from time to time which was nice. Then did The Gap route on it (I walked the couple of awkward sections) which rattled it to bits somewhat. Then one day I hit a local bridleway at speed and got thrown off, chipping a tooth and spraining a wrist. It made me realise that I really ought to be riding a mountain bike!

    donsimon
    Free Member

    Now I think about it, my first "mountain bike" was a bike I had in the 70s with the drop bars replaced with some huge cow horns and hammered around the local park. 😆

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    Ah now, the cowhorns! Still, not a mountain bike but good memory!

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    A Raleigh Mustang. £180's worth of 15-geared purple splattered steel rimmed 36lb loveliness. 'Upgraded' it with some alloy Mavic Argent rims (saved 4LBS of weight!!) and Exage Country indexed gears. 'Off-roaded' up Hampstead Heath, where it was a sheer joy to be able to ride a bike somewhere other than a road. Gave me the buzz for mountain biking.

    (Not mine)

    Big-Dave
    Free Member

    My first was a Raleigh Maverick. It was a collection of metallic turd brown tubing shaped roughly like a bike. It had five gears, cow horn bars and had tyres that punctured every time you rode on anything apart from dry tarmac. I got it when I was about 11-12 and it was so awful it put me off cycling.

    It was only a bright red Dawes Ultra road bike that got me back on two wheels. That must have been in the early ninties when all mountain bikes looked like garish scaffolding factory explosions. Used to quite like the look of Marins as they were relatively understated.

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    Don Simon +1

    Was my dads BSA tourer 3 speed, CX style tyres and cow horns, snapped 2 stems using that in about 1979 🙂

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    A friend gave me his MBK in about '88, horrid multicoloured green yellow and whatever. He brought it back from France so at least it was authentic!

    donsimon
    Free Member

    Ah now, the cowhorns! Still, not a mountain bike but good memory!

    I couldn't find a mountain bike in the 70s.

    Pioneers we were, rOcKeTdOg and me!!! 😉

    maxray
    Free Member

    In hindsight I was ahead of my time…

    My mate had a Peugot Alpina 15speed mtb but alas my parents in their wisdom thought a racer would be better so used to use my 10 speed peugot racer with the "gnarliest" rubber I could find. Rode most of what is in the end2end route on it though 😀

    My fist "proper" mtb was an 18spd Shogun with toe clips n everything.. must have been about 90-91 i guess … deary me.

    maxray
    Free Member

    damm double post!

    DezB
    Free Member

    Borrowed my Dad's Al Carter. Weighed a ton. So borrowed a mate's de-badged (probably nicked) thing and put some decent shifters on it. Then borrowed another mate's Cannondale. The 'Dale was slightly better!
    My first own was the Principia I've posted up a few times, in 1995. It has been resurrected as a singlespeed and is fab!

    First I rode was a black Muddy Fox borrowed from a friend of a friend for a day out. That's when I knew I had to have one… eventually.

    montylikesbeer
    Full Member

    nah Whos_Daddy it was a weird dark blue purple colour with speckles in it as well.

    Rode like a dog, but I loved it.

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    If we'd done it on Mt Tamalpas we'd be millionaires now Simon…..you can be Gary fisher though

    donsimon
    Free Member

    In your dreams, tiger! 😉

    I'd rather have the memories than the money.
    Is Gary Fisher really, really happy.

    etc, etc. 😥

    StefMcDef
    Free Member

    First mountain bike I ever rode was a "Townsend Rambler" in yellow with green decals, that my dad bought for himself and hardly ever used. Went on holiday on it, did a tour of youth hostels in Co Wicklow in Ireland with my mate when I was about 18 and had just discovered Guinness.

    First mountain bike I ever bought was a Specialized Hardrock Sport in black with purple decals, that I put slicks on and used for commuting in London.

    Then I upgraded to a Marin San Rafael for the commuting, which is STILL my going to the shops/pub/touring bike. I no longer commute cos I work from home.

    My first "proper" mountain bike that I actually went mountain-biking on was a Trek Fuel 80.

    midlifecrashes
    Full Member

    1979 I took my brother's old Raleigh Flyer racer, 5 speed 24×1 3/8 tyres, swapped drops for cowhorns. The road block got swapped for a 14-32 touring block with a Suntour VX long cage derailleur to cope with it. Rode it up from Middlesbrough through Eston Hills and out through Gt Broughton to the Moors. Also the jumps at the back of the golf course near Saltersgill. Happy days. Then I had a growth spurt, grew out of it and into bands and girls. By the time I'd got to college mountain biking had come to my attention. When we had a clearout of my dad's garage it was pretty sorry for itself, but I kept the VX (it had cost me four weeks paper round money) and it hangs on my workshop wall to this day.

    I then went on to road and touring bikes as transport.

    First mountain bike I saw must have been a Muddy Fox, in a Nottingham shop. First mountain bike I bought, Carrera Mission from Halfords. Bit of a gate, but OK. It got nicked and replaced with a Diamondback Ascent, which was ace, but fully rigid. First mtb I REALLY REALLY WANTED was the black and silver Marin Rift Zone of 97, just looked completely beyond anything that had gone before. I had a windfall and went into the shop clutching my chequebook but was in middle of a period of back spasms and just couldn't make it comfy. Canny salesman directed me to the slacker B17 instead and I rode it for a decade. Now very happy with HL 5 Spot

    Jeez, I've been doing this a while now, you might expect me to be a bit better at it!

    shortcut
    Full Member

    Mine was a Specialized Stumpjumper Pro – back in 1991 or 2 with Suntour XC Pro kit which was awful. Bought in the end of season sale from Evans in Woking. It was a real gate and pretty horrible. Then I got a 21" Orange Prestige which was quite nice and later a Kona Explosif which was brilliant.

    First I saw & rode was a Raleigh Maverick 15 speed. Great fun.

    I bought the first issue of MBUK and I was hooked on the concept to too skint to buy one.

    Frankenstein
    Free Member

    Can't remember but it was 1988-89 Dawes with reynolds 500 steel and quality thumb trigger buttons LX something I think.

    Handled so well.

    Didn't buy as it was a 12yrs old Birthday present from Maw and Paw 😀

    StumpyBlurRider
    Free Member

    1990 chas roberts

    piha
    Free Member

    Mine was a Rayleigh Mirage in deep purple ('87 I think) and was a bit of a gate but it done the job though. Not a clue how much it weighed but it had a stand on it! Would go riding round Swinley Forest and would hardly see another bike.
    First MTB I saw would have to be a Muddy Fox, like so many others.

    schmiken
    Full Member

    My first 'mountain bike' was an Emmelle Puma, but the first 'proper' mountain bike was a 1999 Saracen N-Zyme. Still sees service as a friend's brother's bike.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    87 Tufftrax

    mcmoonter will win with a 85 stumpy?

    Tracey
    Full Member

    1987 Marin Bear Valley

    locomotive
    Full Member

    a luminous Green/Yellow ex-hire MBK bought in Chamonix. Mix of Cro-Mo and Hi Tensile frame tubes. Exage and 500LX(?) Groupset. Massive Balloon tyres one of which was filled with a sausage shaped innertube – something Id not seen before, or indeed since.

    I rode it into a tree. Bent the forks so far the legs kinked and buckled the frame behind headtube, long walk home.

    Replaced it with a 92 Clockwork frame and transferred the remaining totally knackered parts and rode it with them till they literally fell apart.

    bravohotel9er
    Free Member

    1) A 'Yeti' (No, don't get excited!) by a German supermarket brand called Alex. I thought this was really cool because I'm called Alex too.

    2) Marin Palisades.

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