Have you ridden off-road on a bike which would be considered less than ideal? I don’t know – maybe a BMX, a shopper, a Moulton or other small-wheeled bike, or a roadster, or even a recumbent. Perhaps, in typical Roughstuff Fellowship fashion, you’ve ridden the Cairngorm Loop on a Dawes Galaxy, and left the guys on the Orange Fives behind…

Just looking for tales of derring-do!

Chopper.

Cheeky local singletrack on a Brompton.

I’ve used my cyclocross on most of the tracks I used to ride when I started out mountain biking. Nowhere near as quick a second a mtb but still fun and most definitely more challenging!

Halfords Apollo BSO. Terrifying experience.

Perhaps, in typical Roughstuff Fellowship fashion, you’ve ridden the Cairngorm Loop on a Dawes Galaxy, and left the guys on the Orange Fives behind…

I’ve done the Torridon loop and Laggan black on a Cotic Roadrat set up as a fixie with front brake only and ridden the corrie Lair descent on my crosser. Coz I’m that hard…

Did the bombholes near Mugdock on a Brompton back end folded under in mid-air! Off-road on recumbents a lot – they’re great on fast swoopy tracks.

I rode down a set of steps on a Boris bike. They are so heavy that it wasn’t as terrifying as it might have been…

Followed my heavily pregnant sister-in-law around sections of Mabie. She was riding a Reise and Muller Birdie.

I thought this was going to be about prince alberts and hand jobs

I rode a couple of laps of the skate park in Centre Parcs in France on one of their big cow horn barred hire bikes back in the summer after a few, lot a bit of knee skin coming off the side of the half-pipe.

Hopped a coupe of roots on the same with my Daughter in the kids seat on the back. My Wife was Unimpressed!

deejayen – Member
Have you ridden off-road on a bike which would be considered less than ideal? I don’t know – maybe a BMX, a shopper, a Moulton or other small-wheeled bike, or a roadster…

Where do I start… 🙂
Folding Dahon – surprisingly not a great mtb, and was a tad uncomfortable when I did a century on it.

Another Dahon – on the ‘Puffer track, and also done the Great Glen Way on it. It’s good for a century though.

Yet another Dahon – no substitute for a fatbike 🙂

(Dahons are handy wee bikes – keep one in the boot of your car and you’ll find lots of opportunities for a ride)

1930s rod brake roadster on the ‘Puffer lap – pure terror on the descents. But really comfortable for a 120 mile day ride round Wester Ross – which is somewhat hilly.

A bit of mtb on my Giant Bowery in Oz rainforest to watch the Croc Trophy race go by. 750 feet of hike-a-bike and tree roots on skinny tyres.

The list is endless, including touring offroad in Oz on a lightweight pedigree dropbar racer with tubulars.

Seeing as you also mention Moultons – I’ve also done lots of cruel things to a F frames, but that was long ago, so no pics, but plenty dirt was involved.

Basically, it’s a case of any bike, anywhere, any time. If I fancy riding somewhere then whatever is handy gets used.

given it’s not all that clear in the pic, the same bars, tyres and passengers as in this pic:

Though FTW:

epicyclo wins.Everybody else can go home now.
.
I have ridden a lap of Lllandegla on a singlespped (wohoo big deal)….with no brakes.As in no calipers or levers,bmx stylee.Just to see if I could…and survive (which I nearly did).

Rorschach – Member
epicyclo wins.Everybody else can go home now.

Nah, anyone who rides a mtb unicycle or tandem wins. Nutters.

That’s unless there’s an ordinary (penny farthing) mtber…

[video]https://youtu.be/waOANDk_-Os[/video]

I used to have a cross bike, /thread.

20 miles on a bmx once or twice and reguly used to do 15 miles off road on it DP Firebird with Mike Buff signature z rims it was a lush bike.
It’s was less then ideal in retrospect but at the time I knew no better.

Rode my Roubaix through some wooded singletrack, it was summer and the trail was smooth and fast and mostly downhill. It was ace. My niece who was following me on her new road bike was less impressed.

It wasn’t intentional I was following what was supposed to be a national cycle route which started off as a road and got gradually less and less road like until it was literally a dirt track through the woods.

My dawes galaxy has done more chilterns singletrack than it really should have, indestructable bike and horrifyingly fast but also terrifying at the remotest hint of wet chalk.
Also first time I ever rode in bristol during freshers week my scott atacama hybrid took me mostly down the picnic bench trail in leigh woods. The rest of the trail we parted ways violently i seem to remember.

Back in the day I rode my converted 531 “racer” a lot off road roughstuff stylee
Drop bars changed to bullhorns, cyclocross knobbly tubs, lowered wide range ( for a “racer”) gearing.

Mainly doubletrack but the odd bit of single track.

My wife and I took our Bromptons along some bridleways in Norfolk – they weren’t very good at it!

rode with the ctc and rsf for quite a few years.
cutgate on a carlton corsair was one that sticks in my mind.

and rode nearly all the yorkshire dales offroad on a dawes galaxy.

My wife and I took our Bromptons along some bridleways in Norfolk – they weren’t very good at it!

You really need a fat-wheeled Brompton for that kind of thing 😀

(I’ve not tried knobblies on those wheels, but they are available in that size)

I have done a lot of off road riding on road bikes. I just used to get bored of riding on the road. And I’ve ridden bmxs and dirt jump bike off road quite a lot. It’s certainly interesting on the bmx as soon as things head downhill.

Rode to Bridgnorth from Wolves on a BMX and back. Needless to say I walked back up the Hermitage!!!

Not MTB but I’ve seen this bloke at the Ronde sportive a couple of times:

I don’t like the downhill sections on the cobbles standing up, this dude does them sitting down on wooden “tyres”

Fair play to that man!

Sometimes take my pashley speed 5 around Woburn, stick to the bridleways though!
It’s surprisingly not that bad, you are not going to go anywhere fast though, drum brakes and Sturmey-Archer gears, so not too bad in the mud.

Marin and penmachno on a fixie cx was a laugh in a mildly terrifying yet giggle uncontrollably kind of way.

I wasn’t allowed a mountain bike as a kid in the 1980s, I was given this raleigh juniour racing bike for christmas and started riding it off road.

I used to ride it round Croham Hurst woods and learnt to ride bomb holes in the old chalk pits in Lloyd Park,Croydon, although having checked on Google maps these have been filled in?

This is an epic picture which seems relevant:

^^^^^ Gulp!
I took a 20″ wheeled trials bike for a 10 mile woodsy trail ride which ended in A&E once

Tandems and “air” don’t mix.

atlaz – Member
Not MTB but I’ve seen this bloke at the Ronde sportive a couple of times:

Neat! Gives me an idea for my next SS race – it will save all the agonising over gearing. 🙂

Full moon night riding on strong Acid in 1991. That really brought the trail alive, plus endless suspension on a ridged kona explosif. Inappropriate, highly not recommended…exactly what a late teen needs as encouragement.

40 odd years ago when I was 12 I had a Raleigh Olympus road bike on which I swapped the handlebars for some wide ‘cow horns’ and used it to ride around the local slag heaps and woods of Wigan.

Does this qualify me as a MTB pioneer? 🙂

Hi,

2 years ago meet this chap going up Garburn Pass.

My full respect to him.

Cheers!
I.

Fancied a singletrack blast around the woods one evening last summer. Looked at the MTB’s which were both spanking clean, and the Planet X RC57 which was waiting a wash.

Took the RC57, lots of Strava PB’s. 😀

Too a Toys-R-Us £99 special around Llandegla. Got halfway, chain snapped and had to run / coast it back. Even over-took people on the uphills as discovered running with a bike is quicker than riding it!