Kit…………..the very same mate.

Dekerf Team SL

Probably the first Colnago I ever rode in the seventies, today everything seems good.
As for mountainbikes, it would have been the Sugar Team with Black Ops V’s and those cut out rims that were only on the market for a few months.

Ti456 is my favourite hardtail as for bouncy bikes?

That’ll be this one at least until I get another new one to replace it.

my 1999 Cromo custom build sunn.

2005 Turner 5-Spot. Bought it new, still have it, and haven’t ridden anything significantly better, though I have spent a bit on upgrading the suspension. It was a total revelation compared to anything else I’d ridden at the time, and coming from a Specialized Enduro it was night and day.

My Nicolai Helius CC 8)

my first bike in 1970 – built like a Tonka BMX with fat white tyres and a coaster brake.
I learnt how to ride over a couple of days with several bleeding noses then I was off and soon leaving monster white stripes down the tarmac 😀

Currently it’s the mud-Fuquay’er build; disk brakes and an SA-3speed chopper hub but it’ll only take some warm weather and hard trails to put the Blur back in top spot.

Maxlight XCPro3 🙂

Closely followed by new Tarmac 🙂

My mate’s Proflex Animal in about 1998, or maybe another mate’s Giant ATX 990.

The first suspension bikes I’d ever ridden.

Possibly my Patriot when I did my PB at Cwmcarn 🙂 Gosh that was two years ago now… 😳

My 853 kona explosif. Why oh why oh why did I sell it?? After a couple of borrowed British eagles it was my first proper mtb. Remember following a far faster and more skilled rider down a descent and really pushing myself to stay with him. I kind of understood how fast and good the explosif was that day.

I managed to do the longest jump I’d ever done that day and spectacularly bin it on another descent. Quality day out 🙂

blue universal bmx.
campsite near whareham.
1990
first ride without stabilisers. it took me sooo long to get to that stage (i had balance problems as a kid!)

The first ride on my Dean Colonel, custom built to mimic my old ’93 Orange Clockwork. It was a 45 minute scoot through local woods on a cold drizzly day five years ago this week and after six months waiting it turned out to be everything I’d hoped it would.

A blur 4x on a test ride 3 1/2 years ago, I knew I had to own one, a change in circumstances meant that I wasn’t able to buy one then. Fast forward to last year and I finally picked one up second hand.

Out riding on Saturday, I had one of ‘those’ moments when everything just seemed to go right, coming into a right hand slightly cambered corner and the bike just changed direction so quickly, it left me grinning ear to ear for the next few minutes.

momo – exactly the reason I ride – defining moments 🙂

foes xct5 with coil curnutt shock and 130mm coil revs, demo bike about 5 years ago on a dusty dry Newnham Park. Great fun.

Mid nineties kona explosif (the columbus bi axial tubing one) with xtr/xt and bombers on route 403 and 401 in Crested Butte Co. The day my riding came together 🙂
Closely followed by Porc Rim Moab about a couple of days later.
Would love to be able ride that well again

Really loving my Carbon 456 at the moment, just seems to fit really well with my riding and has rekindled my interest in XC.

Also my Cube Fritzz is a stunning bike to ride. I’ve spent a while trying different bikes but feel like I’ve finally worked out what I need/want and I’m loving it.

Now normally I would say my old and now sadly broken 5 Spot with the Horst Link rear end. A damn fine bike that gave 5 years of loyal service…..excpet I tried a Giant Anthem X 29er on Sunday for an extended spin round Loch Bhac near Pitlochry. It was a tad too small for me with the seatpost at maximumum height but dear Lord, it was a revelation to ride. It rode just like a mountain bike – except I felt faster on trails I’ve ridden for years, it spun along effortlessly on the fire road sections, the baldy back tyre seemed to cut through deep mud with ease and in the twisty turny singletrack along Loch Faskally, it felt as easy to ride as my Turner….but quicker. Even drop offs and stairs didn’t seem to fluster the wagon wheels. It was like having the speed of my cross bike coupled with my Turner. 😀 I’d previously tried a Niner Air 9 and a Gary Fisher 29er hardtail but this was a whole new ball game. When I got back to Escape Route in Pitlochry who kindly let me demo it for the day, Kev in the shop gave me a knowing wink and a told you so smile. If this is how 29ers ride, I’m mightily impressed.

@ sanny … blimey 😯

My Rock Lobster, the first time I ever rode it on a sunny autumn day at Glen Tanar.
Never had a bike as a kid and took up moutain biking late(ish) in life and the sheer euphoria of that first time hurtling down a hill hasn’t yet been beaten.