Started riding bikes on a tricycle back in 73 and gradually progressed through to a Raleigh striker and eventually BMX.
Started work and bought a Dawes wildcat ATB for commuting on.
Moved to Somerset some 20 years ago, and was blooded on mendips by a neighbour, hooked before I got home.
Gradually progressed through a different array of bikes including a couple of road bikes, but always stayed loyal to mud.
Had a lay off to play football for a few years and came back in 2006, Mrs C is patient and never complains about what I spend on bikes and bits.
Pleased to say I have a group of loyal friends, some I met off of here who I ride with and socialise with.

Bikes, I loves em’

Budgie bike > BMX > cheapo off-roader > much lust for early Pace and Orange > very old Cannondale that was too big for me > Marin Nail Trail > battle-worn Orange Patriot > Ding! Alpine 160 the £3000 bike.

Riding bikes whether tthey be bmx,mtb,road,cx,fixie,or dh has been my hobby/reason for getting up for 33 years now. The longest Ive gone without riding in that time is about about 2 weeks (appendix went pop) and it’s been my living for the last 10 years.
At different times different forms of riding have become my focus but at heart I’ll always
be a bmx’er.

Hated cycling as a kid, infact failed my cycling proficiency! Gradually grew to enjoy riding around the woods and mucking about. Did a few long road tours with school mates but never got to into it. First week of uni I took my scott hybrid thingy into leigh woods in bristol, ran into a guy on my course. We ended up scaring ourselves silly riding the Picnic bench trail and various other slidy rooty death runs. Loan cheque cam ein the following week and a shiny marin b17 hardtail was mine.

Been addicted ever since.

Got a Rockhopper for my 13th birthday, then started reading MBUK and got a job in a bike shop.

17yrs later and still riding, racing, buying new bikes…. Got a ‘proper’ job now though.

GB

infact failed my cycling proficiency!

Same here. Gratuitous skidding. 30 years on and it still hurts.

My mother gave me my love of riding bikes. It waned for a while, but has been back for a few years and at last I have the disposable income to indulge myself a little.

But not £3k (on one bike) just yet….

loveitloveitloveit

Mine was a slow build-up to 3k bikes. It started again cos I got a bit fat and needed to shift it doing something I could enjoy.

Loved riding bikes as a kid,nothing fancy in those days your old racer with Cowhorns was considered rad ! Stopped riding as soon as I got a car & never rode again till my early 30’s when I bought a cheap h/tail used it twice then left in the shed for a few years.Mate at work who was a regualr rider dragged me over Cannock Chase(I live right beside it)one horrible wet day.I got soaked,covered in mud,fell off a lot & was nearly sick a few times trying to keep up with him,but loved every minute of it(well maybe not the sick bit)..& that was that……13 years on, I’ve owned around 20 bikes,currently have 7 MTB’s & am the proud owner of around 40-50 MTB tyres………

Some great stories … I regret not getting into bmxing. I blame my mother, she bought me a road bike (I use to call them racers) that was HUGE!! It put the fear of god in me. Even remember being stuck on a round about in rush hour traffic in Sheffield when I was just a slip of a boy. I swear all the drivers eventually stopped as I was nearly in tears lol

Mates had grifters, choppers, boxers & bmx – i went from a Raleigh Gresham flyer complete with diamond white rear satchel where i used to store my stretch Armstrong – to a adult sized road bike at a tender age of about 10.

As a kid 14-16 I loved riding my bike, having races with friends to and from school.
16-17 I was at college, a friend was a keen biker and trials rider. He taught me some skills and confidence which to this day I still think to myself “thankyou”.
17 I passed my test, soon after my bike was stolen and I didn’t replace it as I had a car.
26 Started to become depressed, doctor suggested cycling. I was able to do the cycle to work scheme and get a half decent bike.
30+ Still loving mtb’ing!

My only bike is 7 years old, I can now justify spending a stupid amount of money on the dream bike… Although I’m still not sure what that is Genius or Lapierre…

Gotta say, this has to be the funniest topic and replys i’ve ever read, it’s taken me 30 mins to stop crying with laughter.

Anyhooo, my story, learned on a budgie bike (remember them, if you leaned back they automatically pulled wheelies – ergo not good when learning to ride!) then had a raleigh chopper, then got a red racer for christmas once that was far too big but still managed to reach 30mph down the hill (gotta right bollocking of my mam n dad for that), then saw a bmx and got hooked eventually getting a raleigh chrome burner the christmas after. I traded up to a Torker Freestylist after i got pretty good. My first Mntnbike was a muddy fox courier and i went everywhere on it, i loved the fact you could go anywhere, mud/road/bmx track. About 14 years ago i built up a Kona Chute (cost me nearly 3K then!) still got it but ive had umpteen mtbikes as well ever since, now sold them and just put down a deposit for a new Orange Alpine! 😀

£3k is a lot of money for a bike but i’ve never smoked and i rarely go out drinkin now (booo – 39 now) but i can ride a bike better than any young kid on my estate!