[Closed] Do you remember your first?

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 [url= http://iamnotasinglespeeder.blogspot.com/2010/08/full-circle.html ]blog post[/url] about my first MTB ride on that original piece of junk.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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!! 😆

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.

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!

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. 😆

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

A Raleigh Mustang. £180's worth of 15-geared purple splattered steel rimmed 36lb loveliness. 'Upgraded' it with some alloy Mavic Argent rims (saved [b]4LBS[/b] 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.

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(Not mine)

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.

Don Simon +1

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

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!

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!!! 😉

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.

damm double post!

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.

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.

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

In your dreams, tiger! 😉

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

etc, etc. 😥

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.

1979 I took my brother's old Raleigh Flyer racer, 5 speed 24x1 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!

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.

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 😀

1990 chas roberts

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.

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.

87 Tufftrax

mcmoonter will win with a 85 stumpy?

1987 Marin Bear Valley

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.

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.

GT Timberline 1993..:)

Carrera Gradient. Great bike, shocking build thanks to Halfrauds. Mate crashed into my wheel at low speed and it completely folded in half! It was also a size too big, still loved it though.

The bike I always wanted was the Cannondale which Martyn Ashton rode in Chainspotting. Red thing with a headshok. Looked mean as ****!

First "MTB" was a Raleigh Mustang. It had 5 - yes FIVE! - gears and I thought it was the dogs.

My first mtb was a luminous pink Peugeot Raider. It seemed to be forever broken. I then saved my paper round money for a Kona Lavadome, and discovered mountain biking 😀

Mind you we were riding Track bikes in the woods long before MTB's were on the scene. The Yanks think they invented MTBing but most of us were doing it for years, we just chopped up road bikes with a set of MX handle bars and some Trelleborge speedways ( http://www.asminor.info/ovalking/Pits.html) if you could afford them.:)