Raleigh Mirage from 91 I think.
White Reynolds 531 with Shimano Exage Trail including a u-brake.
Not stopped since then!
I started during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 cos all my neighbours were doing it. Gave up when the weather got too cold.
26 years for me!
First decent bike was a second hand Raleigh Dynatech, glued/boned titanium main triangle IIRC?
Got it from an aussie who was desperate to raise cash for a plane ticket home.
Hydraulic magura rim brakes, one of those girvin flex stems with hard red bung in it, and the smoke/dart tyre combo.
Thinking about this I'm surprised at how FEW mountain bikes I've had.
Raleigh Dynatech 1994-1999- eventually stolen
DayGlo Orange BSO (<£100?) 2006-2007- stolen
Specialized Rockhopper 2007-2009 - (fell off this *very* often - front wheel always sliding out, tried various tyres, no improvement) - eventually stolen
On-one Inbred 2009-2014 eventually stolen
Cotic Solaris 2015 onwards
22 years - had road cycled since the '80s but got a blue Ridgeback in 1999. Moved to the malverns in 2002 and really got into it and jumped on the n+1 bike need/want express.
1987. Mountain LX equipped Giant Sierra. At a time when the Raleigh Mustang was a head turner and the want of a lot of kids, this LX groupset had hyper glide cassette! A revelation! Bike got nicked about 3 years later. I then got a moped and another MTB in 93. Spesh rockhopper, which I was able to go to Wales and lakes with as I was then driving
So do Grifter XLs count?
If not, in 1989 I bought a green Townsend something or other so I could bike 45mins to school to do my GCSEs. I passed 3, (maths and both English's - the important ones) and have always reminded my parents that when they said I should have studied harder, it was because I was knackered I didn't get better grades!
Then it got nicked, about the same time I discovered football, raves & drugs. Didn't ride properly again until 2010-ish, which I deeply regret!
Now desperately trying to make up for lost time....
Since the mid 90's for me, I was an avid bmxer and actually hated mountain bikes when they first appeared so resisted the trend for far too long, skip a few years and I'm on a GT zaskar with DH judys and Topline cranks, Azonic bar & stem, then an LTS with Z1 bams and anodised Hope and X-lite bits, obsession firmly in place within a few years.
1990 for me after saving up for a 1989 Saracen Tufftrax. Followed that up with a second hand 1989 Orange Clockwork in 1992. Stopped around 1995 and went off to play Rugby League only to take the sport back up in 2004 and have been MTB'ing ever since!
On and off since I think 1994. But we had a pretty small idea of what mountain biking could be so it was mostly fire roads and thrashing the same short tracks, looking back I think we lacked any sort of imagination. Like, none of us even thought to drop a seatpost. I guess that was from no internet, never seeing bikes on TV, never having money for magazines. Still, we had fun. Used to get slagged for my Halfords bike but it was actually bloody excellent- a rigid Krakatoa with a flexstem (boo) but exage all over,light strong bontrager wheels, and a nice tange frame. My brother commuted on it right throguh the 2000s then when I got back to riding I reclaimed it and did the same. Surprising amount of original parts left on it when I finally had to retire it.
Then a big gap, then I broke my hip and got fat, then I got back on the bike for rehab and I think that was 2008? And it's been kind of nonstop since.
First MTB for me was a Raleigh Dunedancer from my mums catalogue, must have been around 1988 / 1989. Prior to that my woods bikes were Falcon Pro Sigma BMX and a Carlton 5 speed racer with rugged tyres.
Dad entered us into an sprogs xc race in 1992, malvern classic i think. riding a bit before then so over 30 years. It was on some kind of fluorescent scott. Been racing xc, then dh, then enduro since but last year was the only year I havent raced barring early 2010's when I had no knee.
My BIL moved house and left his 1990 Marin Pine Mountain in my garage for a while to 'look after'. I then bought myself a Cannondale M600 'Beast of the East' with red, white and blue paint job and 'upgraded' it with a Girvin Flexstem.
I must admit to the odd smile and happy memory over the many years when I’m stopped under a nice tree(etc etc) having my flask, sarnies and crisps, mum would cycle out to do that with me on my tricycle in about 64.
Since about '93 - started with a GT Timberline fully rigid and cantis.
Only had 14 MTBs since
This was my first MTB (but in black)
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1993 Saracen Sahara Elite. Gradually got upgraded - RockShox Quadra 21R forks, some handbuilt wheels (Harry Rowland for those who know the London scene), groupset evolved to a mix of STX RC, LX and XT (the V-brake levers!) and it got raced and ridden all over the UK.
Eventually I donated it to a Youth MTB club in South London when I got a new and vastly more upgraded bike. No idea what happened to it - for all I know it could still be knocking around some shipping container at Herne Hill Velodrome!
A lot of my riding friends had Kona's - the beautiful 90's rigid straight blade Project 2 forks, sloping top tube. So cool!
I don't like to think about it - it makes me sad.
1985 I think.
It makes me sad because a. I really wanted a muddy fox from the shop in town but it was beyond my paper round savings budget and I was such an arsehole and made such a fuss about my parents not topping it up with a loan or gift. So I bought something from an advert in the paper. And b. the Coventry Eagle road bike they had bought me a few years before with great care and attention got pretty much abandoned for the shiny new one. It was really too small for me, but I acted like a dick.
If it doesn't have to be a proper mountain bike then around '73/'74. Me and mates used to use whatever bikes we could scrounge, usually rusting at the end of peoples gardens. Fix em up as best we could and go and rag them around the local quarry/moor. Anyone remember cotter pin cranks? @tjagain sounds like you may have experienced this delight? Used to regularly end up with both cranks pointing to the ground when landing jumps. Just trying to emulate the older kids with motor bikes really. It made our year when we discovered we could get knobbly tyres from a town about 25 miles away. An older mate gave me some trials bike bars and welded a cross brace on them for me cos I wanted to look like a motocrosser 🙂 Ended up splitting my lip wide open between my teeth and said cross brace when attempting to jump across a road didn't end as planned. If proper mountain bike then mid '80s.
I got a £99 special in about 1989, so that doesn't really count, plus I never went off-road with it. My first real MTB was a Claud Butler Endura in 1995. Used to ride on mudflats round an ICI chemical plant.
1992; I bought a Marin Palisades Trail from Behind Bars when I worked in Abingdon. Used it to ride on the Ridgeway around White Horse Hill and tried a few bridleways without much success. Got my GF (now wife) an Al Carter Pro and we had a weekend on Exmoor but she wasn't ever that keen on cycling so I never really got going until we moved back to Devon in the late 90s and I started riding with a neighbour.
Like others I wish I'd started earlier - I'd had good fun as a kid in the seventies riding my mum's single speed flat handlebar bike around the local woods and a sand and gravel quarry but never had the imagination to do more.
1992 Kona Lava Dome. Went across Tibet and Morocco on it.
Round about 1990 but it was around 92/93 when I got my first 'proper' mtb, bought as a surprise xmas prezzie which was chosen by the old man who decided that an Apollo from Halfords would be just the job. I tried my best to seem happy but hated it from day one and the day it was stolen from my Nans yard around 3 months later wasn't as much of a disappointment when I found out it was insured and I would get to pick the new bike myself. I can still remember the look on my Dads face when we went into Hardisty Cycles in Newcastle (who were sponsoring a certain Jason Mcroy at the time), GT had just released the RTS1 and they had that and most of the top end bikes of the time on display, at prices the old man would have to think twice about spending on a car. Ended up with a KHS Montana Crest, I'd never seen any KHS bikes but MBUK had just reviewed another of their more expensive bikes and raved about it so took a punt, sure I did my first race on that bike around 1994ish. So about 30 years 🙈 although I did sack it off for a few years years mid twenties
Since 1989 but it was 2 years until I started carrying a camera. 1st half decent bike was a Saracen Tufftrax, here's a photo of a photo from somewhere around Glen Affric.
Mid 70s my best friend and I had Raleigh Jeeps, which we made to look very like the MTBs yet to appear, and used them mostly off road. Late 82, early 83 I bought a Stumpjumper, year and half later up traded in for a Hardrock - yep the latest Hardrock was a better spec/bike than early Stumpy. Around 87-88 I bought another Stumpjumper, which I still have and use most weeks as my around road bike. Have never bought another Specialized and have never bought a complete new bike since then! Bikes I’ve had include: Mongoose, Cotic (a few of), Commencal, Yeti, Bird, On Ones (had lots, still have a few), Transition, Santa Cruz.
For me, probably my favourite things, and I consider the bicycle to be man’s greatest invention - and that’s from a man that loves cars and aeroplanes.
Rode a mate's Pugeot (complete with U-brake) in summer '91 (I think), bought a 1994 Cindercone in the sale from Selfridges (no really) in April 95, just before moving to the NY Moors. I've just tallied up and I've had 11 more mountain bikes since then (if a Fat bike counts).
Around 1986 or 87 i was living in Oxford and got a Marin palisades from Walton st.cycles(I think),many,many bikes later and still love riding my Cotic Solaris max.
My first trip to hospital from crashing a bike riding off road was 39 years ago when I ruptured my spleen. Thus began a long and generally incompetent love of exploring the hills on two wheels. Probably didnt get a real mountain bike till 91 though and made do with bodged together bikes made from whatever we could get our hands on before then.
1991 Trek 830 Antelope Cr-Mo in yellow with black splatters, saved up for it and then took a half day from work and collected my shiny new MTB.
Then had to cycle the 21 miles back home on my new fat tyred bicycle, bit sore the day after.
Lent it to my ex BiL years later and the cheeky sod gave it away without asking me FFS.
3rd of September 1986 when I rode out of Rayment Cycles in Brighton on a Rockhopper.
Before that I'd been riding on the Downs on my Coventry Eagle road bike.
Emmelle Cougar in 87/88? then brought a Kona Cindercone in 89 and a downward spiral and empty bank balance since then.
1986 - i bought a 23 inch Raleigh Montage. I spent a long time looking for one that i thought was the right size!
I sold it a year later for a 19 inch CinderCone with the Pizza Vomit paint job.
Townend and whatever other cheap BSO's when I was a kid (Family didnt have much money, still dont TBH)
Got back into it 'proper' about 10 years ago on a Genesis Core 20 after loosing the mojo for going to the gym.
Had a Raleigh that I can't for the life of me remember the name of in about 1987 and it was Hi ten steel - heavy! First real mountain bike was a Giant Coldrock (piccy) with quad butted cromoly around 1990! Soon upgraded to Farmer John tyres and even a Girvan Flexstem - the height of cool. Also had the pink Cosmic Trail Top tube pad and frame bag/carry thing. Ah memories.
1992. Orange Clockwork in purple and orange. First new bike I’d ever bought and was totally obsessed with it. Initially got it for potholed London streets then started exploring......local Woods, North Downs, South Downs, Lake District, Malverns Classic, Cheddar Challenge, Beastway. Turned into a single speed after I got a full sus Marin in 97 and the clockwork frame finally gave up the ghost with crack all round the BB in 99.
From 1993 with a Gary Fisher Tassajara ... what a machine.
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One of those apparently.
First proper off the peg MTB bought between 84 & 86. I cant remember the exact year but bought a Spesh Rockhopper from Williamsons in Stockbridge in Edinburgh. I'd been riding about on a ten speed racer with massive cow-horn handlebars before this but the tyres were a bit limiting. The Rockhopper was a revelation with enough gears & grip to go up anything. Cost £350 quid which in hindsight was a bargain considering the places it took me. Gutted I can't remember what happened to that bike. Second bike was a Saracen Tufftrax, my brother still has that. Third was a Claud Butler Cape Wrath that I've still got :o)
Since a year before the Raleigh Amazon was released - as I started riding off-road on the “racer” I had before. Not sure on the exact year but “a few” then!
87, Tufftrax.
Had mucked about on dirt paths on bikes before but not mountainbiking.
Was 1985 - purchased a Raleigh Maverick was reddish/brown, 531 Reynolds frame, alloy wheels and suntour 15 speed. From Hoares cycles in High Wycombe. Cycled mainly in Chilterns but did get it to the summit of Pen-y-Fan in Brecon. Happy days!
I was 9 when I got my first MTB, in 1984. It was a Muddy Fox Bigfoot, except they didn’t come with names at the time just an araya frame catalog number: MB-MF24A. I wanted a racer, my dad had racing bikes all his life and knew how miserable they could be for kids, so persuaded me to try out a mountain bike. We hired the Bigfoot and a diamond back of some sort from Peter Darke’s in Sunderland, bunged then in the car and set off along the river Wear path from Sunderland to Cox Green. We were hooked!
I rode everywhere on that bike for a number of years, loved it hugely. Then some twonk knicked it. Back to Peter’s shop, insurance cheque in hand and off I rode on a Mk2 MF Courier, complete with 6 indexed gears on the rear mech, insane chainstay-mounted u-brake and 24ct Gold “Muddy Fox” inlay on the big chainring! The purple fade paint job was beautiful.
That too was pilfered (Sunderland was a futureless, jobless pit of despair, thanks Maggie!) from our garage a year later. I replaced it with a Giant Coldrock. This had 21, almost fully indexed gears with STI Shifters and Biopace. It also had forward facing horizontal dropouts so was frikking hopeless when you put the power down and would regularly become equipped with two wheel steering and ghost shifting.
I cannot thank my dad and Peter enough for leading me astray with mountain bikes. They’ve played a huge part in my life so far. Now I’ve got my wife and kids hooked, which is wonderful as far as I’m concerned.
The first MTB I sat on was in 1987 - a hand-built 531 Saracen - a thing of beauty belonging to a mate at Uni.
The first one I bought was in 1989, a beautiful fillet brazed steel Pacific with full XT bought on finance from Langsett Cycles in Sheffield. I took it on one shake down ride in the local park, put it in the boot of the car and drove over to my girlfriends in Manchester - woke up next day and the car had been broken into and the bike was gone.
No, it wasn't insured.
It took three years to pay it off, at which point I bought an Orange Prestige with a Suntour XCD (I think that's what it was called) groupset -
Proper trip through the memories here, good thread for us oldies.
Shared a student house with a cycling journalist turned trouser vendor from '89 to '92 so there were often bikes on the premises.
Bought a Rockhopper in '96. Had them ever since.
What a bunch of old gits we are. excellent. I guess my first was a Saracen Conquest in '86 from Williamsons in Edinburgh
1989. Marin Bear Valley that I saved up for from my Saturday job.
I can remember seeing a Kona Hei Hei and Marin Team Titanium in the shop and being amazed, but my Bear Valley was the best bike I had ever owned after a childhood spent on the s**t bikes that my parents always bought for me. Gradually upgraded to Deore DX cranks, Deore XT brakes and Onza bar ends before being mugged for it 2 years later at University.
That bike also saw the very first set of SPDs and I can distinctly remember the disastrous first few rides. I can also remember a friend introducing me to GT85 after our first wet, muddy ride and I seem to have had a feint smell of it about me ever since!
I love my riding to this day, but those early days were truly wonderful. No suspension, 26 inch wheels, narrow bars. Exploring very tame trails close to home and just loving it. Real jumpers for goal posts memories.
