[Closed] How long have you been MTBing?

Just occurred to me I’ve been taking peanut butter sandwiches

Are you Prepack rider?

25 years ish I think for me. There wasn’t really a definitive start date. I remember getting my first 26” bike for Xmas, but don’t remember how old I was.

Got my first "ATB" I think in '89 for my 13th birthday. Been hooked since the first wet and filthy ride that winter round the local woods.

Are you Prepack rider?

*

I don’t know but going with ‘maybe’ 👍🏼

General loadout circa 1991 would be:

✅ PB sarnie in foil
✅ Zefal water bottle (500ml)
✅ Flourescent-green metal frame-pump
✅ triangular frame-bag with puncture-kit and stamped multispanner/tool/dirty rag

*edit AH! Haha penny dropped.
*actually mine was a 1990 bike so could have been that year.

I’ll celebrate this year anyway

Since '89. Used to ride around Bristol on my Specialized, in trainers, jeans and a jumper 🙂

My rear under the bottom bracket rear 'u' brake sticks in my mind coz it was so pants..89ish i reckon..doing NEMBAs early 90's so sounds about right.

Rode a Marin hire bike out of Frosterley in Weardale on a youth camp in June 1991. Later that weekend I asked a girl to go out with me; she's now my wife.

About 1986 for me, also a ‘Dawes hand-built’ lugged Reynolds 500 chromo thing with thumbshifters, Biopace, 21spd. Also bought from somewhere in Glos. maybe Halls in Barton St.?

1986 for me. Raleigh Maverick.

May 1987 for me, bought a Marin Bear Valley from Shockwave.

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Got a Turbo Levo and an Enduro 30 years later

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Still get a buzz out of every ride

Youngster here, first MTB was a Marin Bear Valley SE from Chevin Cycles in 1992. Saved up and put a pair of Rockshox on it about six months later I think (the gold mag ones). Loved that bike.

since the late 80's with a break in the the 90's for full on sex drugs and rock and roll addictions and carnage, now addicted to bling singlespeeds, but there is less chance of dying in a public toilet, with a needle in me.

My 1988 Rockhopper had that ridiculous rear brake

Had a yellow Townsend the year before, so going with 1987 as my MtB start date

BMX as a kid, then got my first ATB in 1991 ish. Townsend somethingorother....Promptly got nicked about a month later.

I then left Leicester and moved to Halifax a year later when I was 15/16 but stupidly didn't get another bike until I was about 19, another Townsend that was actually borrowed off my GF (now wife) but then she wanted it while she was at uni. Next bike I got was a Raleigh Dyna-tech borrowed off her brother in about 1999. Eventually bought my own in 2003 GT Avalanche and the real MTBing started.

1993 for me. Bombing around the western end of Salisbury Plain with a school mate, happy times!

1991, the year I learnt to ride a bike aged 25.

Used to thrash round the woods on my old racer about 1970 to 1974, bent and broke just about everything. At one point had solid studded tyres on it were as bad as they sound although no punctures! Stopped cycling for a long time then bought a Raleigh Activator (I didn't know any better!) for just pottering around on about early 90's. Met my long term riding buddy shortly afterwards who had a Marin Team Issue and it grew from there. Specialized Hardrock, various Marin's, Cove Hustler for years, Ghost and now a Pivot. Happy days!

1994 bought my first MTB from a mate, he went on to win the lottery and I'm still riding. I win.

May 1988, if my memory serves me correctly! I was nine and had just got a scholarship, so my Dad spent some of the money I was saving them on two MTBs, a 24” wheeled Peugeot for me and a 24” framed Emmelle for him (he was rather tall).

Had a bit of a break in my uni days and twenties for rock and roll etc (bike got stolen on literally my first day of lectures at Bristol and bass and bands took over...)

September 91, I was off work with shingles.
Walked into bike shop when I was feeling better & saw a bright yellow Avanti Montari for $700 & decided I'm having that.
GS200 groupset with biopace & plastic cantis. Weighed a tonne, but never layed a spanner on it in the 3 years I thrashed it.

30 years roughly. And just realised in that time I've only had 6 mtbs.

1986 for me. Raleigh Maverick.

This.

What colour was yours? Mine was the dark red with steel wheels and sidepull 'brakes'

Actually it was probably 1987 if I'm honest, but don't want to appear as the Jonny come lately.🙄

Dawes "Rough Trade" was my first mtb, so I guess that puts it early 90's. In "interference lime gold" 😂

I'd reckon since '89 or '90. After playing on BMXs for a while, got what would probably be considered a BSO now - a £90 mail order hi-ten steel jobby - but rode it all over our corner of the north Lakes. Can remember riding that bike to primary school in the next village, along the road in the morning and back over a bridleway on the way home. '92-ish it died and I got a grey and yellow Marin Palisades, then an Indian Fire Trail when I started racing a bit in '94-95ish. Diamondback and Karrimor series races first, then Polaris in the late 90s, then Adventure Racing from 2000 onwards...

1991 I think when I got a Ridgeback 603gs for my birthday.
That was stolen and I got a GT Timberline (in zebra splatter) on insurance.
Then a 94 Cinder Cone with quadras in my a-level year...still got that frame 😎

I now live in one of the worst counties for mountain biking (pembrokeshire) but still love it and have been lucky enough to earn a bit of my living through the sport.
30 years this year...I’ll probably celebrate with a ride!

March 1989, a Muddy Fox Courier '88 in the sale from Mike Cookson Cycles in Manchester. Should have bought the Kona Cinder Cone next to it really, but it was £70 more. All the usual shite from that period, e.g. crappy chainstay U-brake, but I did like the paint job. Replaced 15 months later by a Cannondale 3.0 that I still ride round town.

Does taking raleigh grifters up to the woods to do sick jumps count as MTBing?
If so, then since about 1983ish
If not, then since about 1996ish after defecting back from being a roadie for a few years

“Rough Trade”

Interesting name! “I’m going to the woods for some fun with my Rough Trade.” Could be misconstrued.

Late 70s me and a mate took our road bikes (me on a Raleigh Arena) round the local woods and on a new housing estate building site. Sands not much cop for jumps, but scaff boards laying around can be employed.

BMX was taking off but I wasn’t sure it would last. We did use my mates old bike as a makeshift bmx as it was tiny.

Then rugby, cameras, girls, “playing” in a band at uni and classic car restoration became distracting hobbies.

Buying our first house in 93 meant I could cycle to work so I got a “mountain bike”. It was a Zed Overdrive- bloke in the shop said it was a Dawes brand but never been able to confirm- prob just sales talk!

Apart from commuting road local bridlepaths & country treks as the Mrs got one too. We even took them to Centre Parcs😳 on a holiday.

Then first decent MTB was a GF Sugar 1 in c 2002 and MtB for me took off (unlike me, still can’t jump). So quite a while but loads of gaps while other stuff and life get in the way.

This.

What colour was yours? Mine was the dark red with steel wheels and sidepull ‘brakes’

Actually it was probably 1987 if I’m honest, but don’t want to appear as the Jonny come lately.🙄

Mine was light blue. I believe it was a 1985 model. Also sidepull brakes and with steel rims I often joke it was like braking was an option I’d not ticked.

I had been riding a BMX off-road for about 2 years before that after realising I was rubbish at ‘stunts’ etc

The Maverick was on offer in 1986 and so traded the BMX for it.

Just did a quick tot up and I’m now on my 15th MTB.

Simple answer is about 1985... my mate/ex scout leader got me up Wenslydale on something that was called a MTB then I found the flying down the other side bit ... then in a bout of uncharactaristic sense I worked out I'd kill myself in no short order..

Then by 1989 ish another cycling bud got me back into it and I ended up with a Saracen something... that got stolen then a old 531 frame and Judy's off my mate and it was a bit on/off depending where I was living. Non in Libya then winter in Calgary was skiing... then a bit of a peak in Norway and had a 2nd bike (Al framed rigid) with spikes for riding over the bay in winter then hardly anything for 7 yrs in Paris before returning to the UK and the 531 frame is still as far as I know locked in a shed/bin storage at my old appartment.

I had a Giant hybrid with childseat about 10yrs ago which was the first time I actually had a helmet (oops) then things took off again about 6yrs ago when Jnr started riding.

So either 2014 or 1985...

Am 42 done mostly snowboarding. I'm a covid mtber so been mtbing for about 9 months or so. Been riding and old 26 hardtail. I've got a great full suspension bike on the way in the next two weeks. Cant wait!

Rode a Marin hire bike out of Frosterley in Weardale on a youth camp in June 1991. Later that weekend I asked a girl to go out with me; she’s now my wife.

Ah, Weardale Mountain Bikes, would always pop in when traveling back from my parents caravan in Stanhope and lusted after the Kona Explosif that always seemed to be in the shop window. Went on a couple of Sunday rides with the owner (Ian Perrin?) on my Saracen Tufftrax Limited Edition - black with splatter graphics and 500LX gears, thought that bike was the absolute dogs. Happy days and thirty years ago!

Messed around in the woods around 84 / 85 on a Raleigh Striker. Got distracted by a Raleigh Equipment, I think, road bike until I got my first mtb, an Apollo, around 88. Soon graduated on to a Raleigh Moon Run. Went to Uni and had my dad's old road bike that I resprayed and rebuilt, then first pay packet I went and put a deposit down on a Klein Pulse Comp.

So over 30 years and have only had 5 mountain bikes to date. Itching for a new one mind...

Early 70s I was riding off road on a modified flat bar tourer. Early 1980s I modified a 10 spd racer for offroad use with upturned bars, lower wider gearing and cx tyres. first 26" wheeled 3x7 mtb early 90s

Started in 1986 on a bike that I don't remember the name of but had the one piece bar/stem with triangular stem. First nicer bike was a Cannondale M400 in 1988.

I always consider 1992 the year I started 'mountain biking' as this is when I did my first race at Cannock Chase.
I was riding a Townsend kitted out with a 200GS group set and a green marble effect paint job. The frame was at least 2 sizes too big using the standard parental 'it's OK, he'll grow into it' methodology.

Good times. I still like to keep it simple these days by riding a steel singlespeed hardtail for the majority of the time 😛

Uhh, which Townsend @Paul-B

I think we may have had the same bike

‘92 on a catalogue bought Falcon ‘atb’.
Then my first proper bike (Cannondale F500) was bought in ‘95 thanks to my student loan!

1989 on a rented Dawes here - headed up High Street above Ullswater. Cue a few friends buying various Saracen or Dawes at school, I was also getting support from Orange Sails, who also happened to have a good few early Clockwork's kicking around at the sailing club...

First bike bought in 1992 at uni and off we go..

I bought my first MTB ,a Klein Mantra in 1999 .I remember it well-I was working on the offices above Charing Cross station on a Sunday and stopped off on the drive home at Evans in Waterloo,to treat myself .

‘86 on a red Falcon mtb.

A friend bought a very early Muddy Fox. We hired bikes from Elterwater in maybe 1984? Then I bought a Muddy Fox Courier when they were released in 1985?

But weirdly I would only say in the last year or so that I really vent committed to cycling. I either thought I wss a climber or to busy parenting to really commit you cycling.

Early 90’s for me, not sure what year. I had a fluro ATB from makro for Christmas, i was probably 8 or 9 it was too big for me then, would probably be about right now. Started buying MBUK 92 or 93 and ‘upgraded’ to a Raleigh team edition which looked like an mtrax but was made of pig iron. I was still young enough to have to have the size my dad said I needed so ended up with a 21” which would still be too big now, I had a huge crash on it and he finally agreed to get me a bike that fit which started my obsession with 90’s GTs only cheap ones though I had an outback, then a tequesta in 96ish which I kept until I was in my 20s

Got an ex-hire Raleigh montage in about '89, which i had until about '93 when i snapped it on some steps in Edinburgh.

1988 - bought a Specialized Hardrock (my first adult bike) solely as a means of accessing some of the more remote Scottish mountains.

2005 - bought a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR when I came to realise that I was enjoying riding the bike as an activity in its own right.

Peugeot mtb in the mid 90s, Raleigh klunker off road on the bridleways of N Somerset before then 👍

13 years. Started off with a Carrera that was upgraded, nice bike i have to admit. I guess it depends what you call as MTBing, i had a MTB before that, but never took it down anything more than a canal path. It was only when we upped sticks to the countryside i found MTB really.

2014 I gave it a whirl when I got a cheapo calibre two two for commuting. Me and a friend did a few whirls around Ashton Court/Leigh woods in Bristol and I remember being absolutely shattered afterwards. Then picked up an unrelated knee injury that stopped me for a while, got back into it properly at the start of 2018 when I got a YT Jeffsy in an end of year sale. Since then I've moved to the Forest of Dean specifically because of MTB!

So not that long compared to most of you!

About 91 on a Raleigh Mustang I think. Gravel biking however in about ‘76 on a hand me down 5 speed racer in the local woods:)

First bike was a Muddy Fox Courier Comp in 1990, bought because they were "fashionable", bitten by the bug and traded up to an Orange Clockwork, bought from sShokwave in Nottingham the year after.

At the time I was living in Leicester but found a job and moved up to Sheffield in '95. been here ever since, still riding and loving every moment. Currently being old and useless on either a Geometron G1 or an Evil Offering.

About '90 I think. Road bike got nicked from the common stair and I thought I'd try one of these new MTB things. An Emmelle Cheetah which was poor quality steel and didn't last very long before it was replaced by a decent Trek. Fun times exploring when not many people were really in the hills on bikes.

October 85. I used the money made from tattie picking in the holidays to buy a 15sp Raleigh Maverick from one of the Raleigh dealers in Aberdeen.

1988 on a bike i cant remember that i bought from my mums catalogue for £1.50 a week or something equally ridiculous.
Two years later i got a Peugeot Trail like this

1988 on Spesh Rockhopper when I was 16, not sure where it went but it was covered on various frame packs and bright coloured padding bits. Juts now ordered a bikepacking rig, - which will also be covered in various frame packs- the circle of life!

It must have been around 1994. Bought a gorgeous Specialized Stumpjumper off a mate at work and paid him in instalments. Got out round Beecraigs mostly then into the more remote Munro’s like Ben Alder.

We rode converted racing/touring bikes in the late 70's early 80's and rode offroad and dirt(ish) jumps on them. Thinking back I'm surprised I can still walk. Oh the crashes we had... The good old days.. I didn't get a proper mountain bike until the late 90's it was a Cinder Cone, bought it from a mate.
In between those times having a family got in the way. However my main mode of transport was a single speed racing bike. Wife had the car.

A Peugeot Ranger for my 12 birthday (30 years ago) followed by a 1992 GT Timber line both from Finch & Sons in Reigate, although I actually had a full suspension bike before either of those.

One of these bought from Vic Eastwoods Yamaha in Crawley.

https://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/yamaha/69618

The GT

I'm 35, so abourt 25 years of 'MTB' as opposed to just riding up and down my driveway/street. Spent a few years on some real POS (inlcuding a home made suspension bike made with rubber bobbins in the seat stays) before I got a £299 Kona Hahanna in 1999.

V-brakes. Aheadset. Glow in the dark decals.

It ended up with Manitou X Vert forks, Club Roost bars, XT/MavicD521 wheels, a front XT disc brake (how good were they!) with the braided hose they came with, a rear Parrallel push XT brake.
It also had 2.1 Tioga Factory DH tyres, but I had to take the edges off all the knobs on the rear with an angle grinder so it wouldn't rub the chainstays.

In 1989 at the age of 30 I had an early mid-life crisis. I gave up smoking, gave up eating dead animals, and bought a Trek 830. Never looked back.
(Auto correct changed mid-life to mud-life - should probably have left it like that)

My first mtb was a 23” Giant Escaper bought in August/September ‘89. It had thumbies and the under the chainstay U brake. Bought in the end of season sale for the princely sum of 350£ from Cycling World in Aberdeen.

But I did not really start mountain biking properly for another couple of years (best guess would be late summer/autumn ‘91) and I upgraded to 19” Escaper, triple butted with sti’s and canti’s. Woohoo!

My first full on proper ride was in Glen Tannar. I can remember coming down a hill thinking I hadn’t so much excitement/fun since I crashed my brothers motorbike and nearly killed myself... obviously I needed to do this more!

Not long after mountain bikes took over my life. It got to the stage where I identified as a mountain biker primarily, before anything else. They just seemed to fill my head.

There have been periods of leanness when I’ve not ridden much (for a while climbing took over), but I always came back in the end. Bikepacking being the most recent obvious impetuous.

Started riding round the woods on my Raleigh when I was wee. Bought something more suitable in 1997 - a Kona Hahanna - took it to Aberfoyle ... got lost, fell off, loved it, hooked. 😃

89/90ish my first MTB was an Emmelle 'Cougar' that my Dad got from the local car parts place, a couple of weeks later he bought himself a bright pink Peugeot and MTBing became a bit of a farther son bonding thing... My first nice bike was a '92 Diamondback Ascent EX.

Never liked peanut butter though...

1986 I also got married, I bought a 21" Rockhopper . After a year I drove to Alves near the Arctic circle for Charles Ralph to give me a top tube reduction of 2" fillet brazed with two struts silver soldered, and then drove back in my Marina van back to civilization
Always fancied an Overbury Pioneer but ended up with a Chas Roberts pink and blue White Spider frame a year or two later

1988 when I borrowed my brothers Raleigh Mustang (The mk1 black & white one with the red horses on the top tube) and had a lot more fun riding it than my road bike

@piemonster I think it was a Colorado if I remember right.

There was also the Smokey Bear which was grey & marbley

had mtb's as a kid but only really for dicking about on the street. didnt really start properly till i was 30. im 40 now and cant comprehend life without it!

10 years of riding and im still improving, jumps and drops still only getting bigger rather than smaller, tracks steeper and tech techier. Technique is definitely something i think more about now tho... rather ride a track well than ride it fast.

most people i know my age cant their head round a 40yr old bloke digging turns in the woods either!!

really wish id discovered it sooner

1987 for me with with purchase of Saracen Blizzard (white with pink accents!) after a couple of years longing for what I had read about in Bicycle Times And Bicycle Action. After that was stolen I got a Saracen Trekker with front and rear u brakes which nearly killed me descending Dollywagon Pike. Did anybody get those brakes to work? Argos brazed on canti mounts and all was well. Great days.

86, a Claud Butler from an lbs. I had been doing enduros ,proper ones on motor bikes, for a few years and thought an MTB would be good for fitness. I went out and tried the hills I would do on my m/bike which lead to me putting it away for a few months. Eventually I tried again and became hooked with motorbikes dropping off the agenda completely a few years later

Mid 80s I had a BMX that I rode all over the welsh hills where I lived. There was a lot of pushing involved. And scabs. Lots of scabs. Probs around 89/90 I got an MTB - a Carrera something or other.

Used to ride Coed Y Brenin when it first opened and up & down Snowden and the surrounding mountains (rigid, skinny tyres and cantis made that great fun!). And also the old quarry that is now Revolution Bike park. Happy days!

Only a pup at 35 so probably started out in 1995 with going out at the weekend with my older brother (1994/5 diamondbacks WCF) on my school bike (Claud Butter). Later on after much saving from part time job was able to buy a 2000 jobs cindercone. Had a few year break due to women, cars and alcohol before getting back in to riding because of women, cars and alcohol. Been ridding for 20 years in total.

Probably mid '91. Bought my first MTB - a 1991 dark blue 20" GT Timberline from North West Mountain Bike (Cheadle, Stockport). It was a toss up between that and a Spesh Rockhopper but that had Suntour? gears and I'd only read about Shimano so went with the GT 'cos it had 400LX

I loved the GTs of that era, the ball-burnished Xizang, Zaskar etc. were gorgeous.

Messing around on bikes as a kid, got my first big 26" MTB when I was maybe 12/13. It was a Raleigh Activator. Messed around on cheap bikes until I was 15/16 and then stopped. Football took over. Got back into it in my late 20s, think I was 27/28 when I bought an undersized BeOne hardtail from CRC. My biggest regret is stopping when I was younger. I remember being able to jump and wheelie all day long back then.

Must have been about 1987. About 14. A yellow Diamond Back Ascent EX no less. It had Biopace don't y'know. My riding and bikes havn't really changed. After full sus and slack..now full circle...about the same angles, an oval chainring, steel and still sometimes rigid!

Interesting that mid 80's seems to be quite common for those still doing it and on here.

I remember doing a paper round to save up for my first proper MTB in the late 80s, probably 1988. It was a Marin Palisades Trail, I didn’t have quite enough for a Kona Cindercone with the splatter paint. But I’d been riding my SS tracker bike in the woods for years by then. The only time I’ve been without MTB since was when I was at uni in the mid 90s.

Since 1988, when I wanted something to keep me fit during the sled dog racing off-season (ie the summer), so I bought a Kona Explosif...
Yes, I still have it.

Off-road stuff in general far longer than that - since I was16.

Got hit by a car on my redline BMX in 1986. Took over a year to get any sort of payout from the drivers insurance, by which time I'd had a growth spurt. 6' and 13 years old, the LBS told me I was a bit tall for BMX and showed me mountainbikes.

First ATB was a Peugeot ranger, replaced by a laser 15 after I broke 3 frames and had an argument with the Peugeot rep about suitability for offroading, where he claimed they were ATB-like bikes and not really suited to riding on the Malverns! (not exactly gnar, even back then)

so 1987 was when it all began for me. well, when I swapped taking my BMX offroad and got a bigger wheeled bike.

fluoro yellow Cosmic frame/shoulder bag, matching Mt.Zefal pump and rear plastic disc wheel cover.

weighed about the same as my current MTB (!) and lasted until I bought my first proper MTB, Cannondale SM600 in 1991.

I started in 1993 when I bought a Diamond Back Sorrento and carted up and down the grad union canal around Hounslow and Brentford, that then evolved hard rock rigid.

Next in 2006 was a Marin Wolf Ridge and carting around the incredible Rossendale Hills with a great bunch of lads, then came my first Orange 5 (bright orange) which got nicked and then my present 2011 5 which is serving me well today.

However the world or gravel arrives I hope in a few weeks in the shape of a Sonder Camino.

Some great memories from folks..... here's my history.

I reckon my first MTB was around '90/91 it was a Fluoro Yellow Al Carter Sidewinder, Shimano 200gs gears and canti brakes.... I was about 11 or 12 I guess. Rode that bike all over the place.

Next up was a '93 Kona Fire Mountain Silver to Blue/Purple fade, that got some magnesium Manitou elastomers on it that probably weighed a ton but were the dogs danglies for a 13/14 year old.

Out-grew the Kona and got a '97 Orange C16r in British Racing Green, gold decals.... something like a 10th anniversary model, STX RC on it. I loved that thing. 🙂

The latter two came from Aire Valley Cycles, not very close to us really, but seemed to be the best bike shop around for me at the time, a proper Aladdin's cave of bike bling.

After that.... Kona Caldera, Trek Top Fuel, Santa Cruz Blur LT, and now an Orange P7 29er..... I have stretched the swapping intervals in later years! Though I do have a 91/92 GT Karakoram and 2004 Cannondale Furio in the garage for retro goodness!

When I started it were all Ron Hills, Rox t-shirts and rigid forks...
First bike I'd class an an MTB was an Emmelle of some variety, circa 1992. First 3 bikes were rigid, the joys of a pair of 60mm elsastomer sprung Rock Shox Indy's had to wait until bike number 4.
Went to 3 early Malvern's events, camped with friends and drank for to much bad beer for a bunch of defintely not 18 year olds.
I am old enough to remember when Brant was Zac Tempest.