I started cycling aged 9 in 1975! Joined my first club and started racing in 1976: TTS and then schoolboy crits.
First MTB bought in 1989 - it was a tange prestige tubed Pacific with full XT - I got it from a shop in Sheffield on finance and it got stolen after the first ride - no insurance - I was paying it off for two years!!! Never bought anything, apart from a house of course, on finance again!!!
First MTB was a Diamondback Ascent in 1985/1986.
Previous to that I'd been racing MX bikes from the age on 5 in 1973 and also the first wave of BMX during the 80's.
Stopped racing the MX/Enduro bikes in 1989 so I could do more on the MTB's.
Mrs NBT got me into MTB riding in 2000. I've voted 24 years as it took a few months for me to decide that I enjoyed i. Haven't actually ridden my MTB since May 2023 though...
Another Diamond Back Ascent rider from around 1990(ish) - the grey marbled one. I was more of a road rider, but we all bought MTB's. One of our first rides was up Snowdon ! I still have the bike, but it's been upgraded a bit to period XT where needed and I use it for commuting.
I put down the date of the first bike one could call a mountain bike (or ATB), but for sure I was using Raleigh Grifter for stunts and jumps in what some people might call mountain biking now. And my Raleigh Winner also got used on the farm, off-road.
Was a roadie between the first proper bike after the above and the Scott MTB in the mid-90's with its whopping 50mm suspension (XC version, rather than the massive 64mm downhill version). Still got both of those bikes.
Early to mid-90's here, on an Emmelle initially, before moving to a GT Karakoram and a Trek 920. The later had a pair of Indy SL's on it too!
I found out my Dad still has a bike with a pair of my cold Marzocchi Z3 Coil 100's on it from circa 2001. Never been serviced and they move surprisingly well.
Just registered my vote @Mark
I do worry, that by the very nature of the poll might come across as the opportunity for those of us who have been riding a long time to be viewed as a humble brag by those who haven't, so they're less likely to register their own vote, which might skew the results...?
Yeah. Reading all these posts and looking at the poll, which are pretty much as I expected, I do have massive imposter syndrome! It did make me very hesitant to post my own rookie numbers. I'm 61 and fell into the 10-14 yr category. Definitely a late bloomer!
I cycled sporadically before that, but was never really a keen cyclist. A little cycle commuting on a BSO for a couple of years here and there. A brief flicker of interest whilst teaching my kids to ride. A little taste of mtb in the late 90s in the Troodos mountains in Cyprus as part of an organised "adventure training" trip whilst I was posted there. None of these fired me up enough to "get into it".
It wasn't until around 2014 that I tried it properly, really enjoyed it and it "clicked". A mate convinced me to do a charity race event in the Brecons which included a road/off road cycle, run/hike around the horseshoe and a team raft row. I borrowed a Whyte hard tail for the mtb bit and absolutely loved it. I bought my own soon after and I have never stopped since.
Taking it up so late in life does mean my skills and appetite for risk are mediocre at best, so I'll never be any good at it. But maybe somewhat erroneously reading all the above, I still consider myself to be "a mountain biker".
Hope my subscription isn't going to be revoked after this confessional 😳🙏😄
I found out my Dad still has a bike with a pair of my cold Marzocchi Z3 Coil 100's on it from circa 2001. Never been serviced and they move surprisingly well.
I have a set of Manitou X-Vert Supers from 2000 that still work surprisingly well - maybe thanks to the grease port on the back of the legs that you popped a couple of squirts in every now and then
Riding off-road, from about 1990 on my Raleigh Mustang. I caught the bug so started saving my paper round money, emptied my post office savings, and bought a 1992 GT Tequesta.
the opportunity for those of us who have been riding a long time to be viewed as a humble brag by those who haven't,
Good point - could also be an opportunity to post how fresh to it all you are, coming into it when FS was the norm and learning to ride at BPW, wondering why the old giffers who should have had more experience were slow or avoiding the big jumps.
Being part of the new school is a good thing. Maybe just me.. but so many of the younger lads who got into it in the 2000s quite quickly became much faster than me and 95% of the older guys I know.
i dont think our 80's mtbs were designed for speed. i did a fair few big races back then and even the top boys were not that fast..... the events were more about endurance.
karrimor 50 mile thing was such a event.
I have a set of Manitou X-Vert Supers from 2000 that still work surprisingly well - maybe thanks to the grease port on the back of the legs that you popped a couple of squirts in every now and then
Same here, I still have the same tube of Manitou grease that I picked up around 2000ish from either Westend Cycles in Conwy or Beics Betws. It usually gets an infrequent outing if I can't find my usual grease. 😆
I voted 20-24 years even though I actually had a MTB (townsend peice of crap) in about 1991, but it got nicked a few months later and I only rode it to school. I did use my GF bike for the odd ride off road around Halifax sometimes mid 90's. I then had a Raleigh Dyna-Tech, between 1998 and 2000 I think, which was my GF's brothers and all I did was ride it to work.
I bought a GT Avalache in 2003 and actually used it to start MTBing, so thats where my MTB journey started really.
i dont think our 80's mtbs were designed for speed.
No. MTB bikes and culture might have started on the Repack Run but I think it was the all-round ATB idea that really took off in the 80s.
been on and off mtb since the mid 80's, racing a lot of the early north wales series with my older brother but then had a stint of sex drugs and rock and roll where bikes were out ( I even sold my lovely Dave Lloyd as a student to keep the drugs and rock n roll bit going) then got back into bikes after giving up the lifestyle that was killing me.
First MTB was an Emmelle Cheetah that I got for Xmas in 89. I'd seen some guys on MTBs riding the West Highland way the year before when I was walking it with the scouts and thought it looked cool. A friend's older brother and his mates were into mountain biking, riding muddy fox's and an orange clockwork if I remember correctly. I'd been riding round Mabie Forrest with my mate on the bike my dad used for riding to work, a Raleigh Merlin, which was a flat bar roadster type bike before I my Emmelle. Started reading MBUK and inevitably wanted to upgrade, so the Emmelle was part exchange with a bit of cash for a Diamond Back Topanga the following Xmas. A 1990 Stumpjumper followed that (discounted as it was the previous years model). Held on to that for nearly 10 years. Love mountain biking even more than I did back then. We may all be getting older, but as long as I can ride my bike I'll always be that 13 year old on Xmas day in 1989.
Started in 1991 on my uncle and his mate's spare bikes (Claud Butler Pagan and Marin Palisades Trail), then got myself a Muddy Fox Alu Lazer in 1992ish.
Had a break for a good while (was still riding BMX and DJs) from around 1995 until I bought a Demo 8 in around 2007 and have stuck with it since then.
Late 80's for me with a Stumpjumper but there wasn't much to do with it back then with no mates riding them! Swapped it for a Vitus 979 road bike then got back into MTBs early 90's with an Alpinestars Cro-Mega
It was either a Muddy fox courier or Rockhopper that seemed to be the bikes to have back then, if you had a few more pounds to spend a Stumpjumper
If you were a bit tight or maybe skint an Emelly/Diamondback
If you were more of a land rover bumpkin type of person a Raleigh maverick might be your choice although I had a Road Ace back then and it was a cracking road bike
I had a Road Ace back then and it was a cracking road bike
I had a Raleigh Pulsar. I was all set to buy my first (Raleigh) MTB and a family friend called Aidan Leheup (Iditarod/Polaris accomplished competitor) who worked in my LBS talked me out of it, saying they were rubbish (he wasn't wrong), so I bought the Pulsar with panniers.
A trip down memory lane... First MTB was a Dawes something in yellow/white that I stupidly left alone for a couple of minutes against the window of the fishing tackle shop while I popped in to buy bait. After getting told off for allowing it to be stolen and a suitably long wait until I could persuade my parents I could be trusted with another bike, they got me an Emmelle Cortina XL in purple/blue/white that I managed to keep for ages. Yes, it got stolen a couple of times, but I got it back both times. I think I gave it to my sister's boyfriend in something like '98 or '99 so he had a bike.
Mucked around riding bikes offroad throughout secondary school in early/mid-90s. Proper MTBing from around 2002, the same time I first logged on to STW in the uni computer lab. Still riding the same trails now.
2003:
23 years later:
Started riding around the woods on a Raleigh Strika, then BMX. First MTB was a Raleigh Dunedancer bought in 1988 from my mums Grattan Catalogue.
Rather depends on what a mountain bike is. Off roaded a lot on a tricycle (with mum on her Raleigh shopper) during adventures and visiting granny in about 1965, progressed to a Raleigh single speed, which went everywhere, big gap when I discovered off road motorbikes then rediscovered bikes via a giant terrago in maybe 1990 or so and constantly since then.
91/2 ish was a stalled start. Bought a couple Peugeot bikes (Magnum Lx and then an Anaconda), went travelling the US and NZ and came back and bought a sh 93 Marin Eldridge Grade, which this was the catalyst to change my life
1991 Ridgeback 603GS which was a bit pants. Luckily it got nicked and replaced with a 1992 GT Timberline (zebra splatter stripes) which got the full onZa barend, flexstem, mint sauce stickers treatment.
Replaced with a 1994 Cinder Cone which still hangs in my shed today. Not rideable unfortunately as I think the chainstays have rusted from the inside and are only held together by the paint.
Blimey, I adjusted my Birthday demands in 1989 and asked for an 'mountain bike' (was going to ask for a road bike cos I thought that Greg Lemond was quite impressive on the telly, but my peers talked me round)
I was bought an 'Emmelle' which was crap but sufficient to help the bug take hold (and my Dad liked it enough that he got himself a Peugeot MTB), a couple of years later I got a Diamondback Ascent, and a couple of years after that a Kona Fire mountain, and so on... So 36 years at this point.
But What ten year old me had pestered for a road bike? (I didn't get one of those till I was almost 30) would I have stuck with road bikes? Would I still eventually have found my way to MTBs?
While we're reminiscing and seeing Emmelle come up a few times, how long ago was it that you knew the brand was owned by distributors Moore Large (Emm Ell)?
Late 80s for me but it gets complicated, we used to do what was definitely mountain biking but on our bmxs, I think I got my first actual mountain bike in 89 but we rode the exact same stuff, just a little bit more, and we crashed less.
But I stopped completely in about 1997, just couldn't be arsed with it any more. Looking back that it was the right decision, it was just a bit shit, of course mountain biking existed and all the ingredients were coming together but it was still half baked and very unevenly distributed. Came back to it with no great expectations in I think 2009 and things had come on so far, to the extent that it really feels like the mountain biking I actually like was invented some time in the 2000s. The bikes had largely stopped sucking, the places to ride got better and more accessible, the internet made finding stuff better.
Late 80s for me but it gets complicated, we used to do what was definitely mountain biking but on our bmxs, I think I got my first actual mountain bike in 89 but we rode the exact same stuff, just a little bit more, and we crashed less.
But I stopped completely in about 1997, just couldn't be arsed with it any more. Looking back that it was the right decision, it was just a bit shit, of course mountain biking existed and all the ingredients were coming together but it was still half baked and very unevenly distributed. Came back to it with no great expectations in I think 2009 and things had come on so far, to the extent that it really feels like the mountain biking I actually like was invented some time in the 2000s. The bikes had largely stopped sucking, the places to ride got better and more accessible, the internet made finding stuff better.
my first mtb experience was early 90 we did an Easter trip to the lakes amd hired MTBs for the day, was very muddy
following year we did north wales and rode what would later become the red bull trail at cyb, i managed to go otb into a ditch and split my hire helmet in two
it was 1996 before i bought my first proper MTB, Kona Hahana, whilst doing a summer at Camp America , tragically got back to uni in Aberystwyth and barely rode it for the next 2 years,
i got my first job in Cambridge and joined the mutts nutts mtb club we rode Thetford every week ! but with regular trips to the new fangled trail centres of the 7stanes and north/south wales
Glentress with Emma & Tracey just after it opened 2000ish
1998. It took me a year to save up for a Specilized Rockhopper. Then I upgraded to a Kona Cindercone, which I absolutely loved. This bike took quite a battering after several Lake District rides. The last time I rode was a few weeks ago (end October), this needs to be sorted out, because I've now got the best bike I've ever had - a Whyte.
“I think I got my first actual mountain bike in 89 but we rode the exact same stuff, just a little bit more, and we crashed less.
But I stopped completely in about 1997…
…Came back to it with no great expectations in I think 2009…”
Similar timings - replaced my BMX with a Peugeot MTB in ‘88, then had my Muddy Fox nicked the first week of uni in ‘96 (and got sucked into bass playing and bands). Restarted in 2009, spent £1k on an XC hardtail expecting to just pedal the South Downs bridleways etc - well that escalated!
Bikes in general, probably 35 years. Pretty much near daily because i never learned to drive.
Had I learned to drive I'd probably be is far far worse shape than i am now 🤨
I reckon im quids in with the whole carbon thing
Bikes all my life so far.
Lion bike.
Raileigh Tomahawk
Raileigh Chopper (hand me down)
BmX Aero Burner
Peugeot racer, Dawes Racer. (hmd)
bit of a gap.
Townsend Overlord from Macro.
Specialized Rockhopper. 98
Specialized Stump 99 or 00
Specialized Fsr 2004
Specialized Fsr 2007
Carrera Titan XC Carbon (hmd)
Giant DirtE 2015 (hmd)
Specialized Levo 2016 (hand me down)
