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only thing I went off road on was a Raleigh Randoneur touring bike.
At 22, anything i could get my hands on 😉
Wheels wise: BMX, Alpinestars cro-mega DX mtb, some crappy road bike, Yamaha TDR 250, Mk1 XR2.
no pics sadly, but if you google image it you will see how fugly it was.
a nice green raleigh amazon which I had bought of a mate cos he bought a 6th hand white ford fiesta, I had it for another 3 years before leaving it at Faslane for a mate of another boat. Must have weighed about the same as a submarine, and it was probably worse than a sub at going uphill.
I loved it.
EDIT: just clicked on another google image and it directed me to this thread!! another lucky owner
ah it was good times for me back in 92.i had just bought a lovely marin eldridge grade bike (from riding an 1988 dawes ascent up to that point).
it was like night had suddenly turned into day 😯 😀
by the gods i wish that marin/kona e.t.c would bring back their classic steel bikes again (obviously adjusted for today's suspension/discs e.t.c)
good times 😀
edit if i have already replied to this,my apologies (my memory isn't what it used to be 😉
This would have been about '92
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8473/8087481536_3b33a0a49a.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8087481536/ ]holmo bike chop[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr
More like 18 years ago, but my first 'proper' MTB was A Raliegh M-Trax Ti-3000 - purple with Ti main tubes.
Loved it!
Stupidly sold it to pay the insurance on my first car 🙁
Regretted it ever since............
A Marin Palisades Trail. I'd crashed at full tilt downhill within weeks of buying it, so the headtube had been repaired by Chas Roberts and it had Project 2s fitted (in a slightly mismatched yellow...).
I think I was riding a British Eagle K1 (?) it weighed a ton, but didn't break like the bikes I'd had previously (snapped handlebars on an Apollo Blizzard, and snapped the bottom bracket axle too)
Only had it 2 years before I got a Kona.
20 years? is it really? Jesus this is making me feel old.
At the time I was riding a raleigh peak like that pictured earlier, but with rock shox mag 21s (always broken).
Don't the Konas from the period look way ahead?
Crikey, I was kicking around on one of these.... Had to dig up an image on-line, amazing how I remember it looking the bees knees at the time??? A bit gash by today's standards but lots of great rides.
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Mine was a 15" black gt karakoram which i purchased for £399 in 1993
What a hoot that bike was.
May not have been quite 20 years ago but it was one of these (just not as nice as this one!)
[URL= http://thumbnails101.imagebam.com/21963/9f9a55219626340.jp g" target="_blank">
In 1992 it was a Peugeot job from halfords.
but in 1994 i got my first 'proper' bike 2nd hand.
It was a black Gary fisher, I'm not sure what model it was but it had a oversized head tube 1 1/4" (funny how things come round).
Alpine star stem and bars
Selle flight saddle
Sugino cranks
8 speed XT mechs
Panaracer smoke lights
Spds
Pace RC 30 forks
Suntour thumbies
Shimano canti brakes (upgraded to STX RCs Vs)
Don't think I have pictures of it :cry:.
I was riding my first mtb, the formidable Peugeot Flame (not my pic):
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/36342454@N02/7003942041/ ]Peugeot Flame[/url]
Flourescent yellow, 24 inch wheels. Was a clunking but tough old thing and enough to get me hooked.
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Specialised Stumpjumper. Mate of mine decided to go round the world, bought a new bike (smaller frame), transferre all the kit off the Stumpie onto the new bike, all brand new kit onto the Stumpie (he wanted stuff that could be fixed by the side of the road in China or something) and flogged the Stumpy to me. Great bike. Spent most of its time hacking around Hampstead Heath, but did some good runs up North in later years before being nicked 5 years ago. On the plus side, it being nicked got me back into (properly into) MTBing as its replacement had a suspension fork!
28years ago I was riding one of these babies ( not my pic or bike that's long gone)
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Shark grey with ovalised chromoly Reynolds tubing- cost me about £300 in 1985 when I was earning about £60 a week
Twenty years ago it was a bright yellow Townsend 10 speed bag of nails. Eighteen years ago I got my first proper mountain bike, a GT Talera which my mum brought and I paid her back at 5 pound per week. In no time it was dripping in purple anodised bits.
Kona Cinder Cone. Ace bike that did lots of Dales miles + got me hooked on MTBing.
The bike that got me into mountain biking. My mam bought it for herself but I "borrowed" it. Went everywhere, did everything on that thing. Great times.
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Not sure about the geometry but it worked for me.
Kona Explosif ..black, rigid with a 150mm Flexstem. It was awzum 🙂
20 years ago I was riding these. Still have them both I might add.
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Think it was an old hand me down Raleigh Burner and a Raleigh Marauder (15 speed). Both still in the barn somewhere. The GF reckons she was probably riding a little pink plastic tricycle or a Pink Barbie bike with basket and tassels as she was about 4-5.
!988 Kona Eplosif - I still have it and it still gets ridden.
20 years ago it would have been a steel frame Dawes road/touring bike - a Galaxy I seem to recall
+1 for an Orange Aluminium O. Survived just about everything that I threw at but sadly it didn’t survive the baggage handlers during a flight back from Iceland. Still every cloud has silver lining - replaced it with a Bontrager OR. 😀
One of these:
[img] http://www.vehibase.com/muddy-fox-explorer/photo-1.htm [/img]
Did loads of singletrack and riding around Snowdonia. How I wished for some front suspension.....
i had an Apollo Avalanche purple/green thing bought as my first mtb for my 12/13th christmas.
parents bought what i think was a 20" and i was 5'4 ish then and said i would grow into it lol
im 5'10 now and still sure it would be to big again!!
its amazing when you think back to what you did ride on those rigids.
Orange Clockwork LX
Not the best photo but I tended not to take many photos back then.
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20 years ago I think I would have just about progressed to something a lot like this;
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I'd still take one of those today over any of your ugly, obsolete mountain bikes.
One of these badboys
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Townsend Montezooma, a truly horrible beast of a 'mountain bike', forks were a particular highlight - inside was just two big grease covered springs!
Giant Escaper
A Raleigh something or other, can't really remember as I just used it to do my paper round
i was 6 back then so was a 24 inch universal sierra 5speed
5 speed Raleigh racer, non indexed shifter on the down tube, awesome!
Those orange and grey Marin Pine Mountains sure were a popular choice!
1992? <casts mind back> oh yes - offroad: Marin Bear Valley, commuting: an old Tom Board road frame hybridised/bastard thing, for fun: a Cannondale tandem and a Linear recumbent.
Another Marin Bear Valley, I had that bike for about ten years, then made the mistake of loaning it to one of my more random mates who promptly managed to get it nicked. He didn't have a lot of common sense and probably actually just left it propped against the front door overnight... All that bike for less than the price of a decent modern suspension fork.. 🙂
And, about then, a Kawasaki ZXR750J with the top end from a 750R, Maxton suspension, and a tuning job by Track Record. Proper missile...
Oooohh 750 Kwacker, top of my 'to buy' list if I ever win the lottery! (Of course, I would never be able to ride it on account of being a shortarse who can't reach the ground). Love that 2 stroke. Love those unpredictable powerbands. Love that acid green!
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8175617024_aea2019f44.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/88059154@N02/8175617024/ ]image[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/88059154@N02/ ]R17anm[/url], on Flickr
Not quite 20 years ago fat chance shockabilly i consider my new rocket the modern day equivalent
Paramount Series 20 like this one for sale on eBay
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Probably :
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I also have one of these..
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However I still have mine and it is on the turbo at the moment.