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1988 after I got bored of my roadbike crashing on descents.
03, triscombe dh track in the pishing rain, claud butler cape wrath loved it!
93/94 been riding the Quantocks ever since.
Marin Palisades Trail BTW.
Early 90's can't remember exactly, was a raleigh apex, with a girvan flex stem, pearlised purple paint, loved it though it was too big for me, sold it to a mate when I got a cindercone, cindercone was special, fitted it with mag21's happy days, the list eventualy went, zaskar, s-works, attack trail, soul and now hummer, the s-works is still used with a kiddy seat on the back and the soul is waiting to one day be rebuilt maybey into a single speed or a winter hack? but not ridding the hummer seems a waste so it gets used for everything!
PJ.
late 70's for me. Trackers, not mountain bikes. Everything we do now but on a bike we built ourselves, Old racer frame, CX tyres and rims. Motorbike handlebars, BMX stem and grips.
First proper bike was a BSA Star Rider 3-speed Sturmy with 650B wheels, fitted with Avon CX tyres and steel motocross bars for 'dirt tracking' in the woods and round the local lanes, probably around '65ish. First real mountain bike was a red and white Stumpy from Caratti Sport's shop in Bristol. Deore, Biopace, U-brakes, Ground Controls. First one in the country, brought over for an expo, cost £550, got nicked in Bath six months later, and replaced with an identical one. That was '88.
Christmas 1993.Kona Fire Mountain. I hate dissing people too but I'm sure that was fitted with some of the first year Exage parts. I am happy to be proved wrong but I think there are people claiming to have been riding bikes in the 80s that didn't exist before the 90's.
But memory is a strange thing. I'm convinced I remember my mum talking to a neighbour about JFK being killed. I am old enough for this to be true, just. But I wonder now if this is an artifact assembled from a collection of early life memories. I am convinced though that it is 'true' to me and I could pass a polygraph test about said memory.
89 on a GT Tarquester
Blimey and I thought I'd been riding for a while 😉 Sorry I didn't promise a prize. You reward is sharing your stories and photos - Cheezy eh 😉
speaking to an elderly gent yesterday. told me about converting road bikes for taking over mountains and the yearly off road events when the local villages would race each other.
when?
1940's
Came home in 91 from a year in Stuttgart making silly money on a site and bought a Marin Eldridge Grade for 540 quid cash, also bought hi-tec Mtb Boots, Mt. Zefal pump and Bell Image Helmet.
Grey Zolatone paint with flouro orangey/pink bars and forks.
Had two Marins, a Jamis and a kona since.
1995 for me - used to take my raleigh arena with cow-horn bars off road/through fields in the early '80's. Doing that and BMX'ing sowed the seed...
1988 for me, Muddy Fox Courier, white with colour fade.
Always had bikes as a kid but I replaced my aging "touring/audax" style Dawes bike with my first proper MTB in 1993 for my 16th birthday.
It was a Saracen Sahara Elite, all black. In my first race about 3 months later (a winter CX) I came 2nd last on it, was wearing tracksuit bottoms and a big fleece jacket.
The bikes have changed (and the race results improved a bit too...) 😉
first ride 86 first bike 87
Newcomer here. 2001 for me - on an awful Giant hybrid with semi-slick tyres. And panniers. I remember how deep the mud was and the tyres would never grip, but I still loved it and have hardly had a week since not riding.
My first ATB was a 15sp Raleigh Maverick like this which I bought in 84/85 with my hard earned paper money and tattie picking money. £175 of heavy british steel but I loved it.
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Got my first mtb in 1992 but riding offroad lots before then. Got through a fair number of road bike rims though.
Got my first proper mountain bike in 1997 it was a 96 GT Timberline in Ice Titanium. Some scally nicked it 🙁
Easter 94 with a 2nd hand Kona Explosif. Black with splatter paint job. Lovely 🙂
1998...
Was selling bike in the local decathlon. But at this time I was in the dark side. So I asked to try a mountain bike.
Bought the rockrider 740 3 month after. Since the road bike is gathering dust...
no idea, i was riding trail centers (they werent called that back in the day) when i lived in wales, would have been about 6-7, that would have been about '92? got into it properly in about 97/98 when i moved to derbyshire.
Blimey Rich - popular thread you started here 🙂
1990(?) - Marin Bear Valley with "hammerite" anti-scratch paint work, biopace, foam top tube pads and Zefal luminous frame pump......ahhh happy days
'88
enforced by my parents moving to the peak district
1986 rode my brothers muddy fox courier a few times then in 1987 rode a cannondale that was being used as part of a Yorkshire schools exploring society expedition to the himalayas I was trekking for the month not riding unfortunately. Bought a Saracen Tufftrax later that year. As a child I rode in the woods quite a lot on a converted road bike with cow horns then had a bmx. Once rode into the canal trying to jump over the mooring rings on the towpath on my converted road bike, the 3 speed sturmey archer gears never did work the same again. Happy days.
I first rode in my local woods in 1967, I still ride there now. My first bike called a mountain bike 1985.
1990........ marin palisades if i recall, grey with yellow forks, stem and bars and a shimano 300ex groupset with biopace rings......lllluuuvvvverrleee!
I started in 1987 and did my first race on a steel Emmelle at Leisure Lakes near Preston in 1990 - I was 10 years old. I did not finish because my crank fell off.
1996 or perhaps 1995
2009 GT Avalanche 1.0 😳
remember issue 1 of MBUK and my first MTB, a Ridgeback 600 STI. Year was probably around '88? Had a bit of an outage between the mid nineties and last year though, although I had a couple MTBs in that period, I rarely rode. No idea why I stopped. Am loving riding again now though 🙂
First dabbled on my brothers Giant Super Sierra in 87-88...then got my own saracen in 92...aaaah .. memories.
Can't remember the year, early nineties - Peugot ATB in white with the colour flashes like a 206 GTI! That was followed by a lurid green and orange Emelle Cheetah(?). Next was a Diamondback Sorrento with the best paintjob ever! Black with a metallic purple stripeytypethingsortofish. Still have it but the BB is seized in the frame and I can't get it out, otherwise it would be polished and on the wall. All bought from Madigan cycles in Carrickfergus, I loved going up to that shop!
Bought my first bike with suspension forks for my 21st birthday when I had moved to Edinburgh; Marin Bear Valley, in a lovely red - frame soon to be for sale at a bargain-tastic price as I need to clear out some space in the garage 😀
hmm, we were always riding our BMX's offroad, but I guess that doesn't really count.
First ATB was a Peugeot Ranger back in 1987. Broke 2 of them so Mycycles gave me a Peugeot Laser 15. Didn't break that one.
First proper MTB was an '89 Cannondale SM600 beast of the east which I bought from Mycycles in Malvern in 1990. That lasted me nearly 6 years, which has to be the longest I've ever owned one bike!
would probably be about 1985/6. My first bike was an 'orrid Apollo from Halfrauds, with 'Oversized Tubing' hmmm, oversized, and heavy, hi-tensile steel frame, 15 gears and some sort of suspension forks.
Second bike (after the first one got nicked) was a Shogun Trailbreaker with STX-RC bits and rigid forks.
Third Bike was a Giant Boulder Alu-shock, 21 gears, suntour forks, bought in 1999.
Current bike, Orange G2, got last year.
So at the moment i'm averaging about 8 years per change of bike. (if you count the first two as one bike!)
Could we brake (pun intended ;)) the STW posting record with this one 😉
1989 - Raleigh amazon with 100GS groupset.
Eventually saved up enough for a 1993 Kona fire mountain - Exage LT and Deore DX thumbies. First ride i went over a wall that was 2' one side, but more like 10' the other and totalled the front wheel, talk about heart broken!
Somebody posted that Exage stuff didn't appear until 1993, i kind of agree. 1993 onwards was Exage LT and ES with deore LX, DX, XT and eventually XTR above. Previously below the deore ranges there had been 300, 400 and 500LX, but i think that there may have been a much older Exage groupset. Feel free to prove me wrong!
As so many others are saying, it scares me now what i used to ride on the old Raleigh
1987 with a Raleigh Maverick for me.
Prior to that I rode off road on a Raleigh Chipper and later an Elswick Superstar BMX. The Raleigh Chipper was my first bike - think Chopper but smaller in canary yellow. i hankered for a mountain bike ever since I read about a Kuwahara in BMX Action Bike in the early 80s.
If you like retro, have a look at my old Speccy Carbon and steel frame which is currently residing upstairs in Biketreks in Ambleside. Almost entirely original tat, sorry, retro loveliness - Grafton, Cook Brothers, Syncros forks etc.
There is something very cool to me of growing up and continuing to be passionate about a sport that you did from a very early age.
Cheers
Sanny
Hey Sanny I had a Raleigh Maverick as well, only the 5 gear version.
I got it in 1985 and rode it in Kent and Wales until I got my Ridgeback 700 in 1990. I've still got my Ridgeback!
I used to love MBUK back then it was all about getting out and riding. but then they turned into the trash they are now. I'm Glad the likes of MBR and Singletrack are around
🙂
Laters - Matt
86/87 with a Red Ridgeback S - Loved that bike. Obviously I would have loved a muddyfox courier more, but that was crazy money on my income.
1988, Raleigh Mustang; 15 gears, steel rims, nasty paintjob, 36lbs...
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1991 on a raleigh highlander - 200gs gears, Biopace chainset, plastic levers and brakes, cheng shin tyres, vetta gel saddle and a reynolds 501 frameset with the most awesome paint job ever - Teal coloured forks and head tube fading into white fading into hot pink on the chain and seatstays.
Thats was a proper colour scheme.
Not sure if this counts I had a Raleigh RSW 16 for my 12th birthday in 1974 and use to ride it in the mountains above my home, much later the 9feet.com trail was built in the same area.
But in 1998 went team building in the Peaks where I rode a Marin in the rain, hail & snow, dressed in a pair of Ron hills, cotton tee shirt and a pac-a-mac. 😆
83/84 ish.
Fitted cross tyres, a bmx stem and flat bars to my dad's touring bike, removed the mudguards, and pretended I was a motor x bike. Weighed about 28lb so was pretty svelt.
A break in cycling between 1990 to 1993 then bought a Trek Singletrack 950 with True Temper OX2 tubing and full xt groupset.
First proppa MTB in 2000....
But.....
First proppa jumps & riding bumpy stuff in about 1973-74 on a bike with big wheels,no gears,no suspension & no stickers on it to say what it was called either.Fell off loads,got back up & had another go.Plenty of split lips,cracked a cheek bone,knocked out my two front teeth, had a fair few trips to the hospital to be sewn back up & a couple of cracked ribs too.
Alas I now have the bike that that was built for it but not the body or the confidence to do half of what I did as a kid.... 😯
Started proper mtbing in '97 on a Kona cindercone.
Remember riding around Gwydyr forest near Betws long before any man made trails. Also wearing silly clothes, like Ron Hill joggers and big sweat shirts, also mens shoes, 'cos they didn't do Ladies.
Once went riding in the Peaks in a downpour, wearing my Mums bright yellow waterproof golfing suit, T'was very hot and sweaty. Managed to tangle the trousers into the chainring and ripping them. Should have worn a bike clip.
Around 88 or thereabouts with a KHS. Razzing around woods was a nice alternative to the road and track.
Stopped shortly after, started again in 03/04.
Bought a wrought iron Peugeot from halfords in around 91 for dicking about on canoe slalom sites (ridding up & down the course checking out the lines) – and commuting – started doing longer rides around 93 – the Peugeot fell apart in ’94 when I bought my first Clockwork and became a full mountain biker
That said I was hammering around Roundhay Park & Gledhow Valley woods in Leeds way back in the early 70s
1987 ish. Huge purple Raleigh Mirage before graduating to a clockwork.
Eee them were the days.
(Max had a flourescent Shogun trailbreaker I seem to remember!)
Oct 2006. Age 40 and a quarter. Do I win a prize for being n00b? Bought a carrera kraken. Killed it in 4 months after the 2nd frame had been replaced. Got a Dawg Primo in Jan 07 and then really fell in love with the sport.
I started to follow the sport in 2004 then got serious in 2005/2006. Had my first taste of true mountain biking in wales on the marin in 2007.
About '72. And that's singlespeed, but not fixed.
Can't figure out how to put pic on this page though.
started with a 1993 Raleigh Apex with 400LX gears and a girven flexstem on it! nice. got a paper round and over the course of about 12 months put nearly full 94 XT on it
85, Overburys crossfell, biopace chainset when they were new and expensive, think the bike cost £550.
1988 Ridgeback, then spent my student loan on a Kona, never looked back. 😉
Still wish i was fitter, faster, better.....
1896, military issue "iron horse" with mary bars and rod brakes.
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1988 for me.
Diamondback Ascent EX was my first mtb.
I used to ride my raleigh striker through the woods that gnarly dudes now ride long travel DH bikes down!
I used to ride my raleigh striker through the woods that gnarly dudes now ride long travel DH bikes down!
Did they ever stop and say "hello"?
Muddy Fox Courier pearl white with yellow decals canti brakes, saddle made from what looked like giraffe hide.
Bought, one of the first, at Avon valley cyclery in about 1986. very common bike at races along with the Ridgeback. Very early days of mountain biking and to get over to llanyrtyd wells was no more than a dream. Quite often saw Tim Flooks in full flight on the Quantocks. Anyone remember Jeremy .......? An early pioneer and influenced by what was happening in the states.
First Mountain Bike was back in 1987 with a Claud Butler something or other. It was purple. I know that much. I smashed the BB out of the frame doing drops in the quarry.
Next up was a British Eagle, then a Raleigh, then a Marin, then... (the list goes on and on and on)
Still love it 🙂
Speaking of all these Muddy Foxs'... did anyone see any of the 10 special gold plated ones they made?
here it is [img] [/img]
MrNutt - Member
I used to ride my raleigh striker through the woods that gnarly dudes now ride long travel DH bikes down!
Would those be the Woods Behind Nationwide in Swindon?
It's actually the woods near Pittshanger Lane, opposite the Hoover building.
How did you post the pic???
1988 on my Muddy Fox Roadrunner then bought an Orange Clockwork from Schmoos Cycles in Swansea in ~1990 and LOVED ever minute of it - had to do 2 paper rounds every day for 6 months just to pay back my parents the £600 it was !
Still regret selling the Orange... 🙁
Orange C16R with full STX-RC was my first bike in the 90's. Did a fair bit on it and then bought a Sub 5.
1986
My mum took me offroading (and salmon poaching and shooting) in the early 60s, I was on a tricycle, she was on a raleigh shopper....
singlespeeding on t farm in the 70s
rejoined mtbing after motorbike trail riding got a bit to political in the very late 80s.
RSF type stuff back in the 70s on my converted road race bike - cyclo cross tubs and inverted cut off drops
1990 - GT Tequesta in Purple Haze, with Suntour XC-E groupset.
Yeah, those woods behind the Duke of Kent are well gnarly.
Jesus there are some blasts from the past on here 😉
must have started around 86-87 on a Claud Butler Spectre with Shimano 500LX and Reynolds 501 tubes 😉
after lots of wood riding on the totally unsuitable cammando star bike i got a black and white raleigh mustang the first black and white one sometime around 87 iirc . weighed a ton lol i took all the stickers off sometime later in its life and stuck on neon cables and stickers and a nice triangle frame bag/shoulder carrier thing in neon (i think they came free in mbuk lol) i also used to lust after the marin range (with neon bits on) in two wheels good in leeds 😉
1989 - not that you can tell - twenty years and one week back. Bought the bike the week before but then was away on a field trip for a week before I got to ride it properly. First ride was a circuit of Richmond Park and poor attempts at jumping on east sheen common.
probably about 87 on a Raleigh Winner - all my mates had mustangs! 😀
properly in 99 on a Trek 7000 on the west coast of the states. Only got rid of it last year to someone on here
Raleigh Mustang in the late 80's for me too, after i broke my BMX!
Started bmx in '82, first mountain bike was alpinestars cromega DX in '89ish (still got it in original spec, for sale if anyone wants some old school humour), forgot mtb and concentrated on bmx until big injury in 2002.
Started mtbing again as a SAFER alternative in 2004ish. Still got a lovely bmx race bike though for special occasions.
I have memories of being bought a Peugeot 'mountain bike' when I was 10(ish), c. 1988 and then a progression of Raleighs. Messed around with BMX's quite a bit in my younger days too.
My first proper mountain bike was a Marin Rift Zone bought 2nd hand in '02 when I moved to the Lake District.
never been without a bike since I had my first one sometime around 1973-74. Used to go scrambling in the woods starting sometime in the late seventies on our Raleighs and what have you and in the eighties I always had racers. It was 1990 I when I got my first mountain bike, a Peugeot Adventurer. Purple frame, pink forks and yellow handlebars I think.
Keva