The other thread about the paradigm shift mountain bikes got me thinking. When I was about 13, we used to convert our crap sit up and beg bikes to tracker bikes (knobbly tyres, cowhorn handlebars, paint them up a bit etc), and then ride them off road and jump them and stuff. That would have been about 1979-1980. We only did this because we saw some older lads doing the same thing, so I guess my question is:
Was your first mountain bike a proper mountain bike, and were you the person who started it all?
(that old bo11x about MTBs being invented in Marin County is crap - they were invented when a bunch of kids fitted knobblies and wide handlebars in Great Britain)
by Geoff Apps.that old bo11x about MTBs being invented in Marin County is crap - they were invented
My first off road bike was somebodys road race bike I bought umpteenth hand.
I put cyclocross tubs on it and inverted the bars and cut the ends off. many a mile riding over hill and dale on that. Road gearing, tubs and centerpull brakes!
Mine was a singlespeed - a bit niche for it's time - oh hang on, we all had single speeds. Maybe gears would have been niche?
Who's Geoff Apps?
I treated my Raleigh Grifter like a mountain bike until it died. I then had a Claude Butler 10 speed tourer which also got horribly abused.
First 'proper' mtb came from the police auctions - still had a U lock on it. A neon yellow Muddy Fox with tasteful neon pink paw prints all over it.
Took me about two weeks to bend the forks back - exactly what did for my Grifter 🙁
Raleigh Grifter for me. Then later a Jeep. Used to ride the same trails we're riding today. One of the hot summers (77?) they came to lay a gas pipeline near across the fields - we used to ride it for miles
raleigh mustang later fitted with a grivin flex stem
a rockhopper with very early boingy rubber bung forks
then had my baby which was a dave lloyd and i loved it
Dawes Wildcat, reynolds tubing and 531 curved forks, 22 years ago purchased, still being used by brother-in-law every day.
BMX round Richmond Park, mainly the woody bit just off Sheen Road.
yellow muddy fox, I remember looking at those and just wishing the folks had enough coin to get me one, never did get one, then again I can't really remember what I got around that time, 1992 Was a cannondale, then an purple Kona explosive with Mag 20's and pretty blue Ringle bling, got the forks back last year after being lay in martinxyz;s attic for 14-15 years as I had stopped biking until last year, God what I missed and how bikes had evolved.
Was about 12 or so got a second hand specialized hard rock off of my aunts husband who was importing them at the time. That was probably around 1989.
It was a Raleigh something. Best bike of the village because it had both a suspension fork and a front disc brake 😆
Raleigh Bomber
Couple of mates used to have Raleigh Grifters when they first came out, didn't they have a rear brake that you had to pedal backwards to get it to work?
(that old bo11x about MTBs being invented in Marin County is crap...)
But true. People have been riding bicycles off road for years (the Roughstuff Fellowship, for example, have been going for years) but the term Mountain Bike (MTB) was coined in the good ol' US of A.
I was riding a big old black thing with rod brakes off-road back in the early sixties, my first 'ATB was a Peugeot Laser in the late eighties, my first MTB came at the end of the nineties 8)
Couple of mates used to have Raleigh Grifters when they first came out, didn't they have a rear brake that you had to pedal backwards to get it to work?
No, but they did have a 3-speed hub gear (shurmey archer? maybe) that had a secret fourth gear - it had a habit of dropping into neutral when you were under full load, causing an impromtu kneecap / crossbar interface issue.
My off road riding started on a 10 speed Coventry Eagle road bike. Replaced in 1986 with a Rockhopper.All the bits from that went onto a Roberts White Spider frame a couple of years later. That was eventually replaced with a Marin East Peak in 1998. Now I have a thorn Catalyst but I've just bought some new cables and I'm going to get the East Peak going again.
A Diamond Back Ascent bougth out of the paper for £50. It was a stupidly massive 18" frame I was only 12, I had to stop next to a curb or steep bank if I wanted to get on or off the thing. And I'm pretty sure I had some serious hyper extension going on in the leg area just to reach the pedals.
I remember having many non-stop rides due to it not being unlike trying to get on a penny farthing and stopping was too much effort!
Still, after learning my trade on that poor fitting clunker I did alright after that!
OMG, it was one of these!
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apart from riding my BMX across the fields and through the woods, it was an Apollo Atomic from Halfords in about 1990, with 24" wheels.
Weighed about a ton, but looked sweet with a fluoro green Cosmic Trail corner bag, seat cover, Farmer John tyres and the pimp Scott AT-4 aero handlebars.
All bikes were mountain bikes in my day, still are come to think of it.
But we have much to be grateful to the USA mob because without them we'd still be riding mountain trails on "fat" 1 1/2" tyres. To me fat tyres defines it. Everything else is unnecessary marketing tatt.
A Raleigh Activator II.
Big gate of a thing but it got me hooked!
As a kid - before I was aware of "Mountain Bikes", I rode whatever I had wherever it would go without breaking (my Allegro Gnasher BMX was a particular highlight). I got my first Mountain Bike (Specialized Hard Rock) at about the age I was happy to venture further afield, but then still had most fun just "messin' around". Sadly that was when I started money on bike bits as well 😐
Raleigh Super Bomber
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Raleigh tomahawk (1977?), Raleigh grifter, Eddy Merckx racer, loads of bmx's, Alpinestars cromega DX (1991). After that lot it was bmx all the way until recently.
I had a 5-speed Raleigh racer as a kid and just road it on-road, although I did roam far and wide on it. First MTB was a Carrera Kraken about 10 or so years ago. Not the best bike in the world (and it was a little too big) but it got me started.
Like AnalogueAndy I had a Raleigh Jeep in the 70s.
Rode on trails made on local coal "bings" similar to the terrain on todays jump parks.
I could manual all day on that bike back then, cant do it now.
I dont remeber doing much more than fixing punctures and replacing spokes, so I reckon it held up pretty well given the abuse. But, I was a lot lighter then, probably only 7 stone.
Try this Blog: www.clelandcycles.wordpress.com/bikes-1978-2010/
Raleigh Bomber for me too. Super Bomber, WTF? I had a 26" wheeled viscount bmx thing beforehand. Broke the frame and transferred the red alloy wheels to the Bomber. A couple of axles and many neutral gear dismounts later and I had my first "proper" mountain bike- a Raleigh Mustang, all 50 lb of it!
It was this:
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And it was awful 
But then it was awful for its time. then I had a rigid tange-framed carrera which I still have, which was pretty decent for its time but by contrast even with my modern rigid is absolutely dire.
I had a purple raleigh mustang back in about 1989/90, I would go all over the place on it when I was about 13 / 14. Then drink, drugs and girls with hooters, came along and I forgot all about biking.
In 1998 I got a univega racelite cromeology frame/bike, which I then modified. Then I got a giant boulder alu lite which I altered to suit my needs, including a set of Rockshox Indi S forks, 2.5cm of travel. ROCK ON!!!