[Closed] Contrary to all that now glitters,what was your first bike and when did it start

blue pig. december.

1991, purple saracen something or other, rigid, 21 speed 500LX group.

As a kid

Raleigh Boxer then a Grifter and then a Mustang (lived in Notts)

First proper MTB was a 1996 Alpinestar asr600 mega light and rigid, still got it.

Raleigh Maverick mid 80s.First rode Overburys Fellrider in 1984 at the Bristol bike show,and bought one over 20 years later

First proper MTB was a 1996 Alpinestar asr600 mega light and rigid

elevated chainstays and splatter paint-job????

Ultra Burner 1982

[img] [/img]

One of these - first got me in to riding off road.

A mini mag burner in 83 followed by a vector, first decent mtb was a trek 8000 around 1990.

Not counting a Raleigh Budgie then a Strika then (quite randomly) an ex-race Tange Hot Heart-framed BMX... First mtb:

[IMG] [/IMG]

A Raleigh Marauder Index. Being an Index model meant it had 18 count em 18 gears, and a SIS shifter on the rear. Little wheels, immensely heavy frame, plastic tyres, it was s**t but I loved it.

Sold that for a Carrera Krakatoa Flex which I still have nearly 20 years later. Lovely thing, terrible flexstem aside it was just a load of decent reliable parts bolted to a Tange frame and fork.

Raleigh:

Boxer, Grifter, Arena, Mustang, then the defining moment, an 89 Saracen

[img] http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/retrobikeguy/Saracenpage4.jp g" target="_blank">http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/retrobikeguy/Saracenpage4.jp g"/> [/img]

1989 Marin Bear Valley, gate sized.

1989 Marin Bear Valley

Forgetting all the bikes I had prior, the first bike to 'get me out there' was a brand new Dawes 5 speed. It was in my old LBS - Birds of Colindale. Every weekend after I got paid from my paper round I put another down payment on it. As a kid I'd stand in front of the shop in the evening eating a bag of chips looking at 'my' bike hanging up in the window.
Then one Saturday down went the last payment, and the owner wheeled it out to me, it was a big moment for me.
The owner at the time was real old school and had been one of the boys when Claud Butler was the main man. He also knew many pros. To my surprise when I took hold of the bike, he said wait I've got something for you. From behind the counter he lifted out a set of Fiamme on Campag sprints (tubs) they were Nigel Deans old training wheels, but more than good enough for me to race on the following weekend.
Sorry to blub on

Memory of first bike was a £99 Halfords Emmelle Cheetah but I would say first proper MTB was 1993 Kona Fire Mountain, it got nicked after 3 months and new bikes came out, insurance paid out and I was gutted that the 1994 Fire Mountains were red. I hated it but couldn't get anything else, stillgot the beauty and love it to bits now, would cry if I lost it. Started mind in early 1993. Those were the days of biking, all day, no cares or worries. tuff tops, Nike poo bahs and Onza pedals, bar ends and flat bars were the dream and no-one wore baggies,lycra or jeans!!!! 😉

Some frame made of pig iron in about 1970 with short alloy guards and a pair of wwwwwide braced bars off a scrambler. I had to prise open the stem to get them to fit. It was sh**e, but I rode it all over Cambridge!
After that - I bought my first proper mtb in 1994, a Diamond Back Ascent with a dark blue splatter paint job. Cool as.........

Another riding mate at the time had a Kona Fire Mountain. Just remember them being great to wheelie on!

A pink Cinelli in 1987

A 10 speed Raleigh Nitro with godawful SIS shifters... I think I was about 10 (so in 1995.)

I had the usual bikes as a kid including an ultra burner, then a raleigh mustang, followed by an activator which thankfully got stolen and was replaced by a raleigh max cromo which is what got me into mountain biking, following this i bought a gt avalanche, great bike covered 1000's of miles on it used for commuting, road rides and mtb'ing. since been replaced but it was a great bike.

First mtb was a Ridgeback 603GS...thankfully that was stolen and was replaced with a GT Timberline...1992 I think, white paint with black 'zebra' splatter job. 'Tastefully' improved with pink flexstem and pink onZa bar-ends 🙂

Then came a 94 Cinder Cone...proper bike with RockShox Quadras which didn't move much. Still got it, but it never gets ridden though...I think the chainstays may only be held together by the paint now.

there's a lot of love for the old bikes...........

The first bike I rode off road was a British Eagle Cannon, so called because it was made from one, 15 speed SIS shifters and plastic brakes, truly horrible. After that I had a Saracen Rufftrax and can't believe some of the rides I did on that (none of the gear and no idea :D)

First bike that was not a hand-me-down from one of my brothers was a Kalkhoff Concorde "racer" in about 1978/79. All I can remember is that it was blue.

When that got stolen I was taken to MK Cycles for a new bike. I begged and begged like only a 10 year can for a BMX but was told by my Dad "what do you want one of those stupid things for, it hasn't even got any gears".

I got another "racer". A Viscount Tony Doyle signature model, in white, complete with KP Crisps sponsor stickers on the forks.

Can't recall what happened to that but had a couple of second hand mountain bikes of no particular note until 1992 when I bought my Orange Clockwork.

Fast forward to today when I have three singlespeed bikes - see Dad, you were wrong about those gears 😀

GT Timberline approx. 1993
[img] [/img]

with derailieur guard....

Started riding coed y Brenin fire roads in 1990 as i lived just round the corner. It was on a 21 inch giant escape.
I'm only 5'6, got conned into buying it - " of course it's the right size for you". Loved it though and thrashed it till it snapped.

5 speed Raleigh Maverick which got squashed by a left turning transit van was my first bike that could be conceivably described as an MTB. Replaced by a Peugeot 10 speed thing, rubbish, frame bent after a couple of months. First definitely proper MTB was a Dave Hinde Dragon with AMP research forks, circa 1995. Is still being ridden by my uncle, (sadly minus the knackered forks)

My first bike was a Raleigh Strika, with a "pedal back" back brake - I was the best skidder in our street!

[img] [/img]

My first Mountain Bike was a Black Saracen Limited Edition
[img] [/img]

1991 Raleigh Apex [url= http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=97665&sid=3168c75379bf2273dc5d8a283b7c9afa ]like this one[/url].

As well as its intended use it also went time-trialling (with tri-bars...) and chain-ganging. It got relegated to hack-bike in '94 or '95 when I bought an Orange Prestige.

First proper bike - Raleigh Tomahawk (mid 70s)
First bmx - Pro-star MX1 (1983/4)
First mtb - Alpinstars cro-mega DX (1991)

1985 Rockhopper first ride endo.

[img] [/img]

Gary?

my first mtb

[IMG] [/IMG]

with this for extra speed

[IMG] [/IMG]

now ride this

[IMG] [/IMG]

A slight difference and scare myself on how I rode those trails on a Courier - I'm hoping a lot quicker today 😉

No idea what my first bike was. The first bike I properly remember was this old racer frame a mate gave me, double rimmed cyclocross wheels, the fattest tyres I could find, motorbike handlebars, a bmx headset and stem. Nowadays we'd call it a mountain bike but back then they were called trackers. Everyone had one. They were all 29ers too, how radical was that? This is in the 70's you understand. Curse my lack of marketing skill.

I snapped mine jumping over about 10 kids off a ramp.

In line with accepted criteria, my first official mountain bike was a Scott of some description (I remember now, it was a Bandera), that too bit the dust jumping off a big ramp. Life is a circle, it seems. But then I got a scott Race Comp. WOW! Light, very stiff, suspension forks (admittedly RS Judy's), but whatever. That thing moved like nothing else over the rough stuff. I was hooked forever on modern technology after that.

[i]my first mtb[/i]

Prepare to cack yourself. One of my friends, who occassionally comes on here, still rides that bike.

This picture was taken in 2006!
[url= http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2561553666_11c4dce07c.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2561553666_11c4dce07c.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/53067724@N00/2561553666/ ]muddyfox[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/53067724@N00/ ]Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

87 Tufftrax. Bent the rear axle and everything.

First bike that was not a hand-me-down from one of my brothers was a Kalkhoff Concorde "racer"

That was my first proper bike as well. First MTB was a Claud Butler with rigid forks. The frame was too large. But that's traditional with your first bike.

green cruiser with white wall tyres - f#ck knows what make it was but I loved it so much that when the rear tyre 'wore out not through skidding honest dad' I rode it on the rimas best I could _ dad gave in and bought me' another,new tyre.
this was superceded by a 5 speed raleigh arena - thanks for making me slightly obsessed and giving me a healthy dose of wanderlust

Replaced by a Peugeot 10 speed thing, rubbish, frame bent after a couple of months.

I've been looking for a pic of these on google images, thankfully I can't find one, they were proper heavy...

My first ever bike was one my old man found dumped, I still remember to this day them (parents) finding it at the side of the road, much hushed conversation later it was chucked in the boot of the car. A week or so later I was presented with what I thought was the coolest pressie ever, he'd (whilst on nights) stripped back and resprayed the frame, new tyres and full set of decals which probably included loads of rally stickers. Tight ****er, but my dad all the same!!

Used to ride round the woods near Bath in the late 60s, early 70s on an Elswick Hopper - 3spd Sturmey Archer job with the knobbliest tyres [i.e. not very] available then and a pair of bent handlebars off a crashed trials motorbike.

Mid 80s had a yellow 15 spd thing with a three letter name something like MBK. Memorable feature was the U brake on the back just behind the BB - if there is a better way to jam the back wheel with mud I haven't found it.

First proper MTB was a 1992 Raleigh, which I still ride regularly, though its been heavily updated over the years, currently has Rebas at the front and discs both ends.

[IMG] [/IMG]
My first MTB, put together from the bits of broken fleet bikes at the outdoor center I worked at. Still ride it.

It was some very small wheeled silver fixie, whose DIY alu alloy stabilisers failed due to fatigue on the way to playgroup. Haven't had a fixie since... Then a small BMX, then a normal BMX and then a Peugeot MTB with 24" (alloy!) wheels and 15 speed non-indexed gears in '88.

first bike was called a golden arrow, dunno who made it but it was the first one as a kid without stabilisers, this would be in the early 70's . First offroad bike was a raleigh arena racer 5 speed, with different bars on and slightly meatier tyres and a hand painted frame. We used to call this a "tracker" this was before mountainbiking had been "invented"! Following on from this my first proper mountainbike in approx 1989/90 was a gt karakoram in a blue and splatter paint job.

Tangerine Puch Murray BMX in about 1979 (I think) - I actually raced it a few times! Various lashed up off road bikes after that. Grifters, racers with knobblies and cowhorn bars etc..

First "mountain bike" was a Purple Emmelle Cheetah in early 90s with biopace cranks and new-fangled indexed gears.

You may sneer but I absolutely hammered for years without it breaking. Including riding some mad drops and rock gardens on the coast path. Was still running it as a complete bike up until about 5 years ago and as a bodged singlespeed up until last year - frame is still in garage, covered in bumpy black hammerite!

my first MTB was a £100 universal (1991). it was awful, double chainset, hi-tensile steel. the brake levers were plastic and broke after about a month, but i still rode it.

then i saved and bought a diamond back topanga (1994) - what a great bike! i sold it to my german teacher at college, and convinced her that her tiny son would grow into it... 😆

First "proper" MTB was a 2001 Giant Terrago, still got it and still ride it (occasionally)

1990 raleigh elan road bike, saved up for 6 months for my first road bike at 16 and even though i never ride it now it's still in the garage!!

1st mtb 1998 Marin Indian Fire Trail- Graduation gift to self!! Still have this too!!

[img] [/img]

Something very similiar to this but gold with whitewall tyres. This was the mid 70's. My dad rescued it from a skip.

I rode scrambler bikes in the woods as a kid but first 'proper' MTB was a Diamondback Sorrento. I was on cricket tour in Bath one summer and it was pissing with rain so that day's game was off, and in a bid to stay out of the pub as long as possible wandered into a bike shop and fell in love with the look of them.

First real mtb worthy of the name was a rigid chromoly rockhopper that I soon upgraded with RST Mozo pros. I remember one wet day suffering all over the Surrey Hills on that trying to follow a 16 mile MTBR route, but that was really when I was hooked, when a train of riders (shop ride maybe) came hammering past, ducked in through a bush somewhere and down this trail that was barely bar wide. First real singletrack, still ride it now.

I had hand me downs and got laughed at untill I was 11 then got a Peugeot terrifik 18speed, all my mates had 12 speed so I was like the king. I could hardly sit on it as the frame was far too big. I gave it to charity the other year after it sat in my Parents garage for years gathering dust.

First proper mountain bike was a Diamondback Axis ex-team bike from 1992. Was stolen and recovered before I bought it from a police auction for next to nothing. Full XTR and some RS1's on it too. Horrible forks. They were changed to some Mag 21's which were a bit better. Still have it in the loft in bits waiting for the day I can afford to rebuild it. Along with a Raven, Proflex 955 and a Pace Rc200 F1!!!!

Elswick Hopper corrupted into a tracker bike (cow horns, nobblers, slanted saddle) followed by a Condor Cadet made into a fixie (78 and 69 inch) with tubeless sprint wheels...stolen outside the a pub in Manchester, 1978, the night before my last finals paper.

Raleigh Mantis. Soon replaced with a 1996 Rockhopper.

GB

First "proper" MTB was a Ridgeback 601, possibly the heaviest bike ever made. Got hooked though and went to buy a hardtail at the LBS, unfortunately they saw me coming a mile off. I am 5'10" and they sold me a 21" Alpinestars, I could hardly get on the damn thing. Spent a year falling off and causing GBH to myself before going down the correctly sized FS route 🙄

Aaah, rose tinted specs on.... Mine was a 1986 Saracen Tufftrax in custard yellow.

Mastiles Lane around that time, wellies were derigeur:

[IMG] [/IMG]

1990 Marin Eldridge Grade, Rigid; Badass grey 'Zolatone' paint job with flouro red forks stem and bars. mixture of lx and Dx, wolber rims which were nigh on impossible to get tyres off, and a gel saddle covered in lycra which worked better as a sponge than a sponge does! Dad sold it 2 years back for 50 quid.

Slimtubing, you've made me do it. [i]That[/i] 1989 Pine Mountain again:

[IMG] [/IMG]

Pre Zolatone but shared the soggy lycra saddle (since ditched) and is still early XT.

First bike I can remember was a Raleigh Burner, that bike took some abuse, took me a while to get the hang of stopping by using the brakes, just used to aim for a solid object in the park and come to a stop by riding into it (not a lots changed now!), first mountain bike was a 1997 Dawes Edge in a lovely orange, wish I hadn't sold it now...

I seem to remember always wanting to ride my bike(s) off-road, might have had something to do with my dad being into trials motorbikes at the time.
My first 'off-road' bike was a Raliegh Grifter, started off that metallic blue but was soon inexpertly repainted silver & gold. Bright yellow BMX grips as well IIRC. All my mates were riding spanky new super & ultra burners but i had this old, partly broken Grifter & i loved it 🙂

Eventually died when the steerer tube snapped as my mate was pulling a wheely on it....

That Raleigh Apex......that was second bike. Bought from Dougie Mansfield in Mytholmroyd. Mrs Rock insists it was a pink frame, the literature said Rose red! Flex-stem and power grips.
Brilliant.