[Closed] Do you remember your first?

1988 Emmelle Dolomite. Went up Rivi for the first time on it with my Dad and Uncle. My Dad had a matching dolomite and my uncle had a yellow stumpjumper

My mate bought a muddy fox courier comp which sparked me into buying a saracen limited edition back in the late eighties. It had a 23" frame bearing in mind my road bike was 25". My orange crush is 19" in comparisson.

My first was a Dawes Jackal although a 23.5" frame so I "could grow into it" was perhaps not the best choice! I think my parents thought I was going to be 8'!!!!

One of the first bikes I really hankered after was the Fisher CR7. Until then, everything seemed to be prestige and XT. The CR7 was something different.

Apollo full sus thing. First "proper" MTB and actually used for MTBing was a Giant.

A 1995 Marin Hawk Hill. I still have it (well, the frame and forks built into a super bodge SS).

Muddy Fox Courier Comp, probably about 1989. A couple of the posh/spoilt kids at school had them. Oh, and someone had a Tushingham.

First: (26", borrowed off Dad) Raleigh Maverick

Had a 22" MBK and 24" Diamondback before that.

Then a Saracen Rufftrax (weighed 40+lb, horrible geometry, but lasted a good couple of years before the cassette was beyond the ninja throwing star phase)

Then a carrera fury (well built, good spec, crap geometry)

Then a DMR switchback (arguably a proper mountainbike)

Then a 456, my first sideways step in MTB, untill now everythings been a huge leap forewards, this was just a change.

Had a few flings allong the way, full sus, carbon, but they've all been sold in under a couple of months.

The first one I rode for what could be recognised at mountain biking was a "Concept Arrow".

Basically rubbish, and lasted less than 10 rides before I was hooked on the sport and frustrated by the failures (bent wheels, bent seatpost, wobbly BB, seized forks, rubbish brakes, seized gear shifters). So I went and bought a Specialized Rockhopper which was fantastic.

Oddly enough, I just wrote a [url= http://iamnotasinglespeeder.blogspot.com/2010/08/full-circle.html ]blog post[/url] about my first MTB ride on that original piece of junk.

A Schwinn woodlands (lived in the US at the time) bit of a gate of a thing but it did have massive risers on it and was great for blatting about in the woods. I was 11 I think.

GT Avalanche I bought in about 1998/9. I just thought it looked great, I was getting measured up for a road bike at the time and I saw it. I walked out with two bikes. 😆
Road bike was retired after a big off split the head tube and the GT retired a month ago due to a small crack in the top tube head tube join.

First proper MTB was a diamond back sorrento that I got in 1992'sh and I carted around the Outer Hebrides on it.

My GF at the time got a rockhopper !

First MTB a saw was a muddy fox courier as they had a shop in London off Tottenham Court Road somewhere I think.

Raleigh Even More Extreme was my first mtb, aged about 8. I hated it for years because my parents did the trick of buying it much too big for me so "i'd grow into it". My 16" wheel bmx was much more fun, i could bunny hop that thing like a beast.

Had a Claud Butler & Holdsworth back in the day....

Then....which I consider to my first real MTB......a Kona Lavadome, of which had plenty of time in my local forest, by this time I was totally hooked on mountain biking 🙂

I think I saw a specialized bike out on the trails, recently gave in bought my first full susser..........love it even more now!!

First proper MTB was a diamond back sorrento that I got in 1992'sh

Monty - Was it black & high viz yellow? if so, that was mine too, in fact its still in the garage!! 😆

Mine was a Marin it had the Luminous forks and stem and that grey teflon style paint would have been around 88. Had a muddy fox before that, was a huge gate of a thing and didn't go off road but that Marin was the fiorst bike that got me into the woods. I think it was a Palisades trail.

Well it wasn't a mountain bike, but a £100 canti-braked Apollo hybrid I bought in the early 90's. I started riding a few bridleways from time to time which was nice. Then did The Gap route on it (I walked the couple of awkward sections) which rattled it to bits somewhat. Then one day I hit a local bridleway at speed and got thrown off, chipping a tooth and spraining a wrist. It made me realise that I really ought to be riding a mountain bike!

Now I think about it, my first "mountain bike" was a bike I had in the 70s with the drop bars replaced with some huge cow horns and hammered around the local park. 😆

Ah now, the cowhorns! Still, not a mountain bike but good memory!

A Raleigh Mustang. £180's worth of 15-geared purple splattered steel rimmed 36lb loveliness. 'Upgraded' it with some alloy Mavic Argent rims (saved [b]4LBS[/b] of weight!!) and Exage Country indexed gears. 'Off-roaded' up Hampstead Heath, where it was a sheer joy to be able to ride a bike somewhere other than a road. Gave me the buzz for mountain biking.

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(Not mine)

My first was a Raleigh Maverick. It was a collection of metallic turd brown tubing shaped roughly like a bike. It had five gears, cow horn bars and had tyres that punctured every time you rode on anything apart from dry tarmac. I got it when I was about 11-12 and it was so awful it put me off cycling.

It was only a bright red Dawes Ultra road bike that got me back on two wheels. That must have been in the early ninties when all mountain bikes looked like garish scaffolding factory explosions. Used to quite like the look of Marins as they were relatively understated.

Don Simon +1

Was my dads BSA tourer 3 speed, CX style tyres and cow horns, snapped 2 stems using that in about 1979 🙂

A friend gave me his MBK in about '88, horrid multicoloured green yellow and whatever. He brought it back from France so at least it was authentic!

Ah now, the cowhorns! Still, not a mountain bike but good memory!

I couldn't find a mountain bike in the 70s.

Pioneers we were, rOcKeTdOg and me!!! 😉

In hindsight I was ahead of my time...

My mate had a Peugot Alpina 15speed mtb but alas my parents in their wisdom thought a racer would be better so used to use my 10 speed peugot racer with the "gnarliest" rubber I could find. Rode most of what is in the end2end route on it though 😀

My fist "proper" mtb was an 18spd Shogun with toe clips n everything.. must have been about 90-91 i guess ... deary me.

damm double post!

Borrowed my Dad's Al Carter. Weighed a ton. So borrowed a mate's de-badged (probably nicked) thing and put some decent shifters on it. Then borrowed another mate's Cannondale. The 'Dale was slightly better!
My first own was the Principia I've posted up a few times, in 1995. It has been resurrected as a singlespeed and is fab!

First I rode was a black Muddy Fox borrowed from a friend of a friend for a day out. That's when I knew I had to have one... eventually.

nah Whos_Daddy it was a weird dark blue purple colour with speckles in it as well.

Rode like a dog, but I loved it.

If we'd done it on Mt Tamalpas we'd be millionaires now Simon.....you can be Gary fisher though

In your dreams, tiger! 😉

I'd rather have the memories than the money.
Is Gary Fisher really, really happy.

etc, etc. 😥

First mountain bike I ever rode was a "Townsend Rambler" in yellow with green decals, that my dad bought for himself and hardly ever used. Went on holiday on it, did a tour of youth hostels in Co Wicklow in Ireland with my mate when I was about 18 and had just discovered Guinness.

First mountain bike I ever bought was a Specialized Hardrock Sport in black with purple decals, that I put slicks on and used for commuting in London.

Then I upgraded to a Marin San Rafael for the commuting, which is STILL my going to the shops/pub/touring bike. I no longer commute cos I work from home.

My first "proper" mountain bike that I actually went mountain-biking on was a Trek Fuel 80.

1979 I took my brother's old Raleigh Flyer racer, 5 speed 24x1 3/8 tyres, swapped drops for cowhorns. The road block got swapped for a 14-32 touring block with a Suntour VX long cage derailleur to cope with it. Rode it up from Middlesbrough through Eston Hills and out through Gt Broughton to the Moors. Also the jumps at the back of the golf course near Saltersgill. Happy days. Then I had a growth spurt, grew out of it and into bands and girls. By the time I'd got to college mountain biking had come to my attention. When we had a clearout of my dad's garage it was pretty sorry for itself, but I kept the VX (it had cost me four weeks paper round money) and it hangs on my workshop wall to this day.

I then went on to road and touring bikes as transport.

First mountain bike I saw must have been a Muddy Fox, in a Nottingham shop. First mountain bike I bought, Carrera Mission from Halfords. Bit of a gate, but OK. It got nicked and replaced with a Diamondback Ascent, which was ace, but fully rigid. First mtb I REALLY REALLY WANTED was the black and silver Marin Rift Zone of 97, just looked completely beyond anything that had gone before. I had a windfall and went into the shop clutching my chequebook but was in middle of a period of back spasms and just couldn't make it comfy. Canny salesman directed me to the slacker B17 instead and I rode it for a decade. Now very happy with HL 5 Spot

Jeez, I've been doing this a while now, you might expect me to be a bit better at it!

Mine was a Specialized Stumpjumper Pro - back in 1991 or 2 with Suntour XC Pro kit which was awful. Bought in the end of season sale from Evans in Woking. It was a real gate and pretty horrible. Then I got a 21" Orange Prestige which was quite nice and later a Kona Explosif which was brilliant.

First I saw & rode was a Raleigh Maverick 15 speed. Great fun.

I bought the first issue of MBUK and I was hooked on the concept to too skint to buy one.

Can't remember but it was 1988-89 Dawes with reynolds 500 steel and quality thumb trigger buttons LX something I think.

Handled so well.

Didn't buy as it was a 12yrs old Birthday present from Maw and Paw 😀

1990 chas roberts

Mine was a Rayleigh Mirage in deep purple ('87 I think) and was a bit of a gate but it done the job though. Not a clue how much it weighed but it had a stand on it! Would go riding round Swinley Forest and would hardly see another bike.
First MTB I saw would have to be a Muddy Fox, like so many others.

My first 'mountain bike' was an Emmelle Puma, but the first 'proper' mountain bike was a 1999 Saracen N-Zyme. Still sees service as a friend's brother's bike.

87 Tufftrax

mcmoonter will win with a 85 stumpy?

1987 Marin Bear Valley

a luminous Green/Yellow ex-hire MBK bought in Chamonix. Mix of Cro-Mo and Hi Tensile frame tubes. Exage and 500LX(?) Groupset. Massive Balloon tyres one of which was filled with a sausage shaped innertube - something Id not seen before, or indeed since.

I rode it into a tree. Bent the forks so far the legs kinked and buckled the frame behind headtube, long walk home.

Replaced it with a 92 Clockwork frame and transferred the remaining totally knackered parts and rode it with them till they literally fell apart.

1) A 'Yeti' (No, don't get excited!) by a German supermarket brand called Alex. I thought this was really cool because I'm called Alex too.

2) Marin Palisades.

GT Timberline 1993..:)

Carrera Gradient. Great bike, shocking build thanks to Halfrauds. Mate crashed into my wheel at low speed and it completely folded in half! It was also a size too big, still loved it though.

The bike I always wanted was the Cannondale which Martyn Ashton rode in Chainspotting. Red thing with a headshok. Looked mean as ****!

First "MTB" was a Raleigh Mustang. It had 5 - yes FIVE! - gears and I thought it was the dogs.

My first mtb was a luminous pink Peugeot Raider. It seemed to be forever broken. I then saved my paper round money for a Kona Lavadome, and discovered mountain biking 😀

Mind you we were riding Track bikes in the woods long before MTB's were on the scene. The Yanks think they invented MTBing but most of us were doing it for years, we just chopped up road bikes with a set of MX handle bars and some Trelleborge speedways ( http://www.asminor.info/ovalking/Pits.html) if you could afford them.:)

PS that was about 30+ years ago.....

[url= http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g" target="_blank">http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g"/> [/IMG][/url]
[url= http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbwelcome.htm ][b]2retro4u[/b][/url]
Marin County, Cali

The Yanks think they invented MTBing but most of us were doing it for years, we just chopped up road bikes with a set of MX handle bars and some Trelleborge speedways

It's not like the "yanks" never rode cyclocross before taking up fatter tyres. Our first races were downhills, and your converted road bikes would not have been competitive.

No way I'm gonna let McMoonter sandbag this thread with a 1985 bike. That's my job.

Breezer #2, 1978.

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And in response to a post further up, Gary Fisher is quite happy. Until we started the company called "MountainBikes" in 1979 there was nothing called by that name, so the first one on the planet was one we built.

My first mountain bike was a Raleigh, a birthday and xmas present combined, in '88 or '89. It was one of these odd looking things:

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Yes, the top tube did slope down towards the front slightly, it's not just that picture. I have many happy memories of lugging all 35lbs of it around the South Pennines and Dark Peak over a couple of years. I hammered that bike into the ground. I replaced bits only when they couldn't be fixed back together with leccy tape or glue. I cut the enormous brake levers down to make them look a bit like the 2-finger levers that proper bikes had. I replaced nearly all the original stickers with Mint Sauce ones from MBUK. The saddle ended up covered in insulation tape to hold it together.

The only thing I spent money on was a set of cheap, curly bar-ends, some toe-clips, a bottle cage or two, and the necessary tools to fix it with when it broke, which was quite a frequent occurrence. Got horrendous chainsuck coming down Jacobs Ladder once, and bent a link; had to ratchet and scoot it all the way to the bike hire place in Derwent cos I didn't own a chain tool.

I finally managed to scrape together enough for my first 'proper' bike, a 1991 Breezer Storm, financed in (a rather small) part by flogging the old thing on for forty quid to some poor sucker. I sincerely hope it didn't snap on his first ride.

first mountain bike i saw was at the first ever mountain bike event held in the uk, i think it was 1983 but it could have been anytime between 81-84

it was at the 'real' aston hill in halton, nr wendover bucks, there was two bikes a muddy fox and some other thing that i have been informed since was in fact a cleveland ?,

they had roped out a small course around the bowl of aston hill and up into the tree line, i was invited along with the aylesbury cycling club and we only went along to take the pi55, oh how we laughed dressed in our lycra and vittrola cycling shoes and cleats, this will never catch on..scoff scoff

i brought my first proper mtb some years later in 1989, a diamond back accent ex, 400 pounds i think, my brother was riding then too, a kona cindercone with P2's , what days..

Damnit, I would have to go and post my boring old first bike story seconds after Charlie Kelly... 😉

1996 Orange P7, seen here on my first proper mtb ride. I've still got it.

[url= http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/345711443_bf06b11e39_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/345711443_bf06b11e39_z.jp g"/> ?zz=1[/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/simondbarnes/345711443/ ]My first mtb ride[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/simondbarnes/ ]simondbarnes[/url], on Flickr

Can't remember what inspired me to get one, far too long ago.

nice flamer repack rider, he did ask for it,

[url= http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g" target="_blank">http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g"/> [/IMG][/url]
[url= http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbwelcome.htm ][b]2retro4u[/b][/url]
Marin County, Cali

Damnit, I would have to go and post my boring old first bike story seconds after Charlie Kelly...

Sometimes I hate myself for doing that.

Then I get over it.

Repack Rider, says who ? 😀

Peugot Alpina 15 speed, got through two frames as they both went at the chainstay. Sold the third once the insurance paid up and bought a Gary Fisher A1.

Lusted after the Raleigh that was deep red/mauve/purple in colour, not the Mustang though, as well as the Muddy Fox Explorer with the plastic disk on the rear wheel, so so cool.

Sometimes I hate myself for doing that.

Then I get over it.

Good, I'm kidding! It's completely awesome to be able to share my reminiscences about taking up mountain biking in the same conversation as someone who was in right at the start. Isn't the internet brilliant? 😀

[url= http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g" target="_blank">http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g"/> [/IMG][/url]
[url= http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbwelcome.htm ][b]2retro4u[/b][/url]
Marin County, Cali

first mountain bike i saw was at the first ever mountain bike event held in the uk, i think it was 1983 but it could have been anytime between 81-84

1984. The promoters had to use a photo from An American race. That's Tinker Juarez.

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Here is where the advert was published.

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I 'up-graded' to a real ATB Falcon Sherpa in'88

It took me a few more years to get hair as good Charlie Kelly's - just revisited the repack home page - big smiles - Inspirational joy, thank you Charlie.

Not counting my pre mountain bike 69er, ( normal road frame with a Chopper and NSU moped front end) I first rode one in late 83. A Dawes Ranger?? had done Snowdonby the end of that academic year. We were well pissed off by the Crane brothers as were had managed most of the Welsh 3000's when they did it. Not in 1 go though. Can't remeber what else arrived until my Giant Escaper in 89

1989 Raleigh Appalanche, full reynolds 531 and Deore II group. a v. nice bike in it's day

Muddy Fox Courier 1988 I think.

My dad bought it so it was a gate like 21"

couldn't understand why the following year I bought a coral Spesh rockhopper 17" frame and swopped some of the parts across.

Still got the Spesh with Mavic Paris Dakar hubs and rims that cost me 6 months pocket money - heady days of dreaming in a bike shop!!

hey whats changed??

My first mountainbiking experience was on prewar sit-up-and-beg singlespeeds. The key ingredient I feel that is missing from todays mountainbiking is the inclusion of a frying pan and sausages. Our school holidays and weekends were spent on sausage frying epics.

Charlie has got us all licked retrowise, but we looked the part.

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'85 Rockhopper
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[url= http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g" target="_blank">http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/repackrider/avatar235.jp g"/> [/IMG][/url]
[url= http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbwelcome.htm ][b]2retro4u[/b][/url]
Marin County, Cali

McMoonter has checked in. All's right with the world.

Charlie has got us all licked retrowise, but we looked the part.

McMoonter has checked in. All's right with the world.

I believe the facial hair in that photo came from the novelty shoppe.

Cheers Charlie. We were auditioning for the Lumberjack vacancy in the Village People. The Joke shop sold out of facial hair!

I'm headed out your way tomorrow, in reality a bit further north. To Oregon and then up to the San Juans. Should be great. Thinking about a move out there.

bought a scimitar 84/85, I was working at ironbridge yha, ()ahh happy years it was the pre saracen brand, had it for 12 years sold to my cousin in brighton he rode for 3 years till it was pinched, back in the late 70s i rode my bsa road bike down lanes and off 2 foot drops till the rear axle broke and then the rear wheel fell apart,

Something Raleigh, the model name began with an A I Think. It had front suspension (RST) and cable disc brake, therefore it was the coolest bike in my group of friends.

3rd September 1986 Specialised Rockhopper bought at Rayments in Brighton, Currently trying to decide what 2011 bike to buy to mark 25 years of riding MTB's. Torn between Whyte 19Ti and 19 Team issue very different I know but both appealing in their own way.

Bought a neon yellow Muddy Fox Courier from our local police auctions - it had fetching pink paw prints all over it. Some years later it got pinched from the back yard - the insurance company said the nearest thing replacement-wise was a Muddy Fox Rock 'n' Roll full susser!! I [s]nearly[/s] cried when my folks refused to claim on the house insurance for fear of losing their no-claims 🙁

The thieves did me a favour really - saved up and bought a rigid Kona Lavadome which did me fine for a few years until it got swapped for a bright purple Alpine Stars with my first ever sus forks - RSTs no less.

My 1st ATB/MTB was a 1986? Raleigh Mustang in black & white with red logo's, 15spd, heavy as a house. Good fun though once you got up to speed.

The bike I always wanted was the purple Muddy Fox Courier, it was leagues ahead of the ATB's I was riding at the time (Falcon, Raleigh, Claud Butler) or so I thought, maybe it was just that disc rear wheel, or the paw print on the top of the seeatstays...or just that it was purple...

My first MTB was a Diamondback Ascent EX 1988. OK apart from the chainstay mounted U-brake.
First MTB I got excited about was an orange and grey Marin Pine Mountain (just before they started that textured paint)I saw at a smell race event in Devon. It looked the business. :o)

Mine was a 1988 (or '89) Dawes Wildcat with Reynolds 501 tubing on the frame and 531 for the forks.

Weighed about the same as I did when I was 15!

1) 1st MTB Saracen Conquest in 1985 - finished 2nd overall in the Bicycle Action Magazine - Fat Tyre Five race series - prize mug below

2) Cover of a US bike mag in early 1985 + in Freewheel catalogue.

Near Chorley in 1985 - me on the gate and a young Andy Oldham in the background
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first bike I saw was in a catalogue at school in 85, don't remember the brand but rememember thinking that a bike doesn't need that many gears!
Bought myself a 1990 Marin Eldridge Grade for 545 quid after working on a site in germany all summer. Kept it until 1998 when i moved to nz, dad sold it 2 years back for 25 quid. 😥

When my Dawes team replica 10speed got nicked, bought a 2nd hand stumpjumper which was too big for me, but had deore on it, proper thumbshifters.

Then that got nicked and I got a Marin Palisades trail, yellow bars and forks, 'scratch' resistant grey paint. One of the first bikes with trigger shifters.

Loved that bike, lots of throwing it around the woods, exploring lanes, paper round etc etc, even a bit of touring round the lakes. (Has big arguments with the boy with the muddyfor courier over who's was better)

That got nicked, bought a FS1SE motorbike instead and that was the end of biking for a few years.

Got back into it with a bodge bike, then a basic Scott (both also stolen), then a Scott Elite Racing, which is up there with the Marin as my favourite bike, it really got me back into riding, doing a bit of racing and even some B+B touring, most of it got upgraded. Was totally gutted when it got nicked, more gutted about that than the £2 grand motorbike that also got nicked.

Then a felt virtue as my first full suss, never really gelled with it, which is why the frame is sat unloved in the garage and all the bits got transferred onto my current Maxlight XC120, which I'm loving. Also got a nice genesis IO for the muddy winter nights.

Next bike... Something with about 5" travel for playing on, quite possible an ariel, Oh, and a clever mike for the commute...

Carrera dolomite (halfords) followed by Marin Pine Mountain (no scratch paint, first generation "ned" underneath shifters). Was the bee's knees. Then I discovered GIRLS. Bad mistake.......

Early 90's I had a fully rigid Offroad (of pro-flex fame) but in a break from the norm for massive frames, this one had a 13" frame with a MASSIVE seatpost and very long Zoom stem. Used to spend Sundays bombing about glentress when it was "out but fields"

first bike was a rigid saracen hard trax bought from halfords sale in about 1996 , a totall revelation to be able to peddle up into the hills, still have that bike in the shed, i ride other bikes now , but the exitement to get out onto the hills is still there . 🙂

1992 GT Pantera
At the time was on placement year from poly, living in north Wales.
Remember catching train to Bangor, riding to top of Snowdon up tourist track then riding back to Llandudno.

Had some dawes thing that I bent the forks on within a couple of weeks. That was swapped for an emmelle, black with green flecks on it. Then I got an emmelle 7005 alu, fluoro yellow and built that up. Then I had a dave yates diabolo made with my first set of sspension forks, some spesh future shocks. Great bike and miss it! The forks died so I cobbled my mates girvins from his proflex beast onto it - bizarre ride! Don't even remember selling it but it's long gone. Replaced that with a spesh fsr xccomp - dad still using it, it's still mint, will keep it for the long haul 🙂

Not mine but wanted a shogun as my 1st one,ATB's they were called 🙂

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