What year did you start mountain biking?

I like to think of myself as pre flexi stem.

1989 after getting a copy of MBUK (Still got that issue). Pink Raleigh Mustang 8)

Mid 80’s, had a Saracen Trekker same as saladdodger, my wife (still has) a Muddy Fox Courier mixte.

1994 on a 1991 Marin Pine Mountain which i bought second hand for 500quid which I thought was silly money at the time 🙂

I went to uni in Bristol shortly after which is when it really took off.

1990

On a bright yellow Marin Muirwoods.

Another for 1989, with an Emmelle Corniche in a charming flourescent green/orange two tone paintjob 🙂 It was good enough to race XC, DH and Dual Slalom on though!

89 again 😆 on a Specialized Hardrock Sport

I bought (and still have got) the first copy of MBUK, and was messing around on a Raleigh Mustang with a 23″ frame, so that must be 1988. First proper MTB was the special edition red Muddy Fox Courier (19″, the right size)that had Exage kit and a seatstay U-brake.

I was crazy for Local Motion/Cosmic Trail accessories.

Ah, the excitement of youth.

1976 Raleigh road bike off-road in the Pentlands with friends from the Royal High. Boy did we break those bikes!

1991 with a Scott Evo (nasty bike!) bought after breaking my road bike at the downtube/headtube lug off-roading 🙂

I put a 150mm Flex-stem on it – hard to believe now

1985 – Specialized Rockhopper

started riding off road in a year earlier on a 10 speed Coventry Eagle.

2005 for me. Got a Trek hardtail (£300!) but that was fecked after a year. Sold that and bought a Marin Wolf Ridge. Now on a Orange 5.

I have never even heard of most the bikes mentioned above!!

88 for me, on a ridgeback

about ’89 on some old Carrera thing, which i bought a complete STX groupset and put a set of RS Quadra 21’s on.

Riding through the woods though, I’ve been doing since I got a Raliegh Jeep in about 77/78…

There must be something going on here… 90% claim they’ve been mountain biking since the 80s. I can think of two explanations:
1. People who have been riding that long are attracted to this thread
2. You are all liars.

I however have been riding mountain bikes since ’88… so naaa!

’93, Some carrera POS. 1st proper bike was a GT timberline.

1991. Al Carter Pro or something along those lines. Al Carter Professional? I’ll have to check next time I go to my mam and dad’s as it’s still in the shed there

2001 first proper mtb ride on a Claud Butler near Ladybower. hooked. I mus have looked like a right chav to as I has a baseball cap and tracky bottoms on.

Brakes couldn’t stop me and chainset was totally wrong for going up hill of any gradient so i pushed it up.

Loved every minute of it though.

mr hoppy…gt timberline for me too, mine was the zebra striped one, which i added pink onza bar ends to, then a yellow flex stem!

great bike. poor add ons. 🙂

oh yeah, and lots of mint sauce stickers…

If by mountain biking you mean crashing down quarry slopes in East Tilbury on my dads old sturmey archer steel bike, onto which I’d put ‘stag’ handlerbars and spokey dokeys. Then 1983/4

If you mean actually owning a proper mtb. 1987.

86/87 here on a Diamond Back with a plastic U brake under the chainstays and plastic brake levers. 😯

Scares the sh1t out of me now to think of some of the stuff i rode on that thing.

1987 (or maybe 88) – Specialized RockHopper Comp in Dinucci Green

Seen here at my first ever race at Inside Park

Started in 86.

Crikey.We’re all getting on a bit aren’t we

got 1st mtb in 1990, Peugeot Adventurer or something like that. It was purple, yellow and pink…. nice ! didn’t last very long, bought a Marin Muirwood shortly after.

1987-88 I think. 10 years old (ish) Raleigh Maverick 15 speeder. Was about 10 times too big for me! Then went onto an Offroad Master in Neon Yellow with Neon Pink Downtube stickers, Then onto an Orange Aluminium O. Been with Orange ever since. Now that’s customer loyalty.

1988/89, got a 12 speed apollo colorado. Moved upto a 21 speed LX Apollo Kilimanjaro next. Lusted after an Alpinestars pro mega for ages, then saw a Klein which i was amazed with. My friends dad owned a bike shop so he gave me a £900 Ridgeback 706RS with RS2 suspension forks, full XT for £600. Lived in Kingston upon thames at the time so Richmond Park was my vice. Got my friends into the biking game, with their Raleigh Mirage and Al carter pro (yellow and black splattered paint). They moved onto a GT Pantera (bright Orange) which i thought was an amazing looking bike. We then visited a local bike shop where i saw a Dawes eXTRa, full XTR and i was like wow, need to have this. God, back in the days there was so many bikes, good looking ones as well, which i lusted after. When i started racing aged 16/17 i had to convince my parents to buy me an Orange E2(XTR) and i would pay them back with payments (which i did). Every week for a year they took £40 out of my pay packet( and they didn’t hesitate to get that money either) but it was well worth it. Had the bike a few days before i splashed more cash on my 48mm travel Mag21’s. How i adored that bike. Then MAgura’s were invented so bought them within the first week of being out. I thought bikes couldn’t get any better. Anyway, damn this thread, i’m reminising like crazy and i could go on and on and ………….

1988 I think – I spent ages choosing between a Falcon and a Peugeot Montana mountain bike. Around the same time I picked up my first copy of MBUK – volume 1 edition 2.. I think there was a feature about night riding around Bristol in it. Happy days.

1989 on a Raleigh Maverick (remember them?) borrowed from my cousin.
1st proper mountain bike: back in 1991, Spesh Hardrock with Biopace rings (remember them too…)

1990 – I won a Raleigh Lizard 21″. Put on some clip-in road pedals & used it on road. Then was passing Cannock Chase one day, took a detour & the MTB part of my cycling life began. It subsequently led to the Lizards demise & a love affair with a ’91 Clockwork 🙂

Another for early 1989…

Went up to Elterwater with my brothers, eldest of which already had an ’88 Rockhopper Comp with Exage Mountain. Hired a Kona Firemountain, black with pink splatter finish. 6 speed Exage Country, U-Brake (but fitted on the seatstays which reduced clogging a little!). After a great day in the mud around Elterwater and Grizedale, I bought the hire bike. Soon fitted with matching pink Blackburn alloy bottle cage, toe clips with pink Mt Christophe toe straps.

’88 on a Dawes with 501 reynolds tubing, shimano groupset including Biopace. Same size as a road bike so 24 1/2″ frame (i ride a 20″ frame now which has a longer reach!). A true farm gate pylon thing. And yes it scares me too what I used to throw that thing down with its plastic canti brakes!

Got interested in ’88, saved hard and did a last minute swerve away from the new Muddy Fox Courier ( with the red crackle finish!) and got something called a Specialised Hardrock ( sport? ) which was ’89
….and that was the start of my demise Your Honour
( hangs head in shame…………)
Q 🙄

2004 – my Raleigh Activator got pinched (never took it offroad) so I replaced it with a cheap Edinburgh Bike Coop hardtail. 6 months later it got replaced with Kona Explosif 🙂 Can’t believe I’ve been doing it so long already!

About 1978/9ish I converted my brother’s 24″ wheel Raleigh Flyer with a set of longhorn bars, 34fr 14-28r 5 speed touring block with a Suntour VX mech(still in my cellar today) and fatter tyres(1-7/8″?). It was sort of a wide geared version of trackers other kids were building just for jumps, but I could ride mine up over the Eston Hills and onto the North York Moors up Clay Bank and Commondale and places through the moors, then down to Whitby and back on the train if I was too knackered to ride it back to Middlesbrough. Then I grew nearly a foot taller in a year and I discovered beer bands and girls and didn’t have a bike for a couple of years and didn’t miss it, but by the time I got a Saturday job I was flogging Vic20s, Spectrums and 64s together with Raleigh Burners of all flavours for the local department store. First shop bought MTB I had was a Carrera Mission for Halfords, which got nicked and I took my insurance money to JEJames for a Diamond Back after reading the MBUK 1996 buyers guide(still got that too). Happy days. Jumpers for goalposts, isn’t it, wasn’t it?

87 Raleigh Ozark
531 tubing, biopace, u-brake, bright green top tube pad. (it was huge)
Pink internal quill onza bar ends. Shimano 600 components? First upgrade
was XT Thumbshifters.

It still sits in my parents garage.

This past time has led me to many wonderful places.

1993ish I bought a GT Timberline

1987, Emmelle Cortina XL, Tange Double butted tubing, Shimano Exage Country. 21″ frame (you’ll grow into it he said!!!!). I ride a 16″ now. 🙂

Me me me me me. I win.