How did you get in to MTB

Wasnt allowed a BMX, a 'mountain bike' was considered safer - except that when it arrived it had crashed into an accessories shelf on its way out the shop. Panniers were just not cool in 1986.
 
mkone":fith32dv said:
I used to ride a Raleigh Bomber to school, not sure if thats even classed as an mtb!? before that i rode racers, with a whopping 12 gears :D and most had cow horns fitted :D I then just progressed from there really, i did get into bmx for a few years but usually had an mtb for treks around the local woods, until '93 when i got my first Kona :cool: thread here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=362041

Mark

Sounds familiar.

We were always on our bikes when I was a kid. firstly Raleigh kids bikes, then I got an orange Raleigh Commando when I was about 8 or 9 years old- my first 'new' bike. After that it was racers (which got fitted with cow horn handle bars and chunky touring tyres, then In 1988 I brought myself a Muddy Fox Explorer form Dave Mellor Cycles in Shrewsbury and I've been doomed ever since. :D
 
I wanted to buy a MTB from the first self earned money when I was 15, local shop had (IIRC) a Trek 830 with splatter paint in the windows. But my parents talked me into getting a randoneur: You don't need a bike to play with. 2 years later I traded that same randoneur for a Giant Cadex and I was hooked. Still playing around on bikes, guess my parents did not know me very well...

I'm still riding with the friend that sold me that Cadex back then, riding again next tuesday!
 
I got into cycling as i bought an MGB that needed new sills so that was my means of getting into work. I dont give names to inanimate objects, nor in fact to animate ones, i call my cats "cat", but i named that car "Manilla" as it was stationary. . I thought i was reasonably good at the cycling thing so did many road miles of training, (7,000+ per year) and had even joined a cycling club to do some time trials. My first contact with mtb was dave walker who lived in same shared house and hed come home on sundays covered in mud. I couldnt believe how small the gears were compared to road bike. Out of curiousity i bought my first mtb 1/2 price from geoffrey butler, a blue trek 850, frame too big at 22" but was a bargain, that was then migrated to a 20" green ltd ed saracen kili something frame (wish i kept that one) and soon changed jobs that brought me closer to the big shitty resulting in living in an area with much more traffic on the roads. That mainly and the fact there is more variety and skill riding off road compared to getting head down and churning the pedals, means i do about two rides per year on my roads bikes.
 
So do you still have the MGB? A friend owned a 78 MG Midget. I loved that car. Slow and scary on the interstate but lots of fun in the mountains.

I would take pushing this home from the trail over sitting at the office any day.
 

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I moved to Guernsey for work in 1991 and took my Peugot road bike with me. When i came back to the mainland a year later all my mates had sold their road bikes and were riding MTB's.
I borrowed a '92 firemountain for a few rides before trading in my Peugot for a 1993 Kona Hahanna and the rest, as they say, is history.
 
back in the early 90's (early 1992) I was all about getting into duathlons (couldnt to tri 's as can't swim, which is unaustralain apparently). I'd always ridden as a kid, on a "bike" then on BMX's and then on my "10 speed" piece o junk and I ran a lot.
It was 3rd year uni and my flatmate for that year had a mtb and the flat mate of my mate living in the unit across the driveway had one, figured I'd if I bought a roadie, I'd probably go riding with them anyway and ruin it so mtb I bought. I'd always wanted a Diamondback BMX, so when I walked intot he store with my saved up holiday work cash, that smokey DB apex was mine.
Then got my other buddy who lived in the unit over the back to get one and off we went, pretty soon started racing and that was that, hooked.
 
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During the summer of '91 I rode a heavy Sturmey Archer geared commuter bike which someone had left at my mom's work. Every day I rode 10 miles single way to pick strawberries and earn my first money. At the end of the summer I bought a '92 model Giant Iguana for that money. A lousy bike, but a start of something great.
 
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