Oldest mountain bike in UK?

Oops, Double post

Is Tony Oliver actually Regan_Ev?

I like the TDF bit about the 501 tubing. I guess I was lucky to have had terrible road bikes first then a real ATB in September 1986, just as the pin was pulled on the MTB grenade.

Thank you Graham!!!

Very much of interest! Please pass that on to Tony if you have further contact, and thank you for your efforts again Graham.

What a great guy Tony Oliver is. I have a lot of respect for what he says and his book 'Touring Bicycles' is an excellent, informative read.
I was an early convert to MTB's. 1986, I think it was. I had my brother's hand-me-down Ridgeback 501 for a few years.
It was a sound bike. The Reynolds 501 was a more solid ride (too solid by the time I moved to the granite strewn trails of west Cornwall) than 531 - my mate had a Dawes Ranger that was so laid back that any on-trail manoeuvres had to be discussed with it over breakfast.
Once the limits of the Ridgeback became apparent in 1989 I sat down at a drawing board and knowing the ride characteristics of various 531 bikes and having contacted a willing local frame builder I designed it's replacement. I specified every single tube: heavy guage downtube and steerer, lighter guage seat tube and stays. Road fork blades as chain stays (for a narrow Q factor and clearance for 2' tyres). The list goes on. It was world's apart from the Dawes Ranger; fast, responsive and fun. I did a 10 mile TT on it once and was only a couple of minutes down on my road bike time of the previous week. Steve Heffernan, former track gold medalist had a ride on it and was impressed saying it responded like a road bike, so I think I got something right.
I still ride it now and wouldn't swap it for anything. It's part of who I am.

Enjoying the updates very much.

Yes, Regan Ev and Tony Oliver do seem to share a dislike of Geoff Apps, early designs. However, I see Tony's comments as a contemporary commentary on how he, and probably others, first reacted to the Apps' bikes. It's interesting that Tony seems to have approved more of Apps' first design than he does of the later machines.

Tony is also critical of the early mountain-bikes coming out of Marin County.

My own conversion to the Apps' bikes was by no means immediate. I first heard of them whilst talking to the owner of a Camden Town bike shop in 1983 and then wrote to Geoff. He invited me along on one of his Wendover monthly rides. I rode the Clelands, listened to Geoff's argument, and then went and bought an F.W Evans' ATB.

It was whilst riding my Evans alongside the Clelands in the Chiltern mud that I noticed that Geoff's bikes made riding that terrain look relatively easy. After many rides of being out manoeuvred and left behind by the Apps bikes I asked Geoff if I could hire a Cleland for a few days so that I could try it out properly.

Even then I was not convinced until one day Geoff brought along a brand new, very well proportioned red Cleland that he was testing before handing it over to a customer. By then my eye was attuned to their unconventional aesthetics and I decided to buy one. Too late as it turned out, as by then Cleland had been forced to stop bike production.

However, I was so sold on the Idea of owning a Cleland that I bought a damaged frame & fork, bars and tyres off Geoff, and built up a bike up mostly from parts I sourced myself. I ran both the Evans and the Cleland for about three years but because the Evans was being used less and less, I eventually sold it.

I totally understand why some people don't get the Cleland concept both visually and functionally. They are an acquired taste but the more you ride them the more sense they make.


I think that 'thank you Tony' would be more appropriate!!!

He sounds like a busy man and I was very lucky to contact when he had the time to respond in detail.

Me too, love this thread