here's a teaser for you all

a very early Muddy Fox...

very early

anyone seen one of these b4 ?

no! please let on!..

Seen one? I suspect I've got one:

what on earth are those green tyres doing on that :shock: you should be banned forever from this site for such actions

Be interested to see the first fox

And see the green tyres off the second one !

those tyres are well out of place but good luck finding period pattern ones... pretty rare i'd reckon!

finding the michelins i have on this fox took some effort - and that was when i got this bike - about 18years ago

your decals look a bit newer than mine - but it's pretty close!


another couple of pics to keep you waiting.....

Oh wow, yours sounds like one of the early 82/83 12 speed models. Don't forget these bikes were badged as Araya in Asia (Araya made them obviously). Interestingly I have a Raleigh Maverick with the exact same frame.

So, is this what you have?

http://www.araya-kk.co.jp/bicycle/catalog/1982-86/83_03mf26b.htm

See the whole range here http://www.araya-kk.co.jp/bicycle/cats_1982-86.htm

wow, good link to the araya site... that's exactly the one
very impressed with your japanese


so now the question - are there any older muddy foxes in existence???

I was wondering this when I got mine as I thought the 88 white Courier was the first one. I suspect 83 has to be the earliest as if you look through the Araya range you can see there aren't many MTB specific parts, everything seems to have been begged, borrowed, stolen from various manufacturers i.e. Suzue BMX hubs, Araya cruiser rims, cheap touring bike cranks plus a smorgasboard of Suntour/Dia Compe bits and pieces.

The frame as I said before is identical to the Raleigh Maverick frames of the same period, probably made in the Japanese Raleigh plant. Quite a chunky frame with steel lugs as per old 50's rod-brake bikes. The seat stays are welded to the seat tube with a touch weld. You can see that it was the fashionable mountain bike Reepack look that they were going for rather than an offroad thoroughbread.

That said, I like mine a lot, it really puts a smile on my face whenever I ride it. Yours is very interesting too, especially the decals. Not too sure about that chainset, I know it's originla but I'd be tempted to put an old Stronglight tripple on there.