i grew up on the country in germany next to a large and hilly forest. in the late 60s and 70s i was really fascinated by moto cross bikes and what those guys were able to do on their bikes. so until i got my first moped in 1978 i took whatever bicycle i could get hold of and road it in said forest. sometimes with friends but usually on my own. of course frames and parts broke right away. my uncle welded the frames and i fixed the rest so they got better and better. then i focussed more on the motorized bikes but still rode bicycles regularly. in 81 i toured south England with a buddy on a crappy and overloaded 3 speed bike, 2000km in 2 weeks. i had to fix something nearly every day and was looking for something more solid and versatile. around that time i heard about a new sort of off-road bicycles in the US with 15 speed and being very robust. so i thought that would be it, satisfying my desire to cycle off-road and long tours. the shops around me only had pretty crappy German made mountain bikes (Kettler e.g.) but i got the idea. in 84 or 85 i rode the first better MTB, a Kuwahara Lion (i think). when i had saved enough and was about to buy one my motorcycle got stolen and i spent the money for a new one. but in early 88 i finally bought one. not a Kuwahara but a decent no-name steel frame with mostly LX Mountain parts. i had it for 10 years and enjoyed it very much and did exactly what i had planned, off-road fun and with racks and panniers mounted i toured around. in 91 i bought a Diamond Back Overdrive (28" wheeled MTB) which became my main commuter/tourer so the other bike was modified a more towards off-road riding until i bought my first Klein in 96.
Carsten
