First MTB's

[burkeredh]

Hi there, so i know we all ride round on these super sexy, highly desirable, pieces of mountain bike exotica, the sort of stuff that we all wanted while at school or while doing that crappy first job, but what did we all start out on, what was the first mtb that you owned, mine was a Raleigh Cobra with 15spd friction gear and steel rims, then a Raleigh Mustang 15spd sis,

 

[Void(EN12-82)]

Mine was a Raleigh Discovery in a way too large size. I was 12 at the time and it was bought in 52cm "in cause I would grow up to be a tall bloke", well there's a dissapointment :-D

Anywayz, it had a full Shimano 200GS group (almost made entirely out of plastic) in 21-speed with thumbshifters. I had the d*mn bike 2 days before trashing my front wheel in a big hole/trench in some open mine where I lived (you could get over the fence there with a friend and toss bikes over after one was inside). I thought "Hey it's a mountainbike, I used to race here with my normal bike (3spd Strumey Archer hahaha!) so I won't have to make way for some stupid hole"... and there was dissapointment number two :-D Flipped right over and totally bent my front wheel. And since my parents had payed 1198 dutch guilders 2 days earlier I had a lot of trouble at home Had to pay for a new rim and spokes myself hehe... oh yeah, the good ol' dayz

I had that one for 2 years and really got into MTBing, then when I graduated from highschool (I think it's highschool in English, you mostly finish that one when your about 15/16 y.o.). And when I was 14 I got my Specialized Stumpjumper FS in 1992/93. Because of my birthday and dutch school holidays I got off highschool at 14, the youngest in my class :twisted:

 

[retrobikeguy]

1st was a raleigh magnum - alloy wheels and mudguards as standard :shock:

2nd was a raleigh euro , red with sachs huret 18spd indexed.

3rd same as Void(EN12-82), a reynolds 501 tubed raleigh discovery .

all ridden to death and PX'd away

 

[Repack Rider]

I'm sorry, I can't help myself when I see these posts.

Here's mine. 1978 Breezer.

 

[Elev12k]

My 1st 'MTB' actually wasn't a MTB. It was a hybrid bike. I saved a lot of money for a moped, but when it actually came at buying one I realized the insurance would be the biggest hurdle. So I allocated the money the neat bike. When I had the bike I soon decided it had to be used were it was intended ....and this all lead to that I am now present on Retrobike 15 yrs later and that I spend many miles biking each week.

Full black XT groupset, Syncros parts, San Marco Titanio. Frame with 4 Carbolite tunbes in the front triangle and steel for the forks and rear triangle. Great bike, absolutely, but I couldn't keep up very well with my friends when downhilling etc. That's why I bought a Cadex CFM3 a year later, which I traded in on a 1995 Koga Miyata SkyCarbolite a year later. It took 8 yrs before I bought me another non-Koga branded bike. That was the Yo Eddy in 2003.

 

[retrobikeguy]

I'm sorry, I can't help myself when I see these posts.

Here's mine. 1978 Breezer.

show off

 

[Lysander]

ProFlex 550- Lovely Spacehopper Technology............was going to get a Cindercone, but the 550 a reduced deal (I find bikes are are like haircuts- never get what ye went in for- my Klien Q was supposed to be a Colnago!!).

First bike ever was a Raleigh Jeep- singlespeed, actally too small a frame for me even as a young chap- went anywhere..........ye need no gears when yer 12 and hyped up on Sugar Puffs of a Saturday morning!!
Thyen got a 'racer' at college- Ammaco Monte Carlo......(Looked Nice in t'shop, and I knew sod all about cycles)....heavy and basic, but did thousands of miles- never be ashamed of a bike that's being used!

Cheers,
Dav

PS- Baah! Once again Repack Rider humbles us- not fair! Your first Mountain Bike was the First Mountain Bike!!!

 

[burkeredh]

I worked in a bike shop for about 7 years, so i saw a lot of cheap mtb style bikes go through the front door, we used to sell things like Townsend Yaksmackas, Townsend warlord, Raleigh Activator's, Daewoo aluminium mtb's, some of us must of started on this quality of mtb's, P.S> the first upgrade i did to my Mustang was to have a set of Mavic MA40 rims fitted and a set of the original onza porcs ( the bead was so tight on them i nearly lost fingers putting them on )

 

[orange71]

1990 - mine was a 3rd hand Diamondback Topanga (or it might have been a Sorrento - hard to tell as it had been resprayed fluo pink!!) - it had Campag Bullet Shifters on it, a campag rear mech and grey Tioga Psycho tyres (cheapest tyres around at the time IIRC). I can't remember much else except it didn't have vertical rear dropouts so the rear wheel kept pulling across (from the torque) and jamming when going up steep hills!

 

[JS1500]

Trek 800. All my mates at school were jealous!

That must've been circa 1990.