'My first proper mountainbike' or 'Halcyon days'

[sylvain]

Mine was a Raleigh Neptune with Altus C, but can't find anything about it. I've a photo but it's bad and not worth scanning. It wasn't a great bike and I used it more on the road, it was too big too.

But it got me hooked and I started planning to buy a second bike. I agonised for hours between a Sunn 5000, '95 model even though it was still early autumn '94, or a discounted Cannondale from the previous year. In the end I went for the looks (chrome steel, sloping tube) of the Sunn reminiscent of my BMX.

The Raleigh was later stolen at uni.

 

[brocklanders023]

Mine was an '89 Tufftrax and I will get one again some day but I keep seeing Apollo Blizards on ebay and am drawn to them Lusted after one a few years before I got the Saracen but as it was back then, by the time I'd saved up enough cash (approx 18 months) my sights had been set a little higher.

 

[perry]

Don't have any photos of the first ones but after the very first mountain bike the Townsend Saratoga ( sparkly black in 18" ) everything I have had since has been built from parts . The townsend slowly got better bits then I decided after years that it was time to get a better frame/forks etc but got my one and only alloy small alloy jump frame . Hated alloy as the thing flexed in the turns . A trailstar quickly followed that .

 

[markoc]

Mine was an Offroad MT.10+2 back in around 1991, in about 14 inch flavour.

I wish I still had the catalogue. It was bright yellow with bottom end components of the time. I later wished I'd gone for the next model up (which was blue, and not as cool to an eleven year old) which had 200GS and a Girvin Flexstem.

Wish I could get that bike back

 

[D_XZ]

Ok, so we all had to start somewhere, some had Mustangs some had Lizards but, let us take you a little further forward as your parents buy you your first 'proper' mountainbike from the shop or Grattans catalogue on the 'never never'

Then, a year or two on from that excitement of it arriving as a surprise with Dad putting it together, muttering about bikes being better in his day etc, we move to the difficult teen years, not old enough to drive a car and you're not allowed a moped.

So, here we are, the paperound has paid for a few upgrades, time has taken its toll on the components. You've lost the odd seatpost from leaving it locked up at school, 'rich' mates have given you their hand me downs...

You are starting to regret the Mint Sauce stickers as your mates pull up on brand new Konas/ Oranges etc

Let us return to those halcyon days, summers were hot, cider was still a good idea and you could eat as many sweets as you wanted, and girls , well they were just girls with nice wobbly bits...(but wouldnt go near you or your stinky armpits!)...

What IS that frame? A mate of mine had the exact same one but we never did find out who made it. Even the shop didn't know (most useless bike shop owners ever!)

 

[mikee]

is that a claud butler LGF ?

my first proper one was a DB topanga after i snapped the crank on my
maurauder and went to lbs to get bits to fix it there was a black spatter
topanga in the row out side the shop , tioga farmer johns 500 lx
i asked ,he said yours and £10 ,i rode it home ,the long way
someone stole it about 18months later

oh well next project then

 

[taffy]

Mine was a Peugeot team replica that did me 3 year solid service before it retired to spare bike
and at that time only the frame forks and wheels were original!
I don't think i ever had a matched pair of tires on it ever! Onza porcupine with an IRC Yeti FRO that'll do nicely!

 

[legrandefromage]

its a claud butler - they came in green or purple swirl with exage or worse

mates used to strip them and use them as jump frames.

 

[EarlofBarnet]

Think my first proper mtb was a Raleigh Dyna-Tech. Deep red/Brown colour with Rock Shox Quadra 5 forks. It was brilliant, served me well during my first few races.

 

[retroyetirigid]

After my Raleigh Marauder (also with snapped crank) I had a 1989 Diamond Back Ascent with 18 speed Exage Mountain. Could have gone for an Emmelle Dolomite with 21 speed Mountain LX for less money but went for the pose factor of the Diamond Back