# Mountain Biking - The Untold British Story



## Salar (6 Sep 2018)

There was nothing much on the TV last night, so I did a search on Amazon Prime and up popped Mountain Biking - The Untold British Story.

It's a fascinating story of how it all began over here, particularly for those of a certain age who were there when it started . If you can, watch it, or get the DVD you won't be disappointed.

Starting with Geoff Apps and his "Range Riders" looking like big 29ers with contributions from Gary Fisher, items on Muddy Fox , the professional invasion from Peugeot etc., it certainly brought some memories back to me when I got seriously involved in mountain biking in the 80's. 

No suspension or sloping top tubes in them days, we'd spend hours going over OS maps finding new routes and bridleways to ride.

I remember what must have been one of my first ventures, on a disused railway track which ran parallel to a minor road, it was rough and overgrown. 

A police car pulled up and a young female officer got out, she looked at the track, then the road, then the track again and just shook her head, wondering why I wasn't on the road.

I might be wrong, but it seems to be all downhill now with bikes costing thousands, the grass roots of the pastime now long gone.

Anyway enough rambling and reminiscing, watching that makes me want to get back out in the forests, remembering how fit I was, way back then, the slicks are coming off and the knobblies are going back on.

So if you see an oldie off road in Wales on a fully rigid blue Kona, give me a push please.


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## Drago (6 Sep 2018)

The Range Rider didn't just look like a big 29er, it was one. The following Cleland bikes were a mix of 29er and 650B, according to customer preference. Indeed, it was Apps who first sent a batch of 29er tyres to Gary Fisher and Tom Ritchey so they could build a bike and try it for themselves.

Apps is still going, still building bikes, although not for commercial sale. He puts all his blueprints on his website, so anyone wanting to make a replica can do so.


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## Salar (6 Sep 2018)

Yes Apps and Fisher didn't really hit it off. Apps idea of a mountain bike was completely different to Fisher's.
The country gentleman squire look must have bemused Fisher.


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## Salar (6 Sep 2018)

Drago said:


> The Range Rider didn't just look like a big 29er, it was one. .



He even made a prototype Range Rider with 700C wheels.


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## raleighnut (6 Sep 2018)

We all built off-road bikes back in the 70s





Round our way was the disused 'Great Central' Railway that eventually (in the 80s) was turned into a cyclepath from Whetstone into town but if they hadn't removed the bridges could have stretched right down to Lutterworth.


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## Drago (6 Sep 2018)

Aye, still got a tracker bike


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## screenman (6 Sep 2018)

Maybe not so cheap, I paid about £900 for an MTB in about 1988, blimey could nearly have bought a house up north and a packet of fags for that.


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## Salar (6 Sep 2018)

Cycle speedway was quite a thing in the North East in the 60's. There were two tracks close to me in the east end of Newcastle.

Me and a couple of my mates dabbled at it for a short time.
I'd been given a nice shiny blue single speed BSA for passing my 11+ 

Gradually over the next couple of weeks the brakes, mudguards, chainguard and anything else I could take off it disappeared.
Transformed it was quite a lethal thing with no brakes.

I suppose my offroad riding began in 1965!! and that's giving my age away.


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## Phaeton (6 Sep 2018)

Salar said:


> We had a rough track local to me at "The Wreck" (If there are any Geordies reading this, they might know of it)


Are you sure it was "The Wreck" not "The Rec" short for recreation field?


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## Salar (6 Sep 2018)

Phaeton said:


> Are you sure it was "The Wreck" not "The Rec" short for recreation field?



Correct, although it was a bit of a dump. I've changed the listing. If you know Newcastle the first track was at Monkchester Road aka the Rec. it then located to somewhere by the Fossway.

Brough Park, speedway track for the Newcastle Diamonds was close by. I used to go almost every Monday night to watch the likes of Ivan Mauger, sadly he died this April.


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## Phaeton (6 Sep 2018)

Salar said:


> Correct,


I'm a Tyke (Middlesbough) not a Geordie, although not lived up that way for over 50 years, but around South Yorks/North Notts Rec is a common term for an open space, often with swings


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## Phaeton (7 Sep 2018)

Watched some of it last night, quite interesting, will try to finish it tonight/tomorrow


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## Venod (7 Sep 2018)

raleighnut said:


> We all built off-road bikes back in the 70s



We did the same in the 60s, old frame fixed wheel, cow horns, ridden everywhere.


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## Salar (7 Sep 2018)

Phaeton said:


> Watched some of it last night, quite interesting, will try to finish it tonight/tomorrow



I found another one to watch about clunkers in the USA in the 1970's, might watch that tonight, seeing as SWMBO is away.


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## Phaeton (7 Sep 2018)

Salar said:


> SWMBO is away.


That's why I only watched half, thought she was out tonight but isn't


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## mustang1 (7 Sep 2018)

Salar said:


> There was nothing much on the TV last night, so I did a search on Amazon Prime and up popped Mountain Biking - The Untold British Story.
> 
> It's a fascinating story of how it all began over here, particularly for those of a certain age who were there when it started . If you can, watch it, or get the DVD you won't be disappointed.
> 
> ...



What kind of bike did you have back then? 26/27.5/29/hardtail/full sus/xc/downhill/enduro (I still dont know what that is), 100mm/120/150mm/air sus/oil sus/ plus tyre/ fat bike/alu/carbon/ti/mud tyres/normal tyres/whatever tyres/other?


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## Salar (8 Sep 2018)

mustang1 said:


> What kind of bike did you have back then? 26/27.5/29/hardtail/full sus/xc/downhill/enduro (I still dont know what that is), 100mm/120/150mm/air sus/oil sus/ plus tyre/ fat bike/alu/carbon/ti/mud tyres/normal tyres/whatever tyres/other?



@mustang1 Back then it was all steel and no suspension and 26" wheels for me, with almost horizontal top tubes until Kona and others came along. The tyres were a semi knobbly type.

In those days with no suspension you had to steer around rocks and bumps. Now with full suspension I think most of the early skills have gone as you can almost pick a straight line and go.

The first proper mountain bike I had was a very early Marin Muirwoods, think it was a 1988, one of the low mid range models.

Marin appeared in the UK around about 86 or 87. Before then all you could really get where I lived was Raleigh.

My son was getting heavily involved in MTB racing, so I bought him a secondhand Palisades Trail, a very nice bike and I ended up being the taxi. He moved on to downhill racing and did reasonably well in the Welsh downhill series he now has an early Kona Stinky, but doesn't ride much these days.

I had the Marin for a few years and then moved to Kona and bought a fully rigid Kona Lava Dome from Sunset Cycles in Cardiff and it's nice to see they are still going, a proper bikes shop.

The Marin was nice, but the Kona was a revelation, much better and lighter, you could really see those forks flexing when going downhill!
I lent it to my son , a big mistake, he crashed into a tree mangled the front wheel and folded the forks.

I left mountain biking alone for a few years doing a bit of light road riding and gentle trail riding, somehow lost the Mojo, but a lot was going on in my life then and cycling had to take a back seat.

A few years ago the bug came back so I bought a Kona Hoss (I'm a bit heavier these days )and rode it around Brechfa, Afan Argoed etc, , I still have the Kona, but the suspension forks have gone and more recently have used it on the road and light tracks.

I'm still retro and much prefer lightweight 26" wheel steel frames and rigid forks.

I'll be putting the knobblies back on the Kona this weekend together with a few more tweaks to hopefully (work permitting) get back in the forest next week.

Think I'll have to start off on the nursery slopes though as I've not done any proper riding bike for over six months due to a knee problem.


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## fossyant (8 Sep 2018)

Rainy day. Will look for that on prime later. Still use my early 90's MTB. We must have been crazy with no suspension and poor brakes. My newer bike is far more capable, or point and shoot. I'm not getting younger but it makes the tricky descents easier and less chances of breaking myself again.


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## Drago (8 Sep 2018)

My '96 Alpinestars is from the period where manufacturers had finally developed things to a point where things were right with geometry, appropriate frame construction, and design. In 2018 it is still a lively, robust and fun bike to ride, and is still the mainstay of my off road riding.


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## Phaeton (8 Sep 2018)

@Salar Thank you very much for this, I really enjoyed it, seeing Martyn Ashton back on a bike almost had me in tears, that must be unreal moment for him to be able to get back on a bike after the accident.


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## FishFright (8 Sep 2018)

Drago said:


> My '96 Alpinestars is from the period where manufacturers had finally developed things to a point where things were right with geometry, appropriate frame construction, and design. In 2018 it is still a lively, robust and fun bike to ride, and is still the mainstay of my off road riding.



Is that one of the E-Stay models or were they earlier ? I always liked they way the E-Stay'd Alpinestars looked despite the issues.


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## Drago (8 Sep 2018)

No, although I wish it was as they're quite collectable. It's a standard frame design, an ASR with full (and fairly rare, only made for 1 model year) STX-RC groupset in dark chrome. The paint is a bit battered now, so in the next year or so I may treat it to a powder coat and new decals.


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## Salar (8 Sep 2018)

Thanks @Phaeton ,

I felt the same when I was watching it.

I watched "Klunkerz" last night with a couple of cans and a glass or three of wine, seeing as SWMBO is not back until tomorrow and I've only the dog to talk to.

It was OK, seen most of it before, Repack trail, Richey, Breeze, Fisher etc. Still worth watching if you've not seen it .


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## fossyant (8 Sep 2018)

Well put together. Did get a few tuts from the wife when Rachel A said 'riding makes you feel invincible'. Fortunately she didn't see the Martyn Ashton bit and how he broke his spine. Ahem.


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## Kajjal (8 Sep 2018)

Just watched it on prime, it makes you remember where mountain biking came from. We used to go round the Peak District and other places on early 1990 rigid mtb’s with really bad cantilever brakes. Great fun but your hands and wrists were wrecked after each ride. That and getting lost with an os map & a compass meaning you often had to climb the nearest hill to be able to see where you were.

To be honest the people mountain biking are the same now as always just the bikes are way better meaning more trails are accessible but removing the skill and fear of the old 1990’s mountain bikes.


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## Salar (8 Sep 2018)

If you want to know about the early days, get a copy of this 1988 book and yes that is Nick Crane.


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## mustang1 (11 Sep 2018)

Salar said:


> There was nothing much on the TV last night, so I did a search on Amazon Prime and up popped Mountain Biking - The Untold British Story.
> 
> It's a fascinating story of how it all began over here, particularly for those of a certain age who were there when it started . If you can, watch it, or get the DVD you won't be disappointed.
> 
> ...



Thanks Salar for posting this. I just finished watching the movie and it was very pleasant. Enjoyed that.


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