# First MTB?



## Black Sheep (23 May 2018)

Rather than a "what should I get"

What did you get?

Due to my age, I was straight into the mountain bike boom of the late 80's early 90's without realising it, 

In about 1991 I got a second hand Raleigh MTB with the standard flat bars, 5 speed friction shift (I could only work out how to use 1st and 5th) and the obligatory cable through the stem cantilever brake arrangement. 

It was replaced in 1994/95 I think with a muddy fox explora-mega which had indexed gears with little windows in the top and a needle showing which gear you were in, ridged forks until I fitted suspension forks (second hand from my brother) for a few years before it was stolen out of the garage in 2002

This is the bike I count as my first MTB, I learnt pretty much everything about bikes and riding off road from this, probably had replaced most parts on it over the years I had it (was about 10 when I got it) which set a trend with bikes! 




What was your first MTB?


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## Threevok (23 May 2018)

My first "off the shelf" was an Apollo Outrage 

Thinking back, I must have been enthusiastic about MTB because that bike (and I use the term loosely) was enough to put anyone off cycling for life


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## NorthernDave (23 May 2018)

Raleigh Amazon, a great bike and I keep looking online for a cheap one to buy.


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## Cycleops (23 May 2018)

Bit before you I think. Specialized Rockhopper in about mid eighties.


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## Sharky (23 May 2018)

I'll let you know when I get my first MTB.


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## Salar (23 May 2018)

NorthernDave said:


> Raleigh Amazon, a great bike and I keep looking online for a cheap one to buy.


My lad had one of those, in a green speckle finish



Cycleops said:


> Bit before you I think. Specialized Rockhopper in about mid eighties.



I've still got a 1988 Specialized Rockhopper Comp,complete with Biopace chainset and all original parts.

My first mtb was a Marin Muirwoods, followed by a Kona Lava Dome.


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## Ciar (23 May 2018)

Ooh interesting question, i originally rode BMX when i was kid in the 80's, then i took a sabbatical due to girl friends and the likes, but my first MTB was a GT Tequesta and i also had a Saracen but cant think of the name of it for the life of me!


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## Spiderweb (23 May 2018)

My first MTB was a Trek 830, fully rigid steel frame with canti brakes, 21 speed and twist grip gears.
I still have it now with slick tyres and and a different A head stem.


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## flake99please (23 May 2018)

One of these, and I still have it. Front & rear shocks have been upgraded. I bought mine for £800 back in 1998.


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## Cycleops (23 May 2018)

Salar said:


> I've still got a 1988 Specialized Rockhopper Comp,complete with Biopace chainset and all original parts.
> .


You're a very lucky man!


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## Biff600 (23 May 2018)

I bought my 1st MTB last December, a Specialized Stumpjumper


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## Alan O (23 May 2018)

First I ever rode was a friend's Marin Bear Mountain, so long ago I can't remember when. A couple of years later I bought a second hand one cheap, and it was a bit of a clunker - I can't even remember what it was now.

Forward to 2016 and I got a Grisley Orion (rigid) for £30 on eBay which only needed a little bit of work. 

But I've still not finished it and have never ridden it, because a GT Avalanche 1.0 came up a couple of weeks later for an irresistible £110. And I love that


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## Kajjal (23 May 2018)

Salar said:


> My lad had one of those, in a green speckle finish
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Biopace 

Do your knees still function


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## Kajjal (23 May 2018)

My first real mountain bike was an early 1990’s GT Outpost, no suspension and really bad cantilever brakes


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## Jenkins (23 May 2018)

My first one was back in the early/mid 80s and was an Emmelle 24 speed - the one with a quadruple chainset and a six speed cassette.


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## marzjennings (23 May 2018)

My first MTB was some Emmelle chromoly thing I rode the heck out of around Reading in ‘91. All I could afford at the time. Upgraded to a Marin Pine Mountain about a year later when I started racing and earning some more cash (from a job, not from racing, I was never that good).

Picked up a Cannondale Super V in about ‘97 and rode that across England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and North Africa. Next bike was a GT Zaskar in 2003 when I got back into racing, a Turner Sixpack in 2005 after the Zaskar got pinched. In 2012 a Banshee Paradox when I wanted to try out a 29er and in 2013 a Specialized P2 when I thought I could teach this old dog to jump. Most recent MTB purchase was a Specialized Stumpjumper in 2016 which I’m still riding and loving, but I am so tempted by the new version that came out this month. 

Then there’s the road bikes, recumbents, tandems and cruisers......


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## Black Sheep (24 May 2018)

Thanks, some nice nostalgia in here, 

To bring my tale up to date, the Muddy fox was replaced by a specialized Hardrock which I wore a few bits out on during the course of the year I had it (it was stolen from me as I rode back to my student digs)

This was replaced by a red Hardrock comp which I had re-painted blue (didn't like red) which I had for a number of years until pretty much only the frame, saddle and seat-post were original) I bent the chainstay coming off it and replaced the frame with an On-One Inbred and made it single-speed. 

Alongside this, the original Hardrock was found by myself on my way into uni one day, £50 to the insurance company and it was legally mine again, stripped and sold on ebay, funding a baracuda framed jump bike, the frame then replaced with an Orange MsIsle frame that was white with black splotches, this was taken apart and sold on ebay to fund the road racing bike re-build as singlespeed, while fun to ride off road, was slow for transport.


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## Jody (24 May 2018)

Black Sheep said:


> What was your first MTB?



It was almost a Raleigh Activator but ended up being an early 90's GT Talera. So glad I did as the Raleigh would have been fecked in no time and I wouldn't have got as into cycling. Was very heavily modified by the time I snapped the frame and moved on. Remember it fondly for having a great paint job


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## Oldbloke (24 May 2018)

Marin Palisades Trail in 1991. Good bike...


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## Nigeyy (25 May 2018)

My first proper mtb was a very late 1980's or early 1990's Raleigh Technium (half steel half alu bonded frame) bought used in '92. I loved the thing; did miles and miles of unsuspended 6 speed off road riding. It was replaced in 1996 by a Mongoose Rockadile SX (see https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/oldies-but-goodies.206546/page-2) which I still find I use even today (went out on it last week). The Technium with its older more road like geometry was relegated to an onroad "adventure" touring/commuter bike, which saw me fully loaded from the Czech Republic to the Dutch coast.

Sadly bonding steel to alu really didn't turn out to be a good idea; the seat tube separated soon after, and I chopped the frame up in my cellar to make sure no one else would use it (it really made me feel like I was a murderer getting rid of a body......).

While I loved the bike and I hold sentimental thoughts towards it, it really wasn't very good as an mtb. Unsuspended, heavy and suffering a frame failure. I wouldn't have bought it had I known tbh. The 'goose has been far better.


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