# First mountain bikes?



## vbc (4 Mar 2009)

Just trying to remember today when mountain bikes first took off in the UK. Was it the mid to late 70s or a bit later?


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## Black Sheep (4 Mar 2009)

i'd say very late 70's at the absolute earliest 

in the mid to late 80's BMX was where it was at, very late 80's and people were getting in on the mountain bike thing. my 1992 raleigh had a horizontal top tube instead of the slightly later sloped tt
it also had geometry that now, feels borrowed from road bikes.


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## Cubist (4 Mar 2009)

Mid to late eighties I reckon.


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## TheDoctor (4 Mar 2009)

Early 80s IIRC. I got my first one in '84


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## col (4 Mar 2009)

Early seventies i think, the americans used to go down a steep hill, it was called repack hill if memory serves , And then mountain bikes were born.


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## Hilldodger (5 Mar 2009)

The first officially imported ones came in in 1983 and a year later the first British ones were on the market.


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## jay clock (5 Mar 2009)

My housemate got one in 1985 and we were both into cycline - his was the first I had seen. It was a revelation to me to have the gearing to actually go up hills at a spinning cadence

Of course, I invented the MTB in about 1976. I lived in Belgium and had a trad bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speeds gears onto which I added some huge motocross handlebars with twist grip changer.


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## col (5 Mar 2009)

jay clock said:


> My housemate got one in 1985 and we were both into cycline - his was the first I had seen. It was a revelation to me to have the gearing to actually go up hills at a spinning cadence
> 
> Of course, I invented the MTB in about 1976. I lived in Belgium and had a trad bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speeds gears onto which I added some huge motocross handlebars with twist grip changer.




Remember the cow horn craze in the seventies? Rediculously wide thin handlebars, and if you pulled too hard on them they would bend.


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## Cubist (5 Mar 2009)

col said:


> Remember the cow horn craze in the seventies? Rediculously wide thin handlebars, and if you pulled too hard on them they would bend.



Oh yes, and we ALL converted our Raleigh Olympus into a "Tracker" by swapping the drops for a pair of cowhorns. Trouble was the brake levers from the drops had to be put in the middle of the bars by the bend, else they wouldn't work, so the brake levers were about a mile away from the grips. I once hit a car on a roundabout because I couldn't brake in time. Happy days! Mental maths puts that at around 1978/9!


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## col (5 Mar 2009)

Cubist said:


> Oh yes, and we ALL converted our Raleigh Olympus into a "Tracker" by swapping the drops for a pair of cowhorns. Trouble was the brake levers from the drops had to be put in the middle of the bars by the bend, else they wouldn't work, so the brake levers were about a mile away from the grips. I once hit a car on a roundabout because I couldn't brake in time. Happy days! Mental maths puts that at around 1978/9!



I think your right there, just thinkiing about it myself and it looks like you got it bang on. And I do remember the brakes there too, really bad werent they, my conversion had racer bar levers so i had to have the lever on the bend of the bars or i couldnt pull it far enough to work, it was fun when it slipped down the bar a bit.


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## Vikeonabike (6 Mar 2009)

I remeber seeing/riding a Kona Cindercone in 1988. The lad that had it said it was 2 years old then. It was the firs Mountain Bike I had seen. So Mid 80s when they came to the UK I think!


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## mr Mag00 (6 Mar 2009)

i had my first one 1986! a shogun from halfords  needs stripping down and rebuilding after every wet muddy ride as the bearings would fill with grit.


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## mickle (6 Mar 2009)

We all have Richard Ballantine and Richard Grant to thank.

My first MTB was a Motobecane (featuring the famous exploding _Huret Duopar_ rear mech) in 1984. Second hand mind so the French were way ahead of us. My mate had a MK2 Stumpy. Night rides involved four Wonder Lights each! I had the bearings out of that MBK more times than I can remember. I graduated to a 531 Saracen Conquest with the first Deore. I loved that bike, it ended up in the Thames. Bastards. Ballantine kindly lent me his Ritchey which I promptly had stolen.


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