What was your first "Proper" MTB?

'68 Fastback

I had a 1995 Raleigh M-Trax Ti 2000 when i was a teenager. I loved it like a puppy. If my folks had let me, that bike would've been hung on my bedroom wall every night. I learned everything I know (not very much) about MTBing on it and learned almost everything I know about repair by fixing it and keeping it maintained.

It also taught me what a terrible idea it was to bond Ti tubes into lugs when inserting a re-greased seatpost into the seattube and a ring of grease was squeezed out of the bottom of the lug. I've had breakups that hurt less.

So what bike did you have when you got hooked?

magicbastarder

first 'proper' one was a muddy fox courier comp, in about 1992 i think. bought in hardings (the one upstairs in arnotts).

my first 'mountain bike' in quotes was a kaybee 'bmx mountain bike' - a weird hybrid of the two which guaranteed it was neither. ended up selling it to a neighbour, and it was nicked from their front garden two days later.

'68 Fastback

I haven't heard anyone mention Hardings in a very long time! Did they have the shop on the quays at the same time as they were in Arnotts? I only remember the shop. They had a pair of bib shorts that were printed to look like purple denim that made me laugh everytime i went in there!

magicbastarder

i have a vague memory that it was a relative of the hardings on the quays, who was running the one in arnotts.

seamus

Was riding around on a new, but heavy steel MTB that I'd gotten for secondary school. One of the usual "hey MTBs are cool now" tanks that shops sold in the early 90s.

When I got the MTB bug, me and two mates decided that building our own bikes was an easier option than at 14 years old trying to find £500 to buy a new one outright. This was 1995/96.

Cycle Superstore by coincidence had 3 chromo frames in stock: British Eagle Shadow, Reynolds 531. So we bought one each, and over the following months set about scrimping and begging to buy parts to put them together. And we were pretty proud of ourselves and our incredibly light and professional-looking (relative to anything else in the school yard) bikes.

For a few months the bike actually did live in my bedroom, until I had two wheels fitted to it. I'm still using that frame as my everyday commuter, though it's been stripped and repainted and everything else replaced on it. 23 years and still going strong.

I see young teens flying around now on high-tech MTBs probaby costing the guts of a grand, and just think that they have no idea what it's like to be scouring every single shop in a 10km radius trying to save 3 or 4 quid on the price of a pair of brake levers. And looking longingly at a half-built bike, dying to be able to take it out for a spin.

magicbastarder

was that frame originally blue? i think my mate still has one - definitely a british eagle 531 frame.

seamus

BE definitely did a 531 frame in blue, I can see it my head. These ones were black though, the "Shadow" frames were all black.

Edit: No, I'm wrong! It looks like they did a later one in blue:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=135106

This is exactly what my one looked like, "Deore LX" sticker and everything:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=269358

steamsey

First MTB was a steel. white, Raleigh Maruader. Absolute donkey of a bike but I loved it. It's main feature was index gears. Used to take it up to Two Rock and around Masseys. It got nicked outside the Enterprise Centre in Terenure and I remember not being too upset becuase I'd had it for years at that point and kind of wanted an excuse to get something new.

So in '93 I sold my Megadrive for £180, cashed in my communion money and bought a Merida Albon Tech DX from a guy in Stillorgan. Loved it. Alu frame, DX all around (since discontinued, except for MTB pedals). Was a really good bike to have in the early 90's. Still have the frame in the attic but never replaced the bottom bracket and it basically welded itself into the frame so that was the end of it.

Lemming

My first MTB was an Al Carter Professional, which I got 2nd hand in 1992 for my birthday. Shimano 400LX groupset and of course, no suspension. Al Carter were the same guys that made Townsend bikes albeit aimed at mountain biking as opposed to just 'here's a bike that can go off-road'. Spent most of my teenage years learning on that; all over ticknock, Djouce, Masseys, etc. with Kamikaze mtb club (they had amalgamated with Sorrento CC at the time to gain administrative experience if I recall) before stepping up to an Orange Prestige (which I still have).

'68 Fastback

I recently picked up a 1997 P7 cause i always loved Orange bikes.

Lemming

'68 wrote:

I recently picked up a 1997 P7 cause i always loved Orange bikes.

One of the local chain bikeshops near me has two Orange limited edition (30 year anniversary) titanium hard-tails - a T7 and T9 - dripping with Hope & Fox kit in their main show-room. They are positively orgasmic to look at, the price tags less so :pac:

'68 Fastback

Lemming wrote: »

One of the local chain bikeshops near me has two Orange limited edition titanium hard-tails dripping with Hope & Fox kit in their main show-room. They are positively orgasmic to look at, the price tags less so :pac:

Like the old Vit T2?

Durty!

Lemming

'68 wrote:

Like the old Vit T2?

Durty!

Shop page with video too

'68 Fastback

Lemming wrote: »

Shop page with video too

Mother of god...

gnarbarian

My first "Real Mountain Bike" was a Raleigh Activator that I bought with my own money back in '96.. It had the fake elastomer rear "shock absorber" and a very crappy Suntour Duo Track "Suspension" fork.. I remember ogling the Raleigh catalogue for months while I tried saving up my money..
That bike took me to places I didnt think a bike could back then!
We used to go out to Carrick before there was any bike trails. There were some moto trails but our bikes were not really up to the gnar back then so we used to ride the fireroads pretending that we were racing the kamikaze at Mammoth Mountain!

steamsey

gnarbarian wrote: »

My first "Real Mountain Bike" was a Raleigh Activator that I bought with my own money back in '96.. It had the fake elastomer rear "shock absorber" and a very crappy Suntour Duo Track "Suspension" fork.. I remember ogling the Raleigh catalogue for months while I tried saving up my money..
That bike took me to places I didnt think a bike could back then!
We used to go out to Carrick before there was any bike trails. There were some moto trails but our bikes were not really up to the gnar back then so we used to ride the fireroads pretending that we were racing the kamikaze at Mammoth Mountain!

Oh wow - the Activator. I haven't thought about them in years. A guy in school got one and I seem to remember it was heavy as f*ck. We were in awe of the suspension. That's a cool retro photo, presume of you. Reminds me of that MTB film Klunkers - shows how they started MTBing in California back in the day, seemed to be a lot about drifting around fireroad corners etc. Mad to think how it's all changed.

gnarbarian

steamsey wrote: »

Oh wow - the Activator. I haven't thought about them in years. A guy in school got one and I seem to remember it was heavy as f*ck. We were in awe of the suspension. That's a cool retro photo, presume of you. Reminds me of that MTB film Klunkers - shows how they started MTBing in California back in the day, seemed to be a lot about drifting around fireroad corners etc. Mad to think how it's all changed.

Yeah that thing weighed a tonne, Made from pig iron I believe!
The photo was taken in september '97 if I remember correctly, we were out in Carrick bombing down the fireroads just like in Klunkers (great film!)
The sport has certainly come a long way since the 90's but it is just as much fun haha

Tenzor07

First MTB was an old Raleigh tourer back in 1989, looked something similar to this:

ianobrien

The first proper MTB I had was a Trek 4000. It was used mainly for road and a bit of fireroad stuff. Then it got forgotten about and shoved into the back of the garage for years.

I moved to Longford for work and was living on the canal. I decided to dust off the bike and used it to cover miles of the tow paths on the canal. It was great as I used it to escape the man made racket and enjoy nature.

I moved back to Cork and a friend suggested cycling in the Ballyhoura's ("you'll love it"). My first time there was the Brown loop on the old Trek. I got battered, it was painful on a rigid 26" bike and I was worried about the headstock the whole time (it previously came apart, throwing me off the bike). I loved it and ran out and got a new Trek Procaliber afterwords......

prunudo

Depends what you class as proper, bought myself Raleigh Amazon back in the mid 90's. As a teenager it was the equivalent of a car and used it everywhere to get around but bar fire roads it wouldn't have seen many mountains.

First bike with suspension was a mid 00's Claud butler Stone river, 26"wheels, hardtail, 2x8 and cable disc brakes! Still have it but parts are getting hard to get. Only upgraded to full suspension last year so my progression into mountain biking hasnt been a quick one :pac:

nak

2017 Stumpjumper. Late to the party.

muckwarrior

Much more new school than most here; mine was a 2011 Trek 6500. Only started mountain biking around 2013. I used it recently for the odd XC race but so far this year it's been relegated to my commuter.

JJJJNR

2001 Claude butler xct rock, some bike and we should have had plenty of years together.. but she was stolen. Took a good while to get over that.

Idleater

One of my projects is my 1995 Haro Escape. At this stage it's a bit of a trigger's brush, but I'm migrating a xtr groupset to the frame.

Older than that was a 1992 Merida, but hard pressed to find (actual) photographs of that one.

The Noble Nudge

Raleigh Maverick ATB....1986 5 speed which made it harder to keep up with the lads on the 21 speed version!

'68 Fastback

jvan wrote: »

Depends what you class as proper, bought myself Raleigh Amazon back in the mid 90's. As a teenager it was the equivalent of a car and used it everywhere to get around but bar fire roads it wouldn't have seen many mountains.

First bike with suspension was a mid 00's Claud butler Stone river, 26"wheels, hardtail, 2x8 and cable disc brakes! Still have it but parts are getting hard to get. Only upgraded to full suspension last year so my progression into mountain biking hasnt been a quick one :pac:

I reckon "proper", for me, means the first bike that I didn't have to work against. If that makes sense? I had a couple of bikes with knobbly tyres that I dragged around Ticknock but it wasn't enjoyable. I had a Raleigh Youkon whick would've been grand except I wrecked it with neglect before I knew better. The M-Trax was light and nimble is comparison and any suffering I experienced had nothing to do with the bike!

Hurrache

'68 wrote:

I haven't heard anyone mention Hardings in a very long time!

magicbastarder wrote: »

i have a vague memory that it was a relative of the hardings on the quays, who was running the one in arnotts.

The place on the quays is where I picked up at a few of mine. They used to have a bike parking service too, drop your bike off and for a few quid they'd mind it for the day, used to be great for popping into the city without worrying about parking and bringing locks.

Does anyone know if they just shut down, or operate elsewhere under a different guise?

steamsey

'68 wrote:

I reckon "proper", for me, means the first bike that I didn't have to work against. If that makes sense? I had a couple of bikes with knobbly tyres that I dragged around Ticknock but it wasn't enjoyable. I had a Raleigh Youkon whick would've been grand except I wrecked it with neglect before I knew better. The M-Trax was light and nimble is comparison and any suffering I experienced had nothing to do with the bike!

The M Trax! We used to day dream about them. There was something really cool about them. Were they like the S- Works for Specialized? They were titanium right and light as ****? I can't remember if that's what we loved about them. Around then, it was all about weight. Everyone was migrating from steel to alu and I remember first thing you did when you saw a bike was to lift it (by the crossbar) and comment on the weight.

Lemming

steamsey wrote: »

Around then, it was all about weight. Everyone was migrating from steel to alu and I remember first thing you did when you saw a bike was to lift it (by the crossbar) and comment on the weight.

Lifting a bike by the cross-bar was the equivalent of tyre-kicking cars

Ti bottle cages, Ti skewers, Ti bolts for insert-part-here, Ti railed saddles, rinse repeat ad finiteum. There was (and still is I suppose) an absolutely massive range of Titanium after-market sales offerings all in the pursuit of weight. Add purple colour and you had people biting the arm off companies. The focus on weight went to ridiculous lengths (not to mention prices ... ); I can recall the [at the time I'm sure] lightest production bike being a limited edition run of the Sintesi X-wing that came in ridiculously light at under 10 kg or some such.

'68 Fastback

I was firmly in the turquoise anodized accessories camp.

The M-Trax was great while it lasted but Raleighs "S-Works" was DynaTech. My dad got a custom Torus XT from them. Raleigh sent you a form that you filled out with all your measurements and they made a frame for you. Full Ti, full XT and a Pace RC35 with a whopping 40mm travel. He still has it and it's still lovely.

halvis

A 1990 Gary Fisher Celerity (it was right pink). Weighed a tonne and was really stiff from what I recall, loved it.

Picture is not mine -

seamus

Lemming wrote: »

There was (and still is I suppose) an absolutely massive range of Titanium after-market sales offerings all in the pursuit of weight. Add purple colour and you had people biting the arm off companies. The focus on weight went to ridiculous lengths (not to mention prices ... );

I recall some companies selling derailleurs for £1,000 that had absolutely everything changed to Ti if it was at all possible, right down the rivets. People were literally pay ten times the price of some components just to shave off fractions of a gram.

I expect a lot of these were showboating pieces that they never expected to sell more than ten of, but it gave the company a name and a gimmick at shows.

They were always beautiful components, but they still wore down just like aluminium and plastic components, and cost many many multiples to maintain.

Borderfox

Got a Scott mtb up in Kimmages in Coolock village around 1990, no suspension but great bike for getting around. Got a Concorde next, cant remember the model names on these

RobFowl

Giant escape circa 1992. Went to France on it and all. Rigid forks abut handled well and could go anywhere.
Nicked by some scumbag and sorely missed.

RobFowl

Borderfox wrote: »

Got a Scott mtb up in Kimmages in Coolock village around 1990, no suspension but great bike for getting around. Got a Concorde next, cant remember the model names on these

Thats where I got Mine ! in the unit beside Stensons hardware.

emeraldmtb

I got a Raleigh Discovery in the early/mid 90s (forget what year, its been a while) after I destroyed my Peugeot racer trying to jump kerbs :P