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Picture the scene. It’s 1996. Brit pop is alive. Mountain biking is an Olympic sport, and I’m riding around on an orange cro-mo Univega Alpina. At the time I really wanted to trade it for a ball burnished GT Pantera, ‘cos if you squinted a little bit it looked like a Zaskar, and Zaskars were cool because the MBUK team rode them.
I “upgraded” that bike with paper round money over the years, fitting some barely working Judy DHs, Azonic bars, V12 peddles, a massive chainring and MRP guide. The poor thing. Fortunately someone saved it from further bastardisation by my hands and nicked it.
It was replaced with a Trailstar which looked way cooler but the Univega was a much nicer bike.
And now there’s one for sale on eBay. The only catch... it’s in Ireland, and i’m not
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303553373543
I bet it goes for buttons too...
Ireland? One I just looked at through your link says Consett, Co Durham.
Well, bugger me.
First result on ebay and it's my very first 'proper' mountain bike, a claud butler cape wrath around 1999/2000, with SR suntour forks, cable disc brakes would have been the originals, and airline deep V rims.
I stripped it down to a bare frame and left it in a garage in Bristol when I moved house.
Not in great nick, but what are the odds!
Am I the only person who wouldn't want to buy their first bike if it came up on eBay?
Am I the only person who wouldn’t want to buy their first bike if it came up on eBay
First MTB? No. No. (I actually did, and was disappointed to learn that it sucketh’d mightily)
Now I wouldn’t.
I’ve also re-bought a few old Cannondale CAAD3s and found them to be ‘not as remembered’ 😬
No chance of finding my first proper MTB on eBay as [1] I still have it, albeit retired and with the frame hanging on a wall, and [2] as far as I know there's only one of them in existence.
I got my 1st proper MTB again around a year ago.
Ridden once, it's in the loft, it'll get ridden again but not much.
Quite enjoy having it, might restore it, but if I downsize al-towers it'll get sold.
Haha. It's nothing special. My first teaching job was in Bedworth and I was living in Coventry in 1997. My previous MTBs (I did my teacher training in West Yorkshire and really got into riding properly then) were all home built klunkers made from stuff bought in Police auctions mostly. I was on the lookout to spend my first salary payments on bike stuff and saw a nice orange frame in a bike shop just down from Coventry Uni. They told me it was a 'prototype' XC frame made by Lee Cooper as he was thinking of getting into MTB building. No idea whether that was true (certainly never seen or heard of another Lee Cooper MTB frame - TBH though haven't looked that hard...) but it was/is a beautifully built thing with lovely (I guess) fillet brazed and filed joints. Rides really well and was in continuous use until last year (albeit in its final years as a slick-shod singlespeed commuter).
http://leecoopercycles.webs.com
Don't have any photos in it's original guise with Quadra 21s and a load of PlanetX parts. Oldest photo I have is from 2010 when I first built it as a commuter.
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Didn't then change very much until I retired it apart from a few drivetrain bits and the brake lever angles (!). Last picture of it I have before it got stripped and hung in the toilet is this one.
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OP's next first bike is 10 miles from me.
First proper MTB was a ‘94 GT Talera, £350 from the LBS with a loan from my Mum of £5 per week. I wouldn’t buy it if it came up for sale. My second bike, that’s a different story. Second bike was a ‘96 Kona Kilauea, a fantastic bike, light and it handled almost telepathically. Sadly, they’re rare but when I found a ‘95 Kilauea frame for £50 fairly local I grabbed it. I’ve spent a happy winter and spring buying the bits for it. Just the front mech to fit and it’ll be done. I had some great times on my original Kilauea, if I have 10% of that fun on this Kilauea I’ll be happy.
Mine was a 1989 Saracen Eiger Competition. It was lilac with garish graphics reminiscent of a shell-suit from the same period. It got stolen not all that long after I bought it, but I picked up a virtually unridden one on eBay a few years back for the princely sum of £28. I might change the tyres and ride it one day!
I still have mine, a 93 Cannondale M500 delta V. Also received a similar amount of abuse/upgrades as the OP's. Actually joined Retrobike a long time ago with the idea of putting it back together, never did get it done, but did end up with 40 or 50 other bikes instead.
Colournoise I had an almost identical bike to that, a Bromwich Cyclone II. Lovely filet brazing and details all over like yours. It was brilliant and I wish I still had it but it snapped in a crash sadly.
Anyway I clicked on the Lee Cooper link and it turns out he had worked at Tom Bromwich Cycles in Coventry which would probably explain the similarities. I had always wondered about its history, I'd only seen one similar and that was in the shop where I got mine in Romford about 1990 I reckon.
I wouldn't have time to keep my first MTB running, used to spend more time fixing it than riding it IIRC. The U-brake, the chain snapping every ride, the incessant punctures.
Wouldn't mind a go on my old Kili Flyer or Marin Team on the singletrack again for old time's sake (they were much more reliable), but only for comedy value really.
I had one of those Univegas, infact the frame is still in the garage......mine is purple
Added some natty X-lite DH bars, RST 3.5 forks, IRC Kujo tyres and LX V brakes, it was the nearest I got to a DH weapon at the time. Even rode Fort William on it (not a competition I hasten to add). Funny to think compared to modern bikes how capable it was
Am I the only person who wouldn’t want to buy their first bike if it came up on eBay
No need - I still have and ride my first MTB - in a triggers broom sense. Although it was a bitsa to begin with as I bought it frame only and built it from parts. It'll be 21 this year.
Still has the same ST-RC brakes from new. The headtube is a more recent addition though!.
As I'm typing this I've just been notified that my second MTB frame has just sold 🙂