[Closed] N=0....your first "proper" bike.

Dunno how "proper" it was but the Raleigh Equipe I had as a teenager did me alright for getting around and exploring the Herts countryside.

Like this one...

First MTB followed that, again a Raleigh and a bit of a POS really.

Behold the Raleigh Montage in it's cool mint glory...

chakaping

Dunno how “proper” it was but the Raleigh Equipe I had as a teenager did me alright for getting around and exploring the Herts countryside.

Looks proper to me... can still remember drooling over the Raleigh catalogue... the Record Sprint was the next one up, was all black and gold.

Mongoose Californian BMX. Some time in the 80s. Loved that bike.

First proper bike - a Peugeot Premier, circa 1985

First MTB - Marin Hawk Hill, circa 1994 (only got rid of it a couple of years ago)

Chakaping - snap same for me. I have an exact replica (original was stolen) hanging in the garage and ready for the next Eroica. I have partaken in the last 3 in the Peaks and was great fun.

Carrera Mission for me.

I had to travel to Shockwave to buy mine in 1987. Rode it everywhere in the 15 years I had it. Both my girls were in a rear seat from an early age. I remember riding the trails in North Wales before the trail centres including Snowdon on or way to Rhosneigr to windsurf

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It did another five years with my nephew before he passed it on, wished Id kept it

Toeclips on pedals, pipe lagging on top tubes, jumpers for goalposts... aaah.

One of these, which I eventually gave to a mate whose bike got nicked.

Raleigh Equipe - in red and white, followed by a Raleigh Moonrun.   But my first bike paid for out of my own money was a Klein Pulse with my first pay packet after Uni putting the deposit down.  Still have the Klein, well my dad has it set up on a turbo trainer to help him strengthen his knee after a knee op, but one day I'll build it up again as a local hack bike.

I had one of these - not this one but one like it:  a Cannondale M600..first mtb I could call 'proper'. Aluminium Pepperoni forks were the game changer of the day - big fat tubing was extreme tm. Glory days, rode that thing a lot.

When i was about 14/15 I bought a Carlton Cyclone frame and forks for a fiver.

Local bike-builder specced with all new parts, re-sprayed and built it up for a total of £100 iirc! (ie 10 weeks saturday-job pay)

Paint job was a beautifully resilient light blue with metal flake. Don’t know how he did it but it was still near-perfect 10 years later.

10spd (5x2), tan-wall 20c and sissy-levers. I loved it to pieces, rode it like I stole it until (and after) I one day sprinted head-down into the rear bumper of a (stationary) Ford Capri. This gave the head-tube a much steeper angle than was required. I rode it like that for years afterwards. The shorter wheelbase was nippy as. 🤣😂

Genesis Core 20 in around 2012

Did lots of riding on that until I moved on to a full sus

I had a raleigh winner back in the early to mid 80s, cant find any pics, but remember that it had 10 gears, and down tube friction shifters.

Loved that bike.

Raleigh Arena- in the light blue & 5 speed was my first brand new bike- others were hand me downs or 2nd hand. It even had a computer- well little unit that was fixed to the fork and a screw on a spoke turned a cog on it to show your mileage!!

It too had those levers like Chakapings so you could use the brakes while on the flats of the handlebar. Why did they go out of favour.

First "MTB" was a Dawes offshoot brand, Zed, I think. Fully rigid, toe clips. May still have the purple frame bag I had on it!

First real MTB was a GF Sugar 1, bought 2nd hand in 2002 only sold last year to part fund my son's Ice trike

Road bike: 1999 Peugeot Pro Team (get those 12 gears!)

Mountain bike: 1997 Specialized Rockhopper A1 FS

The frequency of bike purchases has increased exponentially since then....

twistedpencil

Raleigh Equipe – in red and white

A man of taste, clearly

After a year of riding a Falcon All-Terra ATB (a real POS), I was offered a neon green Muddy Fox Courier Comp by a colleague. 2 pedal strokes later, i'd fallen in love with it, and bought it. Unfortunately, some thieving scrotes also fell in love with it, and it's upgraded replacement wasn't so clever. Still wish i'd stuck with an original to replace it, i'd love another if anyone's got one in a 19".

Depends what you count as "proper"

Either Raleigh Winner as a teen, or the first I bought with my own money was a 531c Rapide from Freewheel, which was also sold as Ridgeback and/or Madison, which afaict is really a remake of Revell Romany/Revell Rapide.

Still got that one, but the frame is hanging up awaiting some cold setting cos it's a bit twisted and needs to be converted from 126mm to 130mm dropout spacing. And all the bits are in a box.

More pictures would be preferable guys.

A 1998 Specialized Hardrock Cromo. I had it until 2008 when some bastard stole it- I got a Specialized Enduro in 2003 but still rode the Hardrock as a singlespeed in a slightly beefier form-

1999 Clockwork but it green, mother had this colour bad boy.

My first proper bike was a Motobecane Special Sport in 1976. Like this but mine was 5-speed.

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First mtb was a Saracen Tufftrax. Bought in August 1988 for £299 from Schmoo's in Swansea. By modern standards it's rubbish but at the time it was superb. 18-speed Shimano Exage gears, a trick under-the-chainstay horseshoe rear brake, super long, 4-finger brake levers made of plastic wrapped around a piece of steel rod and 'massive' 26"x1.5" tyres. Weighed about the same as a small planet but served me well for years.

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(Note: neither photo is of my actual bike but were sourced from a Google search.)

One of these.

Bought for £275 saved up from a Saturday job, full deore 27s groupset, actually very lightweight rims (lighter than 517's) and not entirely useless fork.

Ended up upgrading most of it so it had marzocchi z4's, hope C2's and most of an XT drivechain.

Anyone else looking at these retro pics thinking that bikes looked better proportioned with 26" wheels - hey bike industry lets kickstart sales with a return to 26......

That Orange Clockwork is just right....proper.

I had a puch 10 spd "racer" back in the early 70s - probably my first proper bike. First good bike a "kilp" ( handmade in Glasgow) with full campy groupset. Bought secondhand in the mid 70s, probably someones club racer bike from the 60s. Sadly stolen.

The first new bike that I bought was a Marin Palisades Trail after many months of paper rounds. 1989 I think. I crashed it in the first few weeks by failing to clear a big ditch at speed. I flew about 20ft and the forks were bent behind the down tube. Understandably I was gutted. But my Dad found a local frame builder who fixed the now-flared head tube, stuck some Project 2s on and painted them the fluoro yellow. That frame builder was Chas Roberts, though my Dad had no idea who he was.

Miss fire, will try to sort image - first bike was 89 Bear Valley.

My first Mountain Bike was an Emmelle Classic 300 in gold crackle paint. (not my picture)

[img] [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iKBAac ]Emmelle Classic 300[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/50334793@N03/ ]Pik n Mix[/url], on Flickr</span>

I loved it but I wouldn't say it was a "proper" mountain bike. After that got pinched from Leicester College, my insurance payout (plus a bit from my dad) got me this.

[img] [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iKzJFP ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/50334793@N03/ ]Pik n Mix[/url], on Flickr</span>

I have owned this bike 3 times, from new in 1997, then it got stolen, I found it on ebay (it had very distinct non-OEM forks on it at the time) so paid to get it back, then stupidly I sold it to another forum member, and then he very kindly sold it back to me about a year later.

I still have it and is currently my only bike. Every time I have the cash to buy something new, something else happens that requires all my money. I won't get rid of it again, just use it solely for commuting.

My first proper bike was a 97 GT Zaskar in Anodized Frost red.
I still have it although the only things that are original now are the seat collar and post.
This is not my bike but it was the same spec apart from the pedals.

Crazy how short bikes were back then!

This was the first one that I didn't have to 'grow into' recently rebuilt. https://flic.kr/p/2iGcf2y
Then came this:
https://flic.kr/p/2ih13PZ
Which I consider to be my first 'proper' bike! It's dressed a bit better these days though!

Ahhh... red striped Maxxis Minions. They can't be far off a comeback.

First proper bike 1989:

(not mine, mine's gone, didn't make a house move)

First MTB 1992:

(also not mine, but my frame's hanging up in the shed, with RockShox Quadras, does that make it triple suspension? Rear, forks and flexstem, must add up to 20 or 30 mm travel?)

'92 Diamond Back Topanga in a lovely purple colour - gutted I can't find any pictures though!

My 2004 Rocky Mountain ETSX. Up until this point every bike I'd had was a BSO...British Eagle, Diamond Back, Raleight, etc.

I did/do have a Marin from like 1998.

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truly crap by modern standards

1975 Raleigh for me, cant remember exact model but I know my dad made a fuss about it costing £50, that was like a months wages. Turned the curly bars round the wrong way, became a bike for riding up the woods, who'd a thunk it 'trail bike'! I think the next bit of tinkering was apehangers and rear wheel off a chopper, 'Mullett'! kids eh!! Should've gone into the bike industry, gave up bikes for cars until a nice little Trek 3500 caught my eye, then a Kona Coiler, On-one, the list goes on. On an Ebike now so don't hate me. No photos of the Raleigh as only the rich folk had cameras!!!

Impressive commitment to roadie style giant seattubes on that Muddy Fox.

One of these, even with the yellow RS on it, some Magura Hydraulic rim brakes & the X-Ray grip shifters I seem to remember.

My work mate has two late eighties Muddy Fox's in the loft at work that to my knowledge have been ridden for the best part of 25 years. I think they are the ones like the pic above.
I can't believe I still get the same buzz now that I did 33 years ago. It really felt then that we were pioneers.
Our local shop wouldn't stock mountain bikes or even order them in. Said it was a fad and would never catch on

First MTB - Rockhopper c. 1987 - chainstay U brake.
First road bike - a s/h Falcon Grand Prix - in a rather natty JPS-esque black/gold colour scheme.

No easily accessible pictures though - sorry.

Our local shop wouldn’t stock mountain bikes or even order them in. Said it was a fad and would never catch on

Having spent many an hr on my Arena, I thought the same when a friend turned up at uni with his Muddy Fox. Thought it would go the same way as skateboarding & BMX when they first arrived in the UK and then seemed to fizzle out.

First was a blue and white 10 spd Raleigh Winner. Crashed that coming off corney fell into Ulpha and bent the frame.

Next was a white and green Raleigh Elan, had that for many years, gradually morphed into a flat bar commuter, then lent it to my brother in law and he lost it in a house move.

First mountain bike was a blue and yellow trek 7000

not my pictures

Trek 970 in 1996. Lovely thing...

That GT is a very cool thing. Has me trying to figure out how rim brakes affect brake jack and all that.

First term at university after almost breaking my scott hybrid in leigh woods. Never really mountain biked properly before and this thing opened up a whole new world. Still have the frame and still one of the best handling hardtails I have ever ridden.

1995 Scott Tahoe... though many different incarnations inc pace rc35 mxc and magic 217s

https://www.bricklanebikes.co.uk/scott-tahoe-mtb-frame

Seeing as there was a complaint about lack of pictures. My first mountainbike and first offroad tour - early 90s. The bike is an emmelle and was pink. thats all I remember of it
Laugh away
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49720722942_c3a3fbbe6d_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49720722942_c3a3fbbe6d_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iKDGFQ ]jeremy mtb borders trip[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/ ]TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr

1986 was the year it all took off for me. First a box of bits from a friend of my dads which I built up into a proper road bike - no idea what the frame was but it had a press fit bottom bracket! I resprayed it La Vie Clare colours in the garden

Then picked up a 2and hand Diamond Back Apex ( still got it in my dads garage) with U brake and Shimano DX (no deore then!) To replace my ton-weight Raleigh Maverick

Started racing both and never looked back!

Raliegh Chopper mk2 ,1973ish . Parents sold it to a lad in the village and got me a Raleigh racing bike . First mtb was a Claude Butler Blade in 2007 .

Depends how you define proper, but my Emmelle Laser probably. Had thr first one at the age of 12 and went through 2 more after they were nicked.

That GT is a very cool thing. Has me trying to figure out how rim brakes affect brake jack and all that.

It doesn't matter where the brake caliper is, it's how it rotates around the axle under braking. You could build a hub brake that acted on the axle for example and get the same "brake jack".

Things like brake arms, or mounting the caliper on the seat stay are altering how the caliper moves, to make the suspension squat under braking you have arrange it such that that stay being pushed by the caliper moves in a way that compresses the suspension.

Just moving the mounting on the stay is a bit like those L-shaped cranks of days gone by.

A road bike. I spent the summer cycling the Eden valley or length of Ullswater to get to work.
I remember the brakes being particularly appalling.

First proper MTB was an Al Carter - a note defunct brand. Full Alivio 😎

I've no pics but it was a Carrera Krakatoa Flex in purple and silver Flex meaning flexstem, the worst invention in biking history. Did nothing until the elastomer perished, which happened pretty much immediately, at which point it was a rattly hinge between bars and bike. Also extra jaggy for when you crushed your balls on it, which considering that my approach to all obstacles was to ram it, was every ride.

But it was otehrwise really nice- tange frame, altus everywhere (clicky underbar shifters, which was new and exciting), smokes and darts. I still had it til a couple of years ago.

Andre Bertin built up from frameset. I was working in a bike shop so I got all the goodies at cost. {Apart from fitting wide steel rims and the biggest tyres I could get in 27" because it was destined to spend most of its life on mountain trails in the Highlands)

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First proper (MTB) was a Ridgeback 605. Fully rigid steel frame, 3x7 gripshift gearing and cantilever brakes for the bargain price of ~ £300. Bought from Butler cycles in Portsmouth before they morphed into Wiggle. Mate and I went up to QE park for a first ride and found out there was a XC race going on the next day so we entered. Turned out to be the final round of the National point series. Still going strong and I only sold it last year due to a house move (seemed a bit pointless to have a pub bike when I can see the pub from the house).

Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo was my first 'proper' bike. Think it's a 2010 model. I keep it up at my parents and love riding it round the local trails when I go back home.

I had a falcon sierra. Everything on it broke and was either bodged or upgraded by ordering off the fine print ad from merlin on the back of mbuk. Eventually the head-tube snapped off. Then my mate knew the importer for mongoose so I bought an iboc comp frame and built it up with mostly lx groupset, dx thumbies, mavic rims on lx hubs, zoom finishing kit and a kona p2 fork. Awesome at qecp, local woods stuff and on the sdw.

First proper mtb was a Coyote, not the shit duel slalom thing but an original one. Came with a flexstem which snapped middle jump over the first double at Ipswich BMX track. Still have the scars. Following this, I had a Giant ATX something hardtail which was mega. 15 inch frame, terrible rst forks and canti brakes which I upgraded to DX vbrakes. Snapped it trying to back flip out of Thetford bomb hole.

Can't really nail down my first proper bike, but my first proper mtb was a 1995 Kona Lava Dome (not my pic):

Upgraded the heck out of it and rode it until the left dropout weld failed in 2001. The frame was replaced with a 2001 Kona Kilauea (which I since sold to a mate who still has it), i've been a big fan of Kona's ever since.

First proper bike after the obligatory 10spd road bike for passing my 11plus would have been a Mk1 Stumpjumper Spesh loaned me for a year. The next one was a 2014 Cannondale Trigger 2.

Mine was a much loved singlespeed mullet bike-niche or ahead of it's time?

Kuhawara custom bmx followed by a Peugeot atb in the eighties, followed by a sunn mtb in 2000. Wish I had kept the bmx.still have the suñn and use it.

Early 90s Marin Palisades, the stone-fleck grey frame with yellow fork, stem and bars.

One of these rigid 1997 Marin Muirwoods,

Not mine in photo (hopefully posting photo works, first time trying).

Well that didn't work ☹

A Peugeot Ranger for my 14th Birthday.

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2nd attempt

honourablegeorge thanks for that.
Don't know what I did wrong

no pictures unfortunately

my first mtb was a dawes ascent 1988 in white with yellow rear triangle and fork. it had 15 speed shimano with plastic thumbbies and huge plastic grips. i did my first 100 miles on it when i was 15 (1990).

my first real mtb though was a 1992 marin eldridge grade in zolatone black with gloss red rear triangle.that bike was another level after the dawes.

First vaguely mtb was a peugeot Anaconda, like this:

Ridden round the local Essex woods and tour of Holland twice for school trips. Self guided mayhem 🙂

Then after a 19 hour day at work I sleep-bought an Orange Evo2, like this:

Used for bimbling around the local woods with my old man, then on the trails in Wiltshire after a work mate showed me around. He had a GT Lobo, about as far from my Orange as I could get. Had a go, crashed it, decided I wanted a full sus.

So I got this, which I view as my first proper mountain bike as I rode actual mountains on it:

First bike I genuinely loved, still have it over 15 years later, still love it 🙂

2000 Kona Hahanna. Pretty sure it was £299 from James in Sheffield after months of pleading with my Dad. Blue and White with glow in the dark decals!

Eventually it had Manitou X-vert forks (with grease nipples!), Azonic bars with cross brace, an original 4 pot XT Shimano disc brake on the front and an XT parallel push V brake at the back. Mavic 521 Ceramic rims on XT hubs. Tioga Factory DH 2. 1 tyres, except the rear didn't fit so me and Dad cut all the side knobs off with a grinder.

Got it nicked off me at knife point in the park. Man I loved that bike.

(True story - went to court and everything, and the * got away with it because the copper who ran the identity parade used a non approved make up to apply spots to the guys faces. The police put so, so much effort into finding that * for me, and then some judge threw it out based on that, and being late for his Golf.)

1st proper bike was a 1984 Raleigh Scirroco in Claret red.

I still had it up until about 2006 - it spent the last 10 years of its life on a turbo trainer.

My dad bought it for me for £185 from Allen’s cycles in Wombwell on their payment plan/club. I rode it home to Brierley from the shop. I remember that ride like it was yesterday - it was getting dark as I climbed the hill from Great Houghton towards Grimethorpe woods and I had no lights on the bike - every time a car approached from behind I got a reflection of its headlights on the gorgeous shiny paintwork and the concave Weinmann rims before I could hear the car. I don’t think I’ve been as thrilled with any bike since then.

When I was a kid its was a stream of knackered old Townends/whetever shite my dad found at the tip. Had a Genesis Core20 when I got back into it about 12 years ago, 16" frame it was tiny looking back at it.

I'm ignoring the Dawes Kingpin shopper bike that for some reason my Dad felt was completely acceptable for a boy to have as a bike in the 1970's instead of a Grifter/Chopper/BMX or indeed anything but not a sodding shopper bike with a seriously uncool tartan zip bag on the luggage rack. The Dawes got thoroughly abused/jumped/crashed in many off road antics...

Dad however redeemed himself by buying me my first "proper" bike: an Eddy Merckx* junior racer bike in about 1981-ish, I loved that bike 🙂

*in my naive youth I had no idea who Eddy Merckx was apart from being some foreign bloke with an odd name

First proper bike was a Dawes Chevron 5 speed racer for my 12th birthday in 1975. 23” frame iirc so I had to grow into it. Crashed it into a tree off-roading it which steepened the head angle but was still straight. Got pinched at university.

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First mtb was a 1992 Marin Palisades Trail. Had the shop fit a DX chainset rather than biopace. Regret not buying the more expensive Kona Cinder Cone I test rode though.

Edit - I really CBA adding images on here any more.