[Closed] What bike did you want when you first started mountain biking?

muddy fox courier.
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Fisher CR7
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Nishiki Alien
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Doug Bradbury Manitou (which still looks awesome now!)
I got my first Mtb in 1987 😯

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There was an orange one in a world courier championships article in mbuk I think which had syncros everything and slicks - it looked awesome!

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1993 Cinder Cone. Also (obvs) the titanium Hei Hei, but the Cinder Cone was frustratingly just-out-of-reach rather than pie-in-the-sky. Bought a GT Pantera instead which is still in use, but had 22 years worth of *sigh* for the sake of not finding an extra £150....

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Dave Yates, then started to drift across the Atlantic and wanted a yeti ultimate.

I brought the one I wanted after putting a deposit on a Dawes I saw a Cindercone and wanted one straight away.
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(not my pic)

Yep, that Pace and that Orange P7. I bought a P7 in the end, it was every bit a good as I hoped. I still want the Pace.

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A Cannondale not too dissimilar to this one, there was an ad running in a bike mag (whatever cycling plus was before it was cycling plus) and it blew me away, I was used to gas pipe Raleigh bikes and this was made out of aluminum(sic). It might as well have been made by NASA. It was one of the things that drew me away from the road to mtb, the leaps and bounds the tech was taking whereas road bikes were stuck in the 70's. Ended up my first bike was a Dale and I was a fanboi pretty much for the whole of my early mountain biking days. Funnily enough its all arse for elbow now as I love steel bikes and whilst alu has its place there ain't no love.

I remember seeing a Klein for the first time and a Marin FRS in Dales, also the carbon swing armed SV's!

Had zero clue about bikes when I started riding, it was almost by accident I bought a MTB for the sake of having a bike and the bug bit.

About a year later 'Roam' came out, and I desperately wanted a Demo 8, I kind of assumed owning it would automatically and instantly change me from a wobbling around Afan on my GT to hitting 40ft doubles.

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I asked about one at my LBS, they looked me up and down, looked at my crappy GT wearing bald tyres and my £10 mushroom helmet and gently talked me out of it, and anyway - at the time whoever was in charge of Spesh in the UK had decided that we didn't need Demos so they only imported a handful every year.

I bought a Enduro, it had the SAME HEADTUBE! It was great, but I reckon it took me 2 years to get good enough to use any of its potential.

That splatter Cinder Cone.....

DROOOOL! One of the best paint jobs ever.

That P7 up there ^^^

I bought a more affordable Marin instead, which I thought was great.

1993 Cinder Cone. Also (obvs) the titanium Hei Hei, but the Cinder Cone was frustratingly just-out-of-reach rather than pie-in-the-sky. Bought a GT Pantera instead which is still in use, but had 22 years worth of *sigh* for the sake of not finding an extra £150....

Same, I also wanted the hei hei. Worked my arse off on paper rounds and got myself a lava dome instead. I still have it, and ride it, to this day.

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Ended up with a Palisades Trail a year later.
Still miss it, lovely bike.

1994 GT Zaskar. I had a 1993 GT Outpost.

Wanted a Kona Srinky. Had no idea how unsuited it was to my XC bimbling about

A marin pine mountain. ended up with a lavadome. Have a cindercone now tho
[URL= http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f278/firestarter4075/Mobile%20Uploads/20150620_144145_zps0f9nd3st.jp g" target="_blank">http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f278/firestarter4075/Mobile%20Uploads/20150620_144145_zps0f9nd3st.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Cannondale hardtail with those headshok forks. In red. Those welds were amazing 🙂

That raven in the OP, it was the most expensive one in the catalogue...
Then an intense M1
Then a patriot, a Schwinn straight 8 and a Santa Cruz super 8

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After seeing it in a bmx mag in 1984. I'd never seen anything like it before

A KHS Montana Pro with full xtr. I had to make do with borrowing my housemate's GT Tequesta though as my student loans got spend on windsurfing kit.

I got an Orange P7 in nickel with LX (rigid forks, cantis) when I got my first proper job.

It was either the Alpinestars Ti-mega or a Saracen Conquest. Ended up with a Saracen Traverse Hydrotech after starting off on a Dawes Wildcat.

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Pace rc-100 as my dream machine, Saracen Traverse as my first mtb.

1987 Peugeot Alpine Express

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Anything from the classic Raleigh range of c.1989, from Lizard to Mustang to Yukon, Apex, the Land Rover one. I got the Lizard.

Roberts White Spider
Tange prestige
Pink

Had a courier- everything broke apart from the frame

Mate had one of those pugs

Can't link on the phone, but an alpine stars Al mega xt with the e-stays.

After that, an orange clockwork. However this one I actually had. Bloody lovely and I only sold it 5 years ago, after many many miles and years of abuse (fun)

[IMG] [/IMG] Fat Chance Yo Eddy

[IMG] [/IMG] Ritchey P-22

[IMG] [/IMG] John Tomac's Raleigh

After getting completely bitten by the MTB bug after buying a second hand Falcon Descender in 1993, I just blew mine & Mrs Mc's holiday fund on a totally blinged-up Cannondale M800 (Who couldn't fall for a bike called the "Beast of the East")
And when I say "blinged-up, I mean loads of PURPLE anodised bike jewelery, mmmmm !!
Al

Probably quite a few. Fat Chance Yo Eddy, Amp Research B1, the Manitou FS, JMCs Specialized...

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My sights weren't exactly set high. ended up getting a spesh hardrock with GS200 groupset and biopace chainrings.

Cost me £249.99.

I always wanted a Cannondale SuperV. I managed to get a Raven when I was working at a bike shop. Had to work a lot of Sunday's to pay that one off. I later bought another one many years later, but it wasn't as good as my memories

Flickr on the iPad is stopping me linking to photos.......

jimmy - Member
Anything from the classic Raleigh range of c.1989, from Lizard to Mustang to Yukon, Apex, the Land Rover one. I got the Lizard.

Landrover one was the Discovery
My first 'proper' bike, can remember like it was yesterday riding it back from Birkenhead Cycle Exchange with my dad jogging alongside
It still sits in the shed at my parents and my dad occasionally takes it for a spin
I lusted after the titanium team raleighs of Baker, Gould and Tomac
Once I started properly reading the mags it was all of the above, Pace, Ritchey, Fat Chance, Cindercone, Orange P7
Eventually in 95 went to buy, for my 21st a Clockwork Orange frame but the guy in sShockwave talked me into getting a Voodoo as they had just started importing them. It was an awesome bike that's still going strong today

Shamed to say I wanted a Raleigh Activator. Thankfully I didn't get one.
Instead I ended up with a GT arrowhead and proceeded to upgrade everything on it.
That has never ended, bike building and upgrading has continued.
However I did recently get hold of a GT STS, which had I known about them when I started I would have been chasing from the start.

Couldn't afford magazines (fortunately) so just rode bikes instead of developing a bike fetish til the mid 90s, when I quite fancied (and almost got the funds together for) a Voodoo Bantu

Used to go into the old Harry Halls Cycles in Manchester as a kid and dream of owning one of these

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For the first few years of my MTBing I was happy to ride self built klunkers. Then I saw one of these in MBUK - I think Steve Geall was throwing it about. Would still love to own one.

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1992 Bear Valley SE. Could only afford a poxy Muirwoods

Randomly enough, I have a virtually unmodified Marin of roughly that vintage hanging in my Dad's garage, in very good condition. Not sure of the model, but it could well be a Bear Valley SE, I has that grey/cream painted Exage groupset.

I bought it years ago from a work colleague for my Stepmother who has, to my knowledge, never ridden it!

When I first started MTBing, in late 2003, I had a trek 800 cheapo hardtail, didn't have a clue what I was doing, but did the red route at GT with only a front brake, as the rear packed in on the first descent, and absolutely loved it. I didn't know anything of any other brands, so never lusted after anything. I was quite happy with what I had.

That was about the only time that happened.

Klein Adroit. That particular love is still unrequited.

Those pre-Trek Kleins would still hold their own today if Gary would only dust off the torch and spray gun.

Nice relliott, you selling it? 😉

Can't say I'd ever really thought about it!

Kona Cindercone, with the splatter paint job. Still want one.

Didn't really need to "want" with mountainbikes my first mountain bikes were pretty much as good as they got at the time. a '89 Raleigh Appalachian (full 531/Deore II group) then a '90/91? imported US Cannondale M1000 (Alu f&f/Suntour XCpro group). Must've had well over 150 bikes since and have ridden thousands that didn't belong to me.

Much like my experience with women.

An alpine stars al-mega xt white superoversized tubing elevated chainstays. Couldn't afford one of those with paper round money so bought a kona fire mountain in blue with white splats - perfect 17.5" frame, u brake,upgraded with xt thumb shifters, mavic x221 rims and mavic hubs (!)

Used to drool while looking at this in a local bike shop. It's made from granite FFS !!!!!!!!!!!

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Or as above a bear valley! If there's a nice garage one going up for sale I'd be v keen 🙂

That Diamond Back was a Sintesi, IIRC.

I get all nostalgic just looking at that pic, makes me feel like a boy again

Verlicchi. I stand corrected!

Not quite when I first got into mountain biking but this is the bike I have lusted over the most.

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I too first saw one in a bmx mag around 1984. My first bike crush was a Overburys Pioneer, my Mum lived in Bristol and I'd seen a few. I did manage to get a 89/90 explosif, splatter, suntour xc pro and track two forks.
I remember getting a kona/Brodie brochure poss in 87 and though that they looked fantastic.

That Sunn was fast because the front brake lever wasn't attached to anything! 🙂

FWIW, I remember seeing one of those (Anne-Caro's, IIRC) at the factory in Saint Gaudens many years later. Still looked fast then! Still looks good now.

Kona cindercone too. Lives in Switzerland now with an ex.

Another Doug Bradbury Manitou fantasist here,

This one

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followed by this one

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and back in the early 90's i would prob have removed my left bollock with a series of paper cuts to have this - just look at that anodising 😯

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Parkpre titanium for me after seeing one in a pro bike check in a magazine
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I came late to the game...

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Ritchey p22 team for me please.

Diamondback Axis TT for me!

San Andreas

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I always lusted after one of these when I first started mtbing. They just lookef so out of thid world at the time. Then later I fell in love with a dayglo orange/pink painted Klein frame that was hanging in a bike shop in Battersea which had a price tag that I just couldn't fathom at the time.

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There was a shop in the Meadowhall centre in Sheffield where I used to drool at the window lusting after one of these

my first MTB was a trek 430 (i think) in 1991, and it was a bit rubbish really but before very long i bought the bike i really wanted, which was a 1992 kona kilauea (the dark blue one).
however, i always had somewhat of a hankering for one of those klein attitudes up there...

Rusty Spanner,theres a nice Team Marin for sale on Retrobike at the moment.

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Merlin Titanium.

I remember the days when LLBs was a place to worship as it was an Alladin's cave and I so happened to want a limem green SC Bullit but remember it being what I would call excessive amount just for the frame as I was new to the game of proper mtb'ing.

Still dream I picked it up and built it with monster Ts and Hope M4s etc.

Something much like this, although obviously shiny and new and without accessories.

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Looks rather rubbish now.

@colournoice

I loved my metalhead and was definitely a bike I'd always wanted.

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I had big plans, but in the end I decided I needed a clear out and I sold it.

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how can nobody have mentioned this

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Mostly because Steve Peat was riding one!

I don't specifically remember the first one I wanted but it must have been around 1987 as the bikes I get wistful about are all from that time. Saracen, Muddy Fox, Specialized are the main ones. By '89 I was into it and very jealous of a couple of older boys at school who had a Team Marin and an Overbury's.

The first mountain bike I owned was a Muddy Fox Explorer, bought from the general used goods auction they used to have at the market in Chichester. It was in a right state but I got it all running again and even splashed out on a new powder coat for it. I'd quite like another one now, come to think of it.

After that I lusted after all the usual suspects, the top end Spesh & 'dale models, anything Klein, anything titanium.

In case some of you haven't stubled across it yet, [url= http://www.retrobike.co.uk/ ]retrobike.co.uk[/url] is the place to go for all this kind of nostalgia.

Fear not knightrider

thegreatape - Member

San Andreas

POSTED 7 HOURS AGO #

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DMR Trailstar was my first proper mtb. This is actually my 2nd one as I can't find a good pic of the first which cracked at the head tube. Kinda wish I never sold this frame. I rode everything on it til I bought a full suspension and never fully went back to HT.