You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
As per title. The bike that I did my first serious mountain biking on, the one that I ventured further with than just around the doors and local woods tracks has become available locally from a work colleague for not much money. (I’ve just spent similar on pedals!)
I’ve done the Retrobike think quite extensively in the past, Ritchey P20, Bontrager OR, Cannondale Raven, many many Stumpjumpers, etc. I sold the lot as I wasn’t riding them. There wasn’t an occasion where I’d rather have the old bikes, even my P20 over my modern hardtail or gravel bike.
But this is the bike that got me further into the sport. Possibly more time of life rather than the actually bike and I’m tempted. Don’t honestly know when I would ride it, briefly looked at Retrobike to see when the meets are, but don’t know. It needs tyres and a saddle. Not even sure where I’ll keep it, space is getting a little tight for bikes and yet…….. I’m still looking at it….
Still got my 21" spesh hard rock frame. **** knows why. The forks bent and snapped about 20 years ago and it has a head tube longer than most forks so I've never found a replacement. The wheels and drive train are long gone. It's literally a frame hanging on the wall
It's geometry is probably on par with my cutthroat though - but it has disks and drop bars
No i wouldn’t
More clutter
It’ll be crap to ride
I wouldn’t be able to reach the bars
One of the 2 options that fits your description tried to kill me
But all of that it’s irrelevant to you
DMR Trailstar was my first proper MTB, learnt a lot on that bike and also was the start of me losing a shit load of weight (that's slowly creeping back on). Not sure if I'd like riding it so much these days, but if they re release a steel version of the new Ti Trailstar with a shorter reach option I'll probably end up getting one.
I bought the bike I lusted after but couldn't afford. A 1992 Breezer Storm. It looks great but my modern gravel bike is more capable off road.
Funnily enough I saw my first proper mountain bike, a steel framed Saracen from 1990, at a bike jumble recently. It was interesting to see but no interest from me to buy it. Heavy, poor geometry, old standards. No use for riding, even as a pub bike. While it got me into riding it wasn't anything special.
Still got mine, although it rarely leaves Zwift these days!
Youth? Well, I started MTBing at about 30, so the first bikes I rode "seriously" were Cannondale M3s, Principia MacB, they'd be fine, if I fancied a bit of rigid bike action.
My youth though, that was hand-me-down Chopper copies and a Puch road bike. Junk really, so no, definitely not the bike(s) of my youth.
A five speed Raleigh Maverick with caliper brakes, steel rims and dross tyres. So heavy it generated it's own local gravity field. Nope, no thanks!
I've got a modified 90's Orange P7 though, I like that!
At 6ft3 would I fit a Raleigh Grifter?
Still feel the pain in the knees when the sturmey archer gears let go, sending your kneecap right in to the handlebar. No clue why they put padding on the crossbar of the handlebars. It was the bottom main bit that needed padding.
As for first "proper" "enthusiast" bike... it's in my store room. 35yrs old this year.
Yes, but very aware of what they are - think MG B vs brand new MX5.
Have “copies” of my first two, ‘91 Fire Mountain - original given away! ‘98 Kilauea - original stolen. Still have my ‘02 Sub5pro.
I'm not a hater but I also could never see myself riding 26" again, which is a shame as my favourite/most significant bike from my youth was a Kona Caldera when they were still classic skinny steel.
It was 'fun' enough that I started using it for all sorts of irresponsible stuff then stuck some 5" Marzocchis on it with predictable results...
Christ, first mountain bike was a raleigh montage, which was horrific, then after that monstrosity, i had a giant atx, which came with a set of forks that used to sizzle in the rain, as you could almost see the magnesium casing disintegrate ?
I'll stick with this generations mountain bikes, i don't think there's a positive from the 1990s i can see, geometry was horrible, suspension was basic, brakes were deadly most of the time for actual mountain biking!
No. I don't get sentimental about old bikes, I can't overlook how rubbish they were. I don't mean that in a nasty way - we've just come a very long way in terms of riding and bikes. I would never ride it, it would stay in the garage taking up space and reminding me how rubbish it was.
My first "proper" MTB was a Muddy Fox Alu Lazer in the very early 90s. I loved it at the time but I certainly wouldn't want to ride it again now. Always lusted after a Kona Cinder Cone or Marin Pine Mountain (the black and fluro orange one) in the 90s, but again I wouldn't want one now. I then had a long break from MTBs (rode BMX and DJ bikes instead) until I got a 2005 Demo 8. Same story there, I doubt I enjoy it now.
I think the oldest bike from my history that I'd still ride today if it was in brand new condition would be my 2007 SX Trail. It's the only bike I've ever regretted selling, although it did fund my 2012 Nukeproof Mega (which I just sold at the weekend for £400).
Update!!!!
it’s a 19.5”, not the 18” I thought it would be. So probably solves the issue, but then I’ve found another one…….
There were various 2nd hand Raleigh’s before this, even a Trek 830, but this is the bike that I started to explore more than just the local tracks. Growing up by the sea, there wasn’t much in the way of hills
Yeah I would and I have.
[url= https://i.ibb.co/pLv38FF/IMG-1270.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.ibb.co/pLv38FF/IMG-1270.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
I actually had a palisades which was a lower model than this but came up and was virtually unridden and my love for the zolatone finish won.
I also have this
[url= https://i.ibb.co/QdP3mhq/IMG-1276.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.ibb.co/QdP3mhq/IMG-1276.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
A retromod team issue. Always lusted after this nickel plated beauty when I was young but there was no way I was ever getting my parents to buy me one and my £12 a week paper round money was never getting me one. This is actually really good fun to ride and gets used for commuting on 2/3 times a week.
Also have these:
[url= https://i.ibb.co/q79WJPR/IMG-8504.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.ibb.co/q79WJPR/IMG-8504.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
the FRS is absolutely disgusting to ride, the team is lovely.
Other than the retromod, the others don’t get ridden much but are lovely to have and look at and don’t cost much compared to modern bikes!
I loved having mine (88 Rockhopper) for a few years recently.
Saved for short dry pootles, 5 mile commutes and the pub.
Took it round Glenstress, terrifying.
Happy I did it and scratched that itch, happy I now have the space back
I've still got my Bontrager Race OR - XTR/Hope/Pace RC39. Its a great bike but my Canyon Lux with SLX is objectively better!
The Bontrager is actually still a great climber on tight switchbacks but going down...
But I do tend to keep stuff - I still drive a 53 plate Cooper S - I've had that since new too.
I still have it; a 1995 ex-team GT Zaskar with Pace RC35 forks and an XT group set. It hasn’t been ridden for years and likely never will be again but I can’t bring myself to sell it.
I've still got my 1999 Maron Attack Trail frame, and I'm still riding my 2013 Salsa El Mariachi Ti, those are the two which I will never, ever sell.
The rest I'll keep until something better comes along and/or they break.
So to answer the OP's question, if it was the exact bike, I probably would, if it is just one of the same sort (which I think from his later post it is) then no, I have no attachment to a replica
Yes if I could find one and it wasn't too expensive (1992 marin eldridge grade). My first proper mtb after my 1988 dawes ascent.
I used to be on Retrobike all the time and have had probably hundreds of different old bikes. Went on a good number of organised rides too. Not on so much any more though, seen all I want to see and won't spend the money to get something lovely like a Yo Eddy as I wouldn't ride it.
Still got a good number though and doubt I'll ever sell my mint orange/white fade 92 Clockwork as it makes me happy just looking at it. If you have the space to put your old bike I'm sure it'll make you happy too, even if it never turns a wheel!
My first serious mountain bikes was a 17.5" Marin Team. Tange Prestige tubing and a straight XT groupset. Zolatone frame with magenta forks, stem and bars.
I'd love another ride on that thing but it might turn out disappointing.
Tempted to get my gravel bike resprayed as a homage to that bike, especially as the riding I do on it is very similar.
I'm still riding them...
A1997 Kilauea, and a 1998 Jake the Snake. One single speed and the other 1x. Both ride amazingly well on typical woodsy singletrack.
My main bike is a 2006 Kona the king....
All have had wheel changes, and set ups tweaked as I've become fatter/slower/less flexible over the years, but they're still great for the regular riding on my doorstep.
Hey, I still ride 26"! (and 29) You do have to pedal more to get anywhere on a 26 as its the final gear ratio, but other than that I barely notice the difference. easier to sneak through kissing gates as well
I grew up with decidedly uncool bikes, teen years was also a Puch road bike of some sort with 3 speed gears and straight bars, followed by a Raleigh Pulsar which had early 80s Sinclair C5-ish futurist space age styling which I thought was amazingly cool- including a unique aero water bottle and space-shuttle-esque fonts for the decals. 10 speed with downtube shifters, and the brakes had hoods to rest hands, I was blown away with the ergonomics! Obviously complete trash but I'd be lying if I said I'd never looked on ebay or googled-- turns out there was a more grown up version that would make a slightly more capable ride for an adult, but ... nah
Nah they're all crap, they'd be a waste of space.
The bike I have now is much more exciting.
I had a couple of Specialized rigids before I got my M2 Stumpjumper, and that's the one I might have held on to for longer (it lasted 20 years before I gave the frame away). However lack of rear disk mount was a real pain and I don't really regret getting rid (well, a bit). Having said that I do have a '95 Kona which is kind of similar, so yes, may be I would. Otherwise, no, mostly happy with the new-ish bikes I now have.
Absolutely not. It would be horrific to ride compared to my current bike.
Nope, I bought one of my lads a 26" cube on close out about 18 months ago, at a guess, I haven't looked, the geometry is a lot more modern than what I had through the late 90's and most of the 2000's, in a size I would have ridden, it felt dog shit around the car park, god knows how we rode those up hills and down dales, was horrendous, almost felt guilty buying it for him, however, to ride to school and back, fine, anything off-road? hell no
I never sold it. '97 Lava Dome
I like tinkering on my first proper bike and riding it round after putting all the old bits on I could never afford as a kid. XTR yay. If it makes you happy why not?
You do have to pedal more to get anywhere on a 26 as its the final gear ratio, but other than that I barely notice the difference.
There's 26 and 26. My 2007 Patriot was a very capable descender and an absolute hoot. My first bike though, a 1992 Kona Fire Mountain, was a completely different thing. I very definitely notice the difference between that and my Nukeproof.
Both ride amazingly well on typical woodsy singletrack.
Unless you are very short, no they don't. I had a 2007 Heihei scandium FS for ages (I need to get rid of the frame, PM me) which I loved at the time, but a few years ago I rode a 2005 Kona back to back with a 2015 Trek 29er and it was awful. The front wheel on old bikes is underneath your chest which is great on climbs but awful on windy singletrack or descents. But when it was all you knew it was normal. There was a level of insecurity at the front that we just thought was part of MTBing until the issue was solved. I can throw my 29ers into corners in a way that would have had me eating dirt instantly on those old bikes that I used to think were brilliant.
MY roadbike I got in my 20s and still ride it but being of a certain age the bikes I had as a kid were like this
This was the bike from my youth and what fun we had . 40 years have past and I still have it .
I’d love a ‘90’s Klein in the sunburst colour scheme but it would be an ornament, not a bike.
Cove stiffee.
With a 100mm stem I still wore knee pads. Mostly for smashing my knees into the bars.
With 130mm+ stem, 700c wheels and drop bars it would be an awesome gravel bike.
But I have a comment MTB with a mere 70mm stem and Jones bars that is probably better in every way.
So no. It was super fun at the time, but I wouldn't buy it back.
It was this. A humble Trek 930 from 1994. Common sense has prevailed. This one was even cheaper!
Saved up my paper money in 93 for this. Gets a spin out now and again. It's actually got Trailrakers on it now but looking for some new cheap tan walls for it...
I bought a Charge Blender frame for it powder coated and built it up with spare parts laying around. This is from 07 or 08 so not really my youth, more my late 20s. It gets ridden daily either on the local pump track, the shops or with my young kids.
I wouldn’t mind the saddle from my Raleigh Chopper☺️☺️☺️
Talking of Raleigh Choppers, a mark 1 in blue was the bike of my youth in the early 70s, so yep, I’d love it back. :good:
Yes and I did (well arguable not really my youth but a long time ago), My youth would be a BMX and I am not riding one of those around at 56 years of age.
My only bike is a 1996 Cannondale V500 and I ride it 3 or 4 times a week on gravel and singletrack and it is great. Only nod to modern stuff are the tubeless tyres.
The exact same bike? Lord no. Modern (read: correctly fitting) equivalents of the same bike, absolutely.
There a lot of similarities amongst the current squadron, vs the OGs
First proper MTB was a 1998 GT Outpost Trail.....hi-tensile steel frame, rigid forks, threaded headset, what a time to be alive!
I remember my mates taking the piss because they all had aluminum frames - Zaskars, Hardrocks etc.
It was peak Dirt Magazine time as well, so i quickly put a pair of RST 281s on the front and started jumping down steps!
Unsurprisingly i snapped the head tube off it!
One bike that i would like to get back is my Sunn BMIX - it was the chrome one (maybe 97), bought it off a mate when my shiny new Scott got stolen - it was great, singlespeed, Magura Raceline brakes, IRC Missile tyres!
I remember taking the brace off the bars and promptly snapping them!
I had a Muddy Fox pathfinder as my first MTB - I'd had various things before that. I wouldn't want to ride that. I'd be more interested in the Dynatech that followed it, and the Yo Eddy, yes I'd like that back thanks. But too much to buy for nostalgia purposes.
Nope. But if i were to see a mint condition Mongoose Californian from around 1982/3 at a reasonable price who knows?
I had an orange thing that was the spit of a Schwinn Stingray back in the late 70s/early 80s. It appeared from nowhere under the Christmas tree as a combined birthday/Xmas pressie and I rode the wheels off it until I got my first BMX. I loved that bike and I'd happily have it back for old times sake. Ride it though? Not a hope. The saddle was uncomfortable enough in 1984 and I'm not sure it'd go high enough these days.
It was a lot like - 
but was orange and had a smooth black seat, 3 piece cotter pin cranks, a shorter (white) gear lever and not quite so ape hanger bars. If anyone knows exactly what is was from that description I'd be very grateful for the info.
I did look into buying a Cannondale M800 as I had in the 90's but they were going for silly money.
I actually got my 2001 Gary Fisher back that got me back into riding once I left uni. The difference here was that it was the actual bike and my mate was going to throw it in the skip due to a house move. Couldn't let that happen so I had it back. It's now a singlespeed 'pub' bike with huge rise trekking bars and semi-slick tyres.
No, no and thrice no. I just don't get retro, especially from my own past. I am glad that people can be bothered to maintain and restore old machinery for me to look at but I just want the best technology I can afford in car/MTB/ l motor cycle
@sniff - that Topanga was my first mountain bike! I loved the purple/black colour and seem to remember it came with the old 'double button' rapid-fire shifters and biopace chainrings!
Thanks for posting that!
Yes and I did (well arguable not really my youth but a long time ago), My youth would be a BMX and I am not riding one of those around at 56 years of age.
I plan to be still riding my BMX at 56. I'll have a teenage boy to keep up with.
It does have 22" wheels though. I'm not going back to 20.
Prior to the Trek 930, there had been an 830 that got battered on my paper round and various 2nd hand Raleigh’s and a Redline BMX. But it was the 930 that I started exploring and properly mountain biking
I had a 1985 saracen kili flyer, Reynolds tubing and a mix of Shimano and suntour xc.
It was super slack and stable, and it had heaps of braze one. It was pretty upright with riser bars and a brooks saddle. I think it would have made a good bike packing bike. It was friction shifting
I loved it, had a few nice upgrades and fat tyres.
You could have ridden it around the world, nothing ever broke and it was easy to fix
Couple of years later everything went flat bar long stem, ned overend cindi whitehead no seat challenge.
I wouldn't want the saracen again but it was a perfectly good bike off road and would still be
Nope, wasn’t particularly enamored of it the first time.
@sharkattack - I had a spin on a modern 20” BMX belonging to one of the local kids when I was at the pump track last week, it was sized for a 6’ human and had 2.4 tyres on it. Apart from the fact that the brake was terrible I was amazed at how much better it rode than the BMXs I had as a kid (and even 20 years ago), fast and forgiving (for a BMX), it almost made me buy one Almost.
Yeah modern BMX's are great. The ones we used to ride in the late 90's early 2000's that they now call mid-school, I wouldn't touch any those with a barge pole even thought I was having fun at the time. Brakes haven't changed though, they're universally crap. Made even worse by removable bosses in the frame.
This is my current one...
Bought cheap as an experiment but I like it so much that I just sold my Transition PBJ. I'll slowly upgrade this then maybe swap the frame for a posh S&M Mad Dog which takes a disc brake.
That is the difference. The BMXs from my youth are from 1982! Mostly raced based bikes at that time with some very odd looking freestyle frames and parts starting to get popular. This is teh sort of thing I would buy if really after the bike I wanted from my youth
Would I buy an Emmelle Laser? No, no way at all.
Would I buy the GT Zaskar with full XT and Judy SL's that my mate had? Yes, yes I would.
Would I buy the bike from my youth? No. Would I like to try it again? Definiteley!
I think my old Raleigh Bomber (with 3speed SA hub) would still make a nice canal path cruiser.
Ooh that Pro racer is nice. Interesting it's got 401s. rather than the hutch crank.
Whatever happened to Hutch anyway? Was there ever a more aspirational brand in BMX?
I had a whole host of skip bikes, Halfords garbage and assorted junk that my dad cobbled together for me but one of these was my first propley good bike when I was 15, a 2000 Kona Hahanna with full Shimano STI's and Glow-In-The-Dark decals. I vividly remember driving down to JE James in Sheffield with Dad to collect it with my hard, hard earned £179.99 in cash gripped in my hand.
within a couple of year it had Manitou X Vert, Club Roost bars, hand built XT/D521 rims, an XT parallel push on the rear and a first gen XT 4 pot disc brake on the front. It was awesome and I rode the heck out of it... till I got it robbed at knifepoint for it (and my mate on his bright red Rockhopper)!
Would I want one now? Absolutely not. Maybe to hang on the wall if i had the garage space, but thats it...
My first "ATB" was a Giant Stonebreaker in yellow and pink. 18 Suntour gears and weighed so much it made its own gravity so no I wouldn't want one again!
My first proper "MTB" is a different story though. My (at the time) next door neighbour had a brother who was something to do with research and development at Raleigh (back when they still made some pretty high end bikes) and they had been sent some prototype aluminium frames to see if they wanted to produce bikes with them. They were really oversize for the time (think Klein) and were really light but very strong and with bang up to date geometry. They were sent 6 frames and put 2 on the hydraulic test rigs and tested them to destruction. They were apparently much stronger and stiffer than anything else that they had ever tested. They decided that it would be too expensive to mass produce them and so the remaining 4 frames were built up with components off the high end production Raleighs at the time. 2 blue ones with suspension forks and 2 red ones that were ridgid but with a Gervin Flexstem. My neighbour got one of the blue ones and I got the last red one. They had Mavic ceramic rims, high end shimano gearing with rapidfire shifters and titanium handlebars and seatposts. It was so much lighter than anyone else's bike that I knewand was a real flying machine. Would I buy it again? Absolutely!
1st "mtb" an emmelle californian absolutely not, garbage
1st "proper mtb" rigid, canti brakes, silly long stems, narrow bars, steep head angles, triple chainsets, crap tyres, nah dont think so. I appreciate seeing retro stuff (say a muddy fox courier comp on commuter duties last night, thought nice, did not want one). Im moving away from hardtails ever mind fully rigid. Guess Im getting old, I want more comfortable ride (still got a "fast" HT and a SS, but I limit my time on them). I guess it's nice to reminisce but that's all, I dont want to actually ride one.
No thanks.
Some of the old designs were really crap and verging on dangerous.
e.g. Choppers << I hated them as a kid and still dislike them now
A lot of bikes today are (mostly) well thought out and beautiful things.
What a time to (still) be alive ,etc,etc 🙂
A Raleigh Lizard so no, but I would definitely take the paint-scheme
I have a 98 STS in the loft. Ride it occasionally as it looks awesome. But am always scared of the likelihood of a nasty cracking noise
Probably not
[url= https://i.ibb.co/gRTZgn4/IMG-9534.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.ibb.co/gRTZgn4/IMG-9534.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
https://i.postimg.cc/hjk1hGg7/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47-1.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/hjk1hGg7/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47-1.jp g"/> [/img][/url]"> https://postimg.cc/XGgCz4rV ][img] https://i.postimg.cc/hjk1hGg7/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47-1.jp g" target="_blank">
https://postimg.cc/XGgCz4rV ][img] https://i.postimg.cc/hjk1hGg7/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47-1.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
I like looking at this.
https://i.postimg.cc/SQwz05Nj/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/SQwz05Nj/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47.jp g"/> [/img][/url]"> https://postimg.cc/BtBvHmFG ][img] https://i.postimg.cc/SQwz05Nj/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47.jp g" target="_blank">
https://postimg.cc/BtBvHmFG ][img] https://i.postimg.cc/SQwz05Nj/Photo-11-07-2024-20-12-47.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
And this. If you have the room, why not? Tinkering with bikes is fun!
@sniff I had a 95 Traverse in that same colour scheme. Still do, it's gonna be my round town bike. Might take a holesaw to the flat chainstay brace to get some fatter tyres in though.
Replacement was a 99 GT Timberline in the lovely metallic green, would have another for the same use.