# Your first ride



## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

For those of us who started this sport in the glory days 70's - 80's what was your first Mountain bike and what are your thoughts on it? Does she hold a special place in your heart? Lets hear the back story. 

I still remember the first time I saw a MT bike it was 81-82 and I was on a trail behind the school. I was like wow what is that and that began a desire to own one. I bought my first in 1984 it was a Ross Mt hood. Ross was a big name back then and the Hood was one step down from the best. It was a Chromoly frame and no suspension of course. One thing that has fallen by the wayside was the bike had a shoulder strap so you could throw the bike on your shoulder and carry it in rough terrain. If you cant tell I loved the bike. But alas first the handlebars broke, I had them welded. Then the frame broke at the chain stay. I kept the bike for years fully intending to one day have it repaired. I still miss her and find myself checking ebay for a replacement.


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## cycledad (Jul 23, 2013)

Well, my first Mtn bike was/is a 1988 Specialized Rockhopper Comp - Pearl white and blue. 
I bought this bike while working at the local bike shop through an employee discount program. I still have the receipt from 7/8/88. Ive recently repacked the original deore hubs for the umpteenth time and installed a set of hybrid 1.50 tires I still ride it 20-25 miles per week in short 5 mile rides each morning before work. 
I was lucky enough to have grown up working in that bike shop and remember so many cool bikes. I always loved the Mongoose John Tomac we had hanging in the window. I bought each of my kids Fuji 24" bikes from the same shop.


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## cycledad (Jul 23, 2013)

Hey,by the way, My FIRST serious bike was/is my 1985 Mongoose Expert also bought new at the same shop I worked at and bought my Rockhopper Comp. It hangs in my garage as decoration.


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## mainlyfats (Oct 1, 2005)

1983 and it was a Bianchi - I don't recall it having a model name and it was only mountain bike in the shop. Heavy, purple-ish blue, fitted like a road bike. It survived 4 years until it was stolen - broken rear axle and all - and replaced with a Canada-only Ritchey K2. That was my first real mountain bike in that it was set-up - essentially - like all the non-suspended bikes I've had since.


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## derekheaton (Aug 31, 2013)

Not sure if you could call it a mtb, but it was offroad capable and my first bike. It was the Yamaha MotoBike! I think it was '76 or so.

Dual suspension!









I guess my first real mtb was a Gary Fisher Joshua. Didn't like the DS at all and switched a year later to hardtail.


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## yo-Nate-y (Mar 5, 2009)

My first 'real' mtb, 1991 Yo Eddy---saved and schemed for a year to get it. And I still have/ride/race it 22 years later


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

My first MTB was an 86 or 87 Sekai Mountaineer. A fairly mediocre bike but it got me hooked. It was replaced with an '89 DB Axis Team which really got me hooked.


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## Sizzler (Sep 24, 2009)

RossJamis said:


> Lets hear the back story.


So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and get myself on as a looper at a trail over in the Himalayas. So, I tell them I'm a pro guide, and who do you think they give me? The Dailai Lama himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald . . . striking. So, I'm on the first trail with him. I give him his bike. He hauls off and jumps it - big jumper, the Lama - right over this ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? "Gunga galunga . . . gunga, gunga-lagunga." So, we finish the trail and he's gonna stiff me, and I say, "Hey, Lama! Hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that going for me, which is nice.


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

I want you to kill all the golfers


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

Post of the month Sizzler.


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## CCMDoc (Jan 21, 2010)

1985 (or might have been '84) Cannondale. 24" rear wheel, high BB - seemed great for climbing over wet roots and moss covered rocks at races in the NE.

No real nostalgia for that bike or any bikes I had back then. 
Tools to be enjoyed and raced. 
Parts and frames swapped like dirty laundry to get the "next best (and for me, the lightest) thing". Plus had to go with sponsor's stuff. 

I've kept all those that had real meaning since - except for one that I will forever regret selling, fool that I was/am. But that's another story.


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## CCMDoc (Jan 21, 2010)

hollister said:


> I want you to kill all the golfers


Why?

They make such nice lightning rods.


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## sgltrak (Feb 19, 2005)

jeff said:


> Post of the month Sizzler.


Agreed


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## unicrown junkie (Nov 12, 2009)

First it was the Schwinn cruiser frame with Toughneck stem and bars, plus KKT pedals that my buddy's step-dad gave me in 1985.

Broke the downtube in front of a girls soccer team in Davis one day, they were laughing wildly as I looked like an idiot with a bike nearly spilt in half.

Second one was the lightly-built Special Ed StreetStomper. Bought it March 12, 87 at Wheelieworks in Davis, and I was doomed from then on. Breaking frame after frame I never had so much fun!

Best of all, here it is almost thirty years later and I went back to rigid in 1999, screw shocks!


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

I broke the first five or six converted "clunker" frames that I rode. Then Joe Breeze built me the coolest bike ever, which now resides in the MTB Hall of Fame.

Taking delivery, 1978:


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

Around the neighborhood on my new college friends 24/26 Cannondale. Way too small but I knew I had to have one for my own. Bikes are long gone but my friend isn't.


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## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Repack Rider said:


> Taking delivery, 1978:


Great picture!


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

Is that a young james McLean holding that bike?


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

hollister said:


> Is that a young james McLean holding that bike?


The inventor of the mountain bike? That would be so cool.


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Repack Rider said:


> I broke the first five or six converted "clunker" frames that I rode. Then Joe Breeze built me the coolest bike ever, which now resides in the MTB Hall of Fame.


Great picture, CK. Beautiful bike.


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## ong (Jun 26, 2006)

My first real MTB was a neon purple Alpinestars, which I gradually tricked out with a ridiculous number of 3DV components as the stock stuff snapped and sheared off. That bike has just been reborn as the Fixiestars, and is even more ridiculous now.


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## kingsqueak (Jul 21, 2013)

80's Rockhopper Sport, my brother still has it actually. It showed me that my fitness level wasn't up to mountain biking heh and now that I've started riding again after all those years, it still isn't.

I was able to ride a century on the road bike back then but when it came to trying to hop logs and deal with the deep sand here on the trails, the mountain bike didn't get a lot of use.


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## 1 cog frog (Dec 21, 2004)

'93 Mongoose Alta all terrain was my 1st non-Huffy mtn. bike (I was 4 or 5 in the early days of the sport). I got the frame from my step grandpa, who picked it up from a missionary he knew who was headed home. He liked to buy old bikes and weld them together to make tandems and other creations. He thought the frame wasn't steel (he wasn't aware that chromoly is steel) so he didn't dare weld it.

Frame in hand, I saved and bought parts and built it up a little at a time. The first front wheel I put on came from my Huffy Mt. Fury. It was 24" and had a threaded axle instead of QR. I didn't get it tight enough, and the 1st time I tried to bunny hop a pothole on my street the front wheel dropped to the ground mid-air, and rolled away! 

That bike taught me to ride, wrench, and how to recover from crashing. I explored the desert and mountains around my home town on that bike, and kept it for a long time. It finally ended up being used for a Jr. High shop class I was teaching, and I accidentally left it when I took a new job.

20 years later, I still love to ride, and am a self admitted bike nut. I have so many bikes that I keep them in the spare garage in the back yard so as not to be in the way in the main garage.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

My first "great" bike was a late 80's Monster Fat. Prior to that it was a series of low end Raliegh's and Ross's. Everything I own now is "interesting" on some level.


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## ameybrook (Sep 9, 2006)

hollister said:


> I want you to kill all the golfers


Don't sell yourself short. You're a tremendous slouch.


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## sgltrak (Feb 19, 2005)

1985 GT Timberline
(This pic was taken after upgrading to Ground Controls and M730 shifters, freewheel, and rear derailleur in 1987. Also, it had a Specialized rear wheel on it to replace the 7X that was stolen.)








This bike was followed by a series of Bridgeston MB-1's.


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## chefmiguel (Dec 22, 2007)

Great post Sizzler, thanks for the laugh. Great pic CK, wondering what took you so long to post that one? 

Bought my first MTB out of pressure from my girlfriend at the time who didn't think I could do the 5 boro bike tour on my freestyle bike. So I grabbed a GT Tequesta and took it for a test spin in the parking lot and took it home. Bent the frame 3 months later after crashing on a quarter pipe. Tough to explain to warranty dept so I moved on to better bikes. I never miss it as it was horrible (stupid Suntour Express shifters) but I won't forget it either.


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

Great stuff guys! Really enjoying your stories and some of the bike pics got me drooling,especially the Breezer!


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## Oldfatbaldguy (Nov 4, 2010)

1985; I was 27 years of age, rode a couple of observed trials bikes and a ridiculously modded Honda thumper, thought "how hard can this be?".

I found out.

The Bultaco and the Montessa are long gone; whats left of the thumper resides like a monument in the barn, but I still ride that old Ross 2 or 3 times a year.


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## oldskoolwrench (Jul 12, 2012)

First MTB? A 1983 Schwinn High Sierra, bought brand new off the showroom floor.

Sold it to a good friend, who still rides it today.


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## 83stumpjumper (Feb 14, 2011)

*First MTB*

I worked in a bike shop in Manhattan in the summer of 1983. That's where I saw my first Stumpjumper. I fell in love with it at first sight. I couldn't believe a bike that looked like that was as light as it was. I saved up and bought one with my employee discount. I've always had a thing about keeping my bikes spotless, so it never saw a dirt trail. I used it as a heavy duty street bomber. Sadly, through my own stupidity it was stolen when I left it unlocked outside a record store in the city when I ran inside real quick. I was heart broken. My heart healed nicely when I replaced it with a 1984 Stumpjumper. That bike was the great love of my life. Two years later it was stolen when I was using it as a bike messenger in NYC. Came out from a delivery only to find my Kryptonite lock broken, and the bike gone. My heart has never healed over that loss.


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## Benster (Mar 16, 2006)

My first mountain bike was a 1986 Bridgestone MB3. Purchased new from Island Bicycles in Alameda CA. At the age of 11, I was the only one amongst my buddies with gears and I rode that sum***** for years literally til the wheels fell off... Great memories for sure.


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## datmony (Jul 12, 2012)

I wish I had a picture of my first one, god was it a nice bike to ride. It was a Bridgestone as well but a '91 MB4. Not the lightest bike in the world but very cheap for what it was. Bought it new and have had a Bridgestone around home ever since that one......


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

I liked the looks of the bridgestones. I thought about buying one for a while, but I ended up buying a Trek.


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## kpomtb (Feb 2, 2006)

25 years ago this summer. 1988 Jamis Dakota. All Shimano Deore. U-brake under the stays. Looked fillet-brazed, not sure if it was or not. Tange MTB tubing. Last seen locked up outside a bar with the seatpost on backwards. Seat was facing the right way, post was not. Would love to have it back, just for the having. A buddy of mine worked at the shop and bought one at the same time. A few months later he said he was joining the army, I looked straight at his boss and asked if he'd replaced him yet. Went to work at the shop a week or two later. 25 years later, still riding, and about to take delivery on a
new fillet-brazed frame with a Pacenti crowned fork.


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## datmony (Jul 12, 2012)

Make sure and share a pic of your new ride. Would love to see that fork!!


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## Jak0zilla (May 16, 2010)

My first was a Takara Highlander very similar to this one. (Image plundered from the webs.) Mine had a chainstay Suntour XC powercam brake and MKS Grafight-X pedals.

I'm hoping someone can help me pinpoint the year. I think mine was a 1986. Same green as below. I swapped out for bullmoose bars on mine because I liked to be able to slip my u-lock into the triangle to carry it.


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

Jak0zilla said:


> My first was a Takara Highlander very similar to this one. (Image plundered from the webs.) Mine had a chainstay Suntour XC powercam brake and MKS Grafight-X pedals.
> 
> I'm hoping someone can help me pinpoint the year. I think mine was a 1986. Same green as below. I swapped out for bullmoose bars on mine because I liked to be able to slip my u-lock into the triangle to carry it.
> 
> View attachment 829824


Wow that looks like a copy of my Ross Mt Hood which also had bullmoose bars.


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## rockychrysler (Aug 9, 2003)

My first mountain bike ride was in '89 on a borrowed Fuji (http://www.classicfuji.com/Sundance_1989_Page.htm) in Papago Park near the Phoenix Zoo.

My first bike should have been a Raleigh Elkhorn, but it wasn't, it was a Motiv Groundpounder, which I bought at a Price Club in the summer of 1991.

I bought my first real mountain bike, a Bob Seal's Retrotec (#64), in the early part of the summer of 1992; still own it and still ride it regularly.

The whole story of my life-and-times with my Retrotec is on my blog: RockyChrysler.com: Just about a bike [Retrotec #64]


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

rockychrysler said:


> My first mountain bike ride was in '86 on a borrowed '85 Fuji in Papago Park near the Phoenix Zoo.
> 
> My first bike should have been a Raleigh Elkhorn, but it wasn't, it was a Motiv Groundpounder, which I bought at a Price Club in the summer of 1991.
> 
> ...


I enjoyed reading your blog. What year was your Retrotec made? It looks like the 94 model.


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## rockychrysler (Aug 9, 2003)

RossJamis said:


> I enjoyed reading your blog. What year was your Retrotec made? It looks like the 94 model.


 i bought it in '92 but it has the larger seatstays/cantilevers of the later models because that's what curtis used when he did the repair after i broke it in 1995.


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## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

The bike that popped my cherry was a 1996 Peugeot Orient Express follow a year or two later by a Fisher Montare SC.


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## phattruth (Apr 22, 2012)

My first ride was a 1992 Bridgestone MB-5 in a nice forest green. I worked a summer job to save for it and finally bought it from Broad Street Bikes in San Luis Obispo, CA. When I met my girlfriend (now wife in 1998) she had the exact same bike (just in blue). I rode the wheels off that bike.


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## wookie (Jan 24, 2007)

1984 Raleigh Elkhorn (chosen over the Stumpjumper). I remember kids saying it was a girls bike. It had bullmoose bars, a portage strap, and Magura brake hoods!


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

wookie said:


> 1984 Raleigh Elkhorn (chosen over the Stumpjumper). I remember kids saying it was a girls bike. It had bullmoose bars, a portage strap, and Magura brake hoods!


Kids can say the stupidest things!


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

wookie said:


> 1984 Raleigh Elkhorn (chosen over the Stumpjumper). I remember kids saying it was a girls bike. It had bullmoose bars, a portage strap, and Magura brake hoods!


Mine was an '84 MountainTour Elkhorn as well. I broke it and was given a black Technium (Instinct?) frame which I hated. I was able to pick up another Elkhorn a few years ago with the help of a buddy who found one. Don't seem to be many around.

Speaking of kids saying stupid things, my buddy back then also had a Raleigh but he had the Crested Butte model which for the 7th graders (me included) not knowing their CO geography, instantly became the crusty butt.


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## GrayJay (May 16, 2011)

1982, I proudly had one of the only MTB to be found at my middle school. It was an schwinn sidewinder, a very wierd collection of schwinn cruiser and BMX parts that they cobbled together into a quasi-MTB 10-speed. Frame was basically repurposed from a schwinn varsity. In retrospect, it was a pretty terrible bike but I rode it hard for several years before moving on to better bikes.


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

GrayJay said:


> 1982, I proudly had one of the only MTB to be found at my middle school. It was an schwinn diamonback, a very wierd collection of schwinn cruiser and BMX parts that they cobbled together into a quasi-MTB 10-speed. Frame was basically repurposed from a schwinn varsity. In retrospect, it was a pretty terrible bike but I rode it hard for several years before moving on to better bikes.


Never heard of that one..I found a Schwinn Sidewinder but no diamondback


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## GrayJay (May 16, 2011)

RossJamis said:


> Never heard of that one..I found a Schwinn Sidewinder but no diamondback


Thanks for the reminder, it was a schwinn sidewinder, not a diamonback! (original post fixed).


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## sandmangts (Feb 16, 2004)

Repack Rider said:


> I broke the first five or six converted "clunker" frames that I rode. Then Joe Breeze built me the coolest bike ever, which now resides in the MTB Hall of Fame.
> 
> Taking delivery, 1978:


Too busy riding to cut the grass there CK? My first 26 inch was a Jamis Earth Cruiser. Single speed modified with bmx bars and saddle. I lived in Wilmington NC which is flat as a pancake but there were tons of trails.


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

hollister said:


> Is that a young james McLean holding that bike?


Not hardly. I know that James claims to have coined the term "mountain bike," but the first time it appeared in print was in the fall of 1979, referring to Gary Fisher's personal bike and also the MountainBikes company we had just started.

I didn't meet James McLean until about six months after Gary and I started the company, so we didn't get the term from him. He is welcome to provide published examples of his use of the term before mine.


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

Repack Rider said:


> Not hardly. I know that James claims to have coined the term "mountain bike," but the first time it appeared in print was in the fall of 1979, referring to Gary Fisher's personal bike and also the MountainBikes company we had just started.
> 
> I didn't meet James McLean until about six months after Gary and I started the company, so we didn't get the term from him. He is welcome to provide published examples of his use of the term before mine.


 Really liked your website.. You should have a link in your signature so everyone can enjoy..


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Repack Rider said:


> Not hardly. I know that James claims to have coined the term "mountain bike," but the first time it appeared in print was in the fall of 1979, referring to Gary Fisher's personal bike and also the MountainBikes company we had just started.
> 
> I didn't meet James McLean until about six months after Gary and I started the company, so we didn't get the term from him. He is welcome to provide published examples of his use of the term before mine.


That's good to know, actually. He sure is raising a stink about it along with some guy in the midwest in front of barn holding a rust bucket. Can't remember his name....



RossJamis said:


> Really liked your website.. You should have a link in your signature so everyone can enjoy..


He's our celebrity! Everybody knows his awesome website. It's also in the stickies here. CK is a great historian.


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## rismtb (Dec 11, 2012)

Chris King right??


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## always_last (Jun 7, 2012)

My first "real" mountain bike was a 1994 Kona Kilauea that I still own and ride and will never part with. I know it's not as old as the 80's bikes but we will be celebrating our 20th next year  This is a recent photo in almost original condition (wish I could find an original Kona flite saddle knockoff). My actual first mountain bike was a 1989 Mongoose (IBOC maybe? i only remember the red splatter paint), a total tank that I used mostly as a city bike since I didn't find it that much fun to ride on the trails (surprise). The Kona is the bike that forever sent my road bikes to the back corner of the garage.


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## den haag (Feb 18, 2009)

damn, you look good with your hair down!


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## den haag (Feb 18, 2009)

i spent the summer of 1980 in telluride flying hang-gliders and saw my first mountain bike. it was a ritchey, so i can use " mountainbike" as one word i guess. got back to crested butte that fall and bought a slightly used cooks bros cruiser with atom brakes and a t/a triple crankset. i still have it. i still love it!


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## bloud (Sep 4, 2010)

No photos of my first MTB bike which was a Trek 850. I road it for miles on railroad tracks in Southern Michigan. We had no mountains. It was all fields and railroad tracks, lots of water too.

However, before my first MTB I had lots of fun on this, which I still have today.


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## bikefat (Nov 13, 2013)

First MTB I saw/rode would've been '81 or so. If anyone in Ft. Collins knows David H. Lewis (man of many talents), ask him about his first MTB, he designed and custom-fabbed it himself and rode it for many years, I know he's proud of it but I think it's the only bike he ever built, likely still has it. I know his bike turned lots of folks on to the sport (he and his Dad built the pump-track out by Bellevue), my little-****-kid impression was "oversize BMX" but don't tell David I said that... I didn't see another MTB for probably a year, family friends' kid got a Stumpy, but it was too big for me to ride.


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## rismtb (Dec 11, 2012)

there is a Jamis Dakota on vancouver bc CL now for $200 {he will probably take $100. The frame only looks fillet brazed, it's actually bondo. really heavy bike


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## yo-Nate-y (Mar 5, 2009)

rismtb said:


> there is a Jamis Dakota on vancouver bc CL now for $200 {he will probably take $100. The frame only looks fillet brazed, it's actually bondo. really heavy bike


If that is your first bike you should totally go reclaim it. The hippy should come down on the price, they're sentimental.


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## rismtb (Dec 11, 2012)

sorry I should have posted with quote on page 2 a member wondering if the Dakota was fillet brazed and was looking for another. Thanks to this website someone informed me that it was faux fillet. Thanks for that I would have choked to find it wasn't R


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## Guest (Nov 17, 2013)

*Ritchey P22*

It was 1995, my wife and I were coming up on our 10 year anniversary. She wanted a diamond ring, which was a wonderful idea. She wanted me to come up with something. Well up to that point I was a road rider and had never been on a mountain bike. After doing much research, and being kind of a retro guy I decided on a Ritchey P22. My friend owned Half Moon Bay Cyclery so I placed an order. I was able to select the color so I picked pepper gray metallic, kind of an "anniversary" color. My first outing was at Skegg's in San Mateo County. Well I'm proud to say I still have the bike and enjoy it even more as the years go by. The cute little boy in the picture is my son Luke. Time sure fly's by, last night we celebrated his engagement.
Well my love of Ritchey's has continued, I have a few more now. Due to this site and the friends I've made, I've broken tradition and have a few other brands. 18 yrs ago I never thought I would be sharing about my 2 loves, my wife and my P22.


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## lewisfoto (Nov 12, 2013)

In 1983, when I was still a teenager, my parents had a border who left a Ross Mt. Whitney in the garage when he vacated. It must have weighed close to 40 pounds and I had to jump two fences to access the fire roads near my parent's house in Claremont California. Walked all of the steep parts but coming back down....

Side note for SoCal riders: the trails I used to trespass on back in '83 are now the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park.


Steven

P.S. the guy who abandoned the bike came back for it sometime in '84 and I did not ride mountain bikes for 5 years after that.


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## tclar4 (Apr 9, 2007)

*Always wanted a Ritchey but...*

But, I was a poor college student in 1985 and could only afford half a Ritchey!

1986 Schwinn High Sierra all original with the exception on the rear derailleur.

Has a few of the upgrades left in the form of rollercam covers, portage strap and Mt Zefal pump.

I was always a sucker for a front rack especially the Blackburn without the obvious fork crown connection.

Maybe one day I'll get my Ritchey!


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

That's clean. No dirt. 


tclar4 said:


> But, I was a poor college student in 1985 and could only afford half a Ritchey!
> 
> 1986 Schwinn High Sierra all original with the exception on the rear derailleur.
> 
> ...


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

I likes.. If it was mine I would put some slicks on it and make it my about town bike.


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## tclar4 (Apr 9, 2007)

Yup cleaned it up recently and has become my new "grocery gettter". Unfortunately the old Specialized tires would shred to pieces on the trail!


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