First mountain bikes?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

vbc

Guest
Location
Bristol
Just trying to remember today when mountain bikes first took off in the UK. Was it the mid to late 70s or a bit later?
 
Location
Rammy
i'd say very late 70's at the absolute earliest

in the mid to late 80's BMX was where it was at, very late 80's and people were getting in on the mountain bike thing. my 1992 raleigh had a horizontal top tube instead of the slightly later sloped tt
it also had geometry that now, feels borrowed from road bikes.
 

col

Legendary Member
Early seventies i think, the americans used to go down a steep hill, it was called repack hill if memory serves , And then mountain bikes were born.
 

jay clock

Massive member
Location
Hampshire UK
My housemate got one in 1985 and we were both into cycline - his was the first I had seen. It was a revelation to me to have the gearing to actually go up hills at a spinning cadence

Of course, I invented the MTB in about 1976. I lived in Belgium and had a trad bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speeds gears onto which I added some huge motocross handlebars with twist grip changer.
 

col

Legendary Member
jay clock said:
My housemate got one in 1985 and we were both into cycline - his was the first I had seen. It was a revelation to me to have the gearing to actually go up hills at a spinning cadence

Of course, I invented the MTB in about 1976. I lived in Belgium and had a trad bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speeds gears onto which I added some huge motocross handlebars with twist grip changer.


Remember the cow horn craze in the seventies? Rediculously wide thin handlebars, and if you pulled too hard on them they would bend.
 

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
col said:
Remember the cow horn craze in the seventies? Rediculously wide thin handlebars, and if you pulled too hard on them they would bend.

Oh yes, and we ALL converted our Raleigh Olympus into a "Tracker" by swapping the drops for a pair of cowhorns. Trouble was the brake levers from the drops had to be put in the middle of the bars by the bend, else they wouldn't work, so the brake levers were about a mile away from the grips. I once hit a car on a roundabout because I couldn't brake in time. Happy days! Mental maths puts that at around 1978/9!
 

col

Legendary Member
Cubist said:
Oh yes, and we ALL converted our Raleigh Olympus into a "Tracker" by swapping the drops for a pair of cowhorns. Trouble was the brake levers from the drops had to be put in the middle of the bars by the bend, else they wouldn't work, so the brake levers were about a mile away from the grips. I once hit a car on a roundabout because I couldn't brake in time. Happy days! Mental maths puts that at around 1978/9!

I think your right there, just thinkiing about it myself and it looks like you got it bang on. And I do remember the brakes there too, really bad werent they, my conversion had racer bar levers so i had to have the lever on the bend of the bars or i couldnt pull it far enough to work, it was fun when it slipped down the bar a bit.
 

Vikeonabike

CC Neighbourhood Police Constable
I remeber seeing/riding a Kona Cindercone in 1988. The lad that had it said it was 2 years old then. It was the firs Mountain Bike I had seen. So Mid 80s when they came to the UK I think!
 
We all have Richard Ballantine and Richard Grant to thank.

My first MTB was a Motobecane (featuring the famous exploding Huret Duopar rear mech) in 1984. Second hand mind so the French were way ahead of us. My mate had a MK2 Stumpy. Night rides involved four Wonder Lights each! I had the bearings out of that MBK more times than I can remember. I graduated to a 531 Saracen Conquest with the first Deore. I loved that bike, it ended up in the Thames. Bastards. Ballantine kindly lent me his Ritchey which I promptly had stolen.
 
Top Bottom