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Pinkbike Poll: Do You Remember Your First 'Real' Mountain Bike?

May 18, 2016 at 15:57
by Mike Kazimer  
The recent press release for Spawn Cycles' latest high performance kids bikes sent me on a little trip down memory lane, and I found myself daydreaming about my first 'real' mountain bike, the one I purchased with a wad of hard-earned paper route money back in 1996. I'd been riding bikes since I was a little kid, but up until that day they'd all been hand-me-downs from relatives, clapped-out BMX bikes or mountain bike shaped objects that weren't really meant for rolling down anything rowdier than a dirt road. That Diamondback, complete with anodized blue cantilever brakes, a rudimentary suspension fork, and toe clips was the bike that soon sent me into a full blown cycling addiction – it only took a few rides in the woods behind my house before I was devouring every mountain bike magazine I could find, and endlessly pestering the mechanics at the local bike shop.

Nowadays there are an increasing number of high performance options when it comes to kids bikes, with companies like Spawn, Lil Shredder, and others making pint-sized full suspension models designed for the next generation of rippers to progress on. Today's youth have better bikes (and trails) than ever before, which makes it that much easier for them to become proficient mountain bikers well before they even enter high school. All it takes is a visit to the Whistler Bike Park to see just how deep the talent pool really is; I would have been hard pressed to make it down A-Line in one piece when I was 12-years-old, and now there are 10-year-olds comfortably throwing backflips and no-foot cans in the middle of their runs.
Spawn Cycles Rokkusuta 20

Builder
When your kid can ride like this, he or she deserves a good mountain bike. Rider: Jackson Goldstone

Sure, kids these days may never experience the character building that happens when your handlebars bend after hitting a rickety kicker over a garbage can, and some of them might not get to experience the challenge of making it through a rock garden on a fully rigid bike, but I doubt any of them would really see that as missing out. It's like when your grandpa launches into the story about how he used to walk eight miles to school each day, uphill, in the snow – it's a tale from the past, and one that not too many people want to relive, the same way there aren't many mountain bikers who would willingly trade their disc brakes for cantilever brakes.

There's nothing wrong with someone learning to ride aboard a full suspension bike, the same way there isn't anything wrong with learning aboard a hardtail. The basic skills are the same, and if you can ride one it won't take long to figure out how to ride the other – after all, it's just riding a bike.



Do you remember your first mountain bike? Cast your vote in the poll below.

What was your first 'real' mountain bike?



Author Info:
mikekazimer avatar

Member since Feb 1, 2009
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243 Comments
  • 115 1
 Fully rigid Giant something. 1993. I saved for 6 months and was way short so my Nana gave me like $200 for my birthday so I could afford it. She is gone now, but if she only knew nearly 25 years later I'm still trying to jump my bike off things...
  • 3 0
 Hey, let me take a shot at what you had. Giant ATX 760. Ring a bell? That is what my first real MTB bike in 1991 was. Awesome! Followed up with a Klein Rascal with a Manitou fork added later, followed by a Bianchi Super Grizzly with XTR and a Rock Shox Mag 21 (thank you working in a shop), big pause to surf and skateboard (traded the super griz for some surfboards which were promptly stolen in Mexico), then Schwinn Home Grown, Lightspeed Pisgah with Fox F100RLC, Turner Flux with same Fox F100RLC, Turner 5 Spot with most of the same parts from the Flux + some fancy bits, and presently Turner Burner built almost from the ground up. The only thing I remember much better is my music collection.
  • 1 0
 @polarflux: oh man...it might have been. It was black with awesome green and purple flecs in the paint. Before my Giant I tried to tool around on my dad's nishiki thinking it was a mountain bike! I remember it was 3x7 I think. music wise, I grew up on my dad's old vinyl collection so it is bit blurry for me where his collection stopped and mine began!
  • 2 0
 @VwHarman: Three years ago I got my first mountainbike. A 97' Giant ATX from my mum.
My bike has evolved a fair way now haha
  • 1 0
 @morcombemedia:

Oh man, watching vanderham in rtth on that atx made it seem like the sickest bike ever. Wanted one so bad
  • 1 0
 A Bridgstone MB5, wanted the MB0 but couldn't afford it, used to spend hours on it in the woods just outside the village I grew up in. Finished building up a pimping, rigid SS 29r with flat pedals last year to take me back to the basics, currently having more fun on that bike than my 160mn VPP
  • 69 1
 Wow. The results of this poll definitely show the age of the majority of people on Pinkbike.
  • 80 4
 We're not old. Just experienced.
  • 15 7
 @aoneal: He's saying they are all young. When I got my first bike disc brakes weren't a thing yet. The top reply is a hard tail with disc brakes.
  • 8 3
 i remember it having tubes and 26" wheels. carbon dated... like myself
  • 4 1
 Also surprised the Full Rigid/Canti's group is so high already Smile ....in '88, an '87 BRC, followed by '89 RockyMtn Hammer...no bouncy bits
  • 3 14
flag dtax (May 20, 2016 at 15:56) (Below Threshold)
 there's the door if you can forget your first real mountain bike. another PB troll poll.
  • 4 4
 ok- db apex- but first cool ride was original yeti fro with accutrax forks
  • 9 4
 Started riding in:
80's: full rigid+cantilever
90's: hardtail+cantilever/V-brakes
00's: anything+disc brakes
  • 8 1
 Totally bitchin Giant Iguana canti brakes all cromo no suspension thug life 1985,,,, count it!
  • 2 0
 Yes more like a age group survey.
  • 8 0
 Never mind the bike, it was the fluro pink Mt Zefel pump, top tube pad and shoulder carrying bag that made it!
When a bike was judged by whether it had rear quick release or not Smile
  • 4 0
 @ilovedust: (not pink), but yup! Had all that. Add: Hite-Rite...negative rise long stems, bars cut down so narrow the brake lever bodies touched, bear claws, toe clips, widest tire you could buy was 2.1 and barely fit...always wanted a Quad-Tamer, couldn't afford
  • 2 0
 I thought the exact same thing...made me chuckle just a bit....i'm struggling to even remember what mine was, it was red and I paid for it with my paper round money on Lay a way...makes me laugh just thinking back...nostalgia is a great thing isn't it.... And what I ride now is so far away from where I started, which is cool Nice one kcj
  • 3 0
 @hamncheez: Top reply is now "Fully rigid hardtail with cantilever brakes". Smile I'm one of these… Wink
  • 1 0
 @CornishKiwi: Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.... ;-)
  • 2 0
 @hamncheez: Exactly. I hadn't even heard of disc brakes when I started mt. biking. Not even V-brakes yet. Fully rigid forks and cantilever brakes. I remember buying a Scott spring suspension fork for my Giant Iguana. It was life changing. Hahah.
  • 2 0
 @kcj801: scott unicrown? white lowers with green graphics?
  • 1 1
 @fullbug: Yep!
  • 1 1
 @kcj801: jayzus i iz from jurassic era
  • 34 1
 Triple Triangle Technology. I don't know where I would be without it.
  • 2 0
 Amen Brother
  • 3 0
 '95 Candy Teal GT Pantera. Cro-Mo GT Bologna Cut fork and full STX-RC. Damn she was beautiful.
  • 2 0
 Early 90 GT karakoram upgraded with a manitou III and a crazy color sheme
  • 3 0
 Yeah i'm with you bro! All about the TTT, I had a red and white GT Agressor as my first MTB, saved my pocket money and money working at a cafe for months to afford it, was £120, I saw it in the newspaper ad section, there was no photo and we drove all the way from Newcastle to Middlesborough to get it (like 2hrs) so it was a tense moment when I arrived with my mum and we got to see the bike, I mean it could have been an absolute shed, but luckily it was in good nick and we drove home with it in the boot!

Many upgrades (some shady, some ghetto) later I still have it in the shed back home!
  • 1 0
 @anyexcusetoride: Not often you'd find a second hand bike in Middlesbrough that wasn't stolen! Great riding scene around the North East back in the early 90's though. Was always pretty jealous of the colour schemes on my mates' GTs.
  • 2 0
 90 something gt Palomar. Bare bones, upgraded to V brakes, lasted for years and always felt better than any aluminum hardtail after that
  • 3 0
 My addiction began with a '92 GT Karakoram, rigid fork, 7spd LX, Dia-Comp canti brakes, toe strap (aka: death trap) pedals, black/yellow tiger stripe paint job. When I told my parents it cost $650 they nearly fainted.
  • 1 0
 Gt saddleback, 1999 ish
  • 1 0
 My first real mountain bike was fully rigid Fuji, Taos but the first bike I bought for myself was a '97 or a '98 GT Avalanche that I have fully restored as my around town/rail trail bike.
  • 15 1
 With the industry constantly telling me my 2 year old bike is unridable. I dont think i owned my first real mtb yet. Hopeful for the future though. Silly poll
  • 1 0
 Ah ha.....yup, sounds about right....although back in the day....80's, nothing really changed...maybe from cantilever to V brakes...and I think it stayed that way for ages...My bike is now 1 year old and I think it's defunked already.... It doesn't have boost, it's 1x10 and also doesn't have the new metric shock measurements Maybe it's time to go huck
  • 10 0
 The bike that did it for me relates very well to this article. It was my best friends bike at the time, a kids bike, a 1975 Yamaha Moto full suspension. I will never forget the day he jumped 11 kids out behind the gym at school when he was 10. It was the days of Evil Knievel so jumping anything was all the rage, this guy rode down a grassy bank from the upper fields, flew over a temporary wooden ramp we had set up and just barely clipped the last kid lying on the ground. One kid did chicken out, but the gap where he was was still there! My friend was racing Motocross at 8 years old, so this was not a big stretch for him, but he was famous in that school. That day made me want to ride all the time and jump everything in sight, luckily I never really grew out of that!
  • 1 0
 @ Bomadics: Ah, the Yamaha Motobike!I had one of those. Not the best tool for BMX but it rode better than early DH bikes, and definitely ugly by today's standards. But it made me fearless. I'm surprised I survived my youth.
  • 10 1
 Define "real" mtn bike. I've always had mtn bikes, ever since I could walk. None of them were "real" compared to my current bike, and my current bike prolly won't even be "real" in ten years.

My first bike was, I think, an old bmx bike. It was built pretty rugged and had knobby tires, and coaster brakes...
  • 2 0
 Same here. I used to love riding my Redline on the dirt trails way more than in the streets.
  • 9 0
 Ah. I miss my old grey '96 moab. Upgraded it to a manitou answer mach 5 (?) in the same grey and had some olive green bar ends. And my '02 xtc. Best upgrade was the RS sus post.
  • 5 0
 Mountain biking??? What's that??? I just ride my banana seat coaster brake CCM special on the hiking trails in the ravine. First real ride was a '93 RM hammer with elastomer front Shox. Tiny fame and long seat post for aggressive riding in Whistler. I still have it but if I ride it blows spokes.
  • 2 0
 Yup.
20" Coaster brake.
Salvaged CCM or SuperCycle (Stingray Clones) frame
Any forks that you could find hat would last more than a month of trail riding and jumping.
Early BMX bars - basically bicycle sized MX bars - wide and low.
Cotter pin cranks. - and people bitch about ISIS...
Carrying a small adjustable wrench in your back pocket tied by a sting to a belt-loop
Rebuilding wheels, headsets, bottom brackets by removing the destroyed ball race and replacing with loose balls -1
Racing your buddies on the local rogue MX track out in the woods for a prize money of everybody's combined 25 cent entry fee - bascially your turn to buy pop and chips at the corner store after the races.
Pretty much how I spend 1969-80...

Now 8" front and rear on the big bike, and 6 and 5 inches on the trail bike, with lots of dials and levers - sometimes I wonder which one of me has more fun.....
  • 5 0
 I do remember my first bike, like it was just yesterday that I rode it down the street, learning how to wheelie and manual and soon do bunny hops, and ride down stairs that where infront of my hous, balance on a board till I made a little ramp to jump it... it was the bike where I learned how to do basic skills and jet u was just playing...it has become a little part of me... after all this time I still cry a little for it, knowing why I dont have it anymore, knowing where It ended, if I have had a better choice, it wouldve had a better death... and yet I am feeling well, fullfiled and happy that its a memory now. Knowing from where I started with so little and now I am here with so much...

Back then my parents bought me the bike while they had almost no money to spend it on me, but they did made a sacrifice for me, for the bike, like, everytime I had a puncture and we all didnt knew how to repair it yet, or when something got worn out... luckly the shop owner suportet my enthusiasm to bikes and made most of those things for free... he looked up for spares from other bikes he repaired or that where junk but some parts where good... I know how it looks and what it had... I know how it felt. And for sure I know what I had and how much luck I have had to have so much support to have that one bike I have dreamed about one day before my parents have bought it... its weird, because I dreamed about every bike before I even had it... anyway, a hand full of bikes later and I am racing bikes for almost a bit of cash... soon I will get back to school learn how to properly put people back on their feet after a crash... and then I will ride my bike again to win races... all that thanks to my lovely parents who sacrefised so much for me... my first bike is indeed my first step forward to my future... thank you (heart)
  • 4 0
 I was in junior high. I rode a 1996 Raleigh with an upgraded Rockshox Judy! I was probably 5 foot nothing and the bike was a size large. I remember every time I couldn't make a climb, I would nut it so hard on the top tube. I had the seat fully slammed and it was still almost too high. Good times right there!
  • 4 0
 1995 ish Blue Norco Bigfoot....started out rigid but soon got a Marzocci Z2. Cantilever brakes did nothing on the shore back then. Basically just careened from one rock or root to the next till I fell and my face hit the next one. So much fun had on that old bike. Wish I knew where it was now.
  • 1 0
 My 2nd bike (after my GT agressor) was a Norco Bigfoot, in forest green, Marz bombers with some hayes sole cable discs! I ended up putting some rowdy triple clamps on it later on!
  • 1 0
 @rickeybobby84 That is some funny shit right there
  • 2 1
 @rickybobby84 cantilever brakes did nothing ANYWHERE other than cause a lot of swearing in a garage. I can't believe some people still run them in major cross races!
  • 3 0
 Real mountain bike? I had a CCM back in the late 80's but I would hesitate to call it a real mountain bike as I destroyed it (& the replacement) very quickly. Rocky Mountain Hammer, that was the first bike I could lay claim to as a mountain bike. Fully rigid until I put a Rockshox elastomer fork on. Funny, I had as much fun on those earlier bikes as I do today, maybe more as the thrill of doing something that fun was new & unique, added to a renewed sense of adventure that came with discovering mountain biking.
  • 3 0
 I was 15 and had saved 10,000 Schilling (around 720 Euro). My parents give me 2,000 Schilling/150 Euro on top of that, so I went to our local bike shop and they owner showed me a Klein Attitude from the year before that was for sale for 13,000. I bargained a bit with him and got the Klein for 12,000 with clipless pedals. I'll never forget that day and the moment I saw the bike in the shop.

I still have the frame, fork and some other parts, after 16 years. It's in mint condition and I built it up as a singlespeed cruiser last year and only use it on sunny days to ride around town.
  • 2 0
 Used some college scholarship money on a 99 Kona Blast, bright orange with front "suspension" known then as a chunk of elastomer. I will say that the things like a helmet, hydration, gloves, cleats came after hard lessons in each of those areas. Really wanted the Cindercone, but didn't have enough after textbooks Frown
  • 2 0
 1996 Mongoose Threshold full rigid. Full Shimano spec but I don't remember the line. I was pretty stoked with the 26" wheels coming from 24". Had nice high gloss black paint. It was my 13th birthday present. I also remember being made fun of by my friends who had bmx bikes. Well I got the last laugh in the woods while they were eating my dust! I think that bike is hanging up in my parents shed.
  • 2 0
 We used to ride mountain bikes any bike. Didn't give a fuck if it was a steel carbon aluminum iron bamboo or any of that shit if that bitch had tires that rolled so did we. Corperations helped us ride way cooler better bikes but the same corporations are killing us.
  • 2 0
 1987 Montaña Andalè. Rigid hardtail. Shimano 300gs thumbshiter brake lever combo, triple-triangle, rear u-brake mounted underneath and cantilever front brake. Farmer john tires with rubber sidewalls.
Sweetest bike ever! Stolen within a year. Still remember running home from my friends where it was stolen from, in tears....
  • 2 1
 And thats why my kids first bikes are: stumpy evo;stumpy evo;transition ripcord. I want them to catch the bug too!
  • 2 0
 1996 Trek 970 in Ice Fire w/ black and gold decals. Rigid steel. No idea if brakes were cantis or V...that was the good old days when I just "rode my bike," didn't know jack about parts or maintenance or anything. Shoot...once I went to a shop to get a new cassette and the guy asked me how many sprockets it has and I had to go back outside and count...I didn't know that stuff...I was actually really surprised it had eight...good thing it wasn't Eagle because I can't count that high. "Wheel it on back here and I'll put it on for you."
"No, thanks...I'm good."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Brought that piece home, took off my wheel, kind of groped it with some channel locks for a few minutes with growing incredulity, then really sheepishly went back to the shop so the guy with the special tool could change it for me. Dumb kid.

Ice Fire, though...that looked nice.

But that Y Five-O...
  • 2 0
 U came before V (brake). I had a 1989 Tech Nova with a U-brake. Had horrible chain suck that new generations probably don't even know existed, but was so common it gave birth to the 'anti chain suck thing'. It worked about as well as a U-brake.
  • 2 0
 My riding days all started when, at Christmas, Santa left me an HMX 500. That bike took me everywhere and i've just looked up the photos of it....oh my daze...the memories of jumping that thing and falling off....rolling down hills and resting my feet on the forks only for my foot to slip off and get caught in the spokes..OTB Jumping bricks, learning bunny hops, adventures and just being kids....bikes, they take us everywhere and give us so much. Long live our first steed !
  • 2 0
 Remember it? I've still got it! 1989 Raleigh Max, in purple with the 3x5 friction shifters. Given to me by my Grandfather, massively too big at the time, slightly too small now (it's a 20in). Heavy, rigid, tyres don't grip and the brakes only kind of stop. Ridden it for thousands, if not tens of thousands of miles (and about 5000 laps of Rutland Water in there somewhere). Love that bike.
  • 2 0
 Kona fire mountain (steel), fully rigid with onza canti's, eventually upgraded with a RS Mag-10. That was followed by a Fisher Supercaliber with a Manitou EFC. Worked in a bike shop in the early 90's as a teenager, and never saw any money out of my job because every penny went into bike/components.
  • 1 0
 Kuwahara X-Pacer, about 1989. A Japanese lugged steel cyclocross. Bar end shifters. Yellow & turquoise paint splashes on a purple base paint. Factory shoulder carrying strap on braze-ons.
fstatic1.rennrad-news.de/f/ox/if/oxifkprpll7k/large_CropperCapture1.jpg?0
Wish I'd kept it.
  • 1 0
 1986 Kuwahara Cougar was my first. Hangs in my garage now.
  • 1 0
 Very first "mountain" bike was a '98 Trek 820, Steel, V Brakes Rock Shox Indy S. I sold newspapers to get it and promptly broke every component on it in the woods. It was so mangled from the jumping and riding I put it through that the local bike shop owner told me to just give up on it. I was about 12 I think and my parents were totally broke so the situation looked pretty sad. My dad took me to the Napa XC World Cup and the Gary Fisher booth had a drawing for a Gary Fisher Big Sur. I got as many tickets as I could talk the booth guy into and waited for the drawing that was supposed to happen after the medal ceremony. The drawing never came and I was so bummed I just wanted to go home. My parents encouraged me to go ask at he booth and after some instant teenage depression I finally did. Turns out they forgot to do the drawing and after a while the booth guy came back with the bike and said I was the winner because everyone else had gone home.

I still have the Big Sur, I rode it to death too but I'll never forget the example of my parents and the blessing that it was to get that bike and keep myself going through some very tough times. They say they're just bikes but there is something deeply healing in them. They've been my biggest source of fun and growth through all the best and worst times of my life. I don't know that the crazy wonder machine of a bike I ride today is any better, I'm just still glad I can get out and ride and I'm really grateful to the people and bikes that helped me get here.
  • 1 0
 1989 Spesh Rockhopper Comp. Screaming yellow. Paid something like $600 for it new; rode it everywhere until some a*shole hit me with their car. Trashed my bike and broke my leg ( coulda been worse- we didn't wear helmets then????). Next bike was a Marin Palisades Trail with a add on Tange Switchblade fork, followed by a Diamondback something or other with bullhorn bars. Didn't ride much from '96 till last year (married, career, kids, the usual), but always had the jones to be on the trails. Finally got a new bike last year- Spesh Stumpy Comp 29 . Full sus rocks (especially for us old bastards)! Just like the old days, except no more post ride toke out...
  • 1 0
 I bought a brand new 1988 Scott Sawtooth with the first top mount index shifting. XT was the top of the line then and it was still friction shifting. I rode that bike everywhere I could in Summit County, CO. I even rode it up and over A-Basin (12,400ft) and down into to the town of Montezuma. I think my smallest gear was a 24x28 tooth.
  • 1 0
 First real mountain bike I rode "off road" was an early 80's Kuwahara POS. I had to share it with my lil bro and we tore up the local trails in Tsawwassen...if you could call them trails. :/
First real mountain bike I bought with my own money was a 1989 Norco Pinnacle. I won $500 on a scratch and win ticket and headed straight to Cap's on West Boulevard to buy it. Full chro-mo elevated chain stay frame with Shimano 400lx components. Pacific Spirit Park (the UBC endowment lands) never knew what hit them when we hit it. Maybe we're part of the reason you can't ride there anymore...he he.
That was a sweet ride. Even downhiilled it on Whistler when they first opened up the mountain in the summers to mountain biking.
  • 1 0
 My first bike was a 1997 Rocky Mountain Oxygen Race. I will never forget working my butt off all summer peeling logs for log homes to get it. Worth every blister and callas. Raced my first race on it, hucked to flat on it, learned to ride skinnies on it. I miss that old girl. . . .
  • 4 0
 I had 96 GT LTS, then an RTS, then a purple and lime green Rocky Mountain Pipeline.
  • 2 0
 Mongoose IBOC comp in gold and black with Onza barends.

The spec with XT rapid Fire + shifter, DX deraileurs and LX crankset was most bang for the buck. Current bike brands take note, High er spec RD is for jerrys.
  • 1 0
 my 1st real was a 98 Rock Hopper and then an XCR1000 the GT Hans model in white. The GT broke after a month and they gave me a 2000 millennium model, the Lopes frame again in white. It broke live on Jamaica TV 150' from the starting gate. They all had Manitou X-Verts and RS Judy 100s. After the 3rd GT frame broke in the same year I went to Santa Cruz. So I guess my 2001 Superlight in Indigo Blue was my first real mountain bike.
  • 1 0
 GT Outpost trail, 18 inch steel frame / RST Mozo comp forks. Weighed an absolute tonne and was way too big for me at age 14 but didn't care about stuff like that back then. Just rode it til the frame snapped at the headtube. AHHHH those were good days..........
  • 1 0
 Been on bikes since before the whole mountain biking thing came along. My first bike was some kind of BMX/hybrid bike with knobby tires and coaster brakes. All I ever wanted to do was ride it at this giant clay hill behind our house. We'd spend days building jumps and lines to ride down from the top. A huge part of my youth was spent there. My first 'real' mountain bike was a 86 Kuwahara Shasta then graduated up to a 1990 or 91 Brodie Climbmax (which I wish I still had).
  • 1 0
 Such great memories.

www.instagram.com/p/BBoE22aR3yr
  • 1 0
 An old red and black fully ridged Huffy. Got it when I was 6, rode it all around my neighborhood and on some trails. A year or so later, took it to a bmx track, lost control going over a little jump and got dumped over the handlebars. Never rode on dirt again until about 5 years ago. Sold that huffy about 3 years back. It was a hard one to get rid of.
  • 1 0
 I think I win. 1983 in 1983 Specialized Stumpjumper with cantis in front and Suntour copy of WTB rollercam brake under the chain stay. Hot pink of course.
Promptly ordered a handbuilt Ibis by Scot Nicol basically copying the same bike with a custom pink blue grey Alexi Grewal fade paint job. This time I got a buddy to scam me a pair of actually Charlie Cunningham roller cams front and rear. Along with WTB grease guard hubs,headset and pedals. Sweet.
I wonder where that bike is?? I don't remember what happened to it. Life moves pretty fast.
  • 2 1
 First mtn bike was a circa 1988 Norco Sasquatch. First "real" mtn bike was a 1989 Rocky Mtn Hammer. I worked all summer at a crappy job to save for that bike and was so stoked to walk into the store at 16 years old and pay for it myself. Subsequently, it was stolen outside my highschool only two weeks into the school year. That still stings a bit if I think about it. Haha.
  • 1 0
 haha...mine was a little later...1996...I still have this very distinct memory of standing in the shop, knowing exactly how much money I had in my envelope ($850...I'll get a helmet if there's enough leftover) and fully committed to spending every penny of it....and this priceless look on my dad's face at having no idea that they even made bikes that cost that much!

It was stolen from my parents front porch three years later. Got a check from homeowner's insurance company for bike value less three years depreciation and $500 deductable: $12. I'm almost over it, though.
  • 1 0
 Full rigid Mongoose Sycamore(early 90's), if you can call it a real mountain bike. Bent the forks straight out hittin moto jumps on it, bent them back and rode it like that for a good year.

usedbicyclesvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/img_2163.jpg
  • 1 0
 Is that your actual one? Forks do look a bit sketchy.. or maybe it is just my eyes after reading your story
  • 1 0
 @anyexcusetoride: No, but it looked exactly the same. Needless to say, I didn't jump it anymore after that..
  • 1 0
 Trek 820 rigid hardtails, followed by a Trek 850 with a RockShox Quadra that was my first Real Bike. Then a Specialized FSR Comp with an open-bath Judy--which a neighbor of some old friends recently paid $100 for, resurrected with all new parts and a sick new paint job and gave to his kids to kickstart the cycle of shred once again!
  • 1 0
 1mg.me/image2.aspx?filename=2003-GT-Avalanche-2.0.jpg&f=Photos GT Avalanche, had a smaller kids version of my dad's. never acknowledged mountain biking until I was 14. That is when I took my dad's and destroyed it. Saved for 6 months of cutting lawns and washing cars, bought my first downhill bike www.pinkbike.com/photo/13274177 for $485 on eBay from a buy who used it as a commuter ;D finally got my first job late last year, been nonstop saving and now i have bought my first big boy purchase of a YT Capra AL 1. www.pinkbike.com/photo/13514218 never am i going to say i did not work for my bike or that i got it easily handed to me. the love for this sport that started on such a simple bike that i honestly laugh that i started on it. i wouldn't change it for anything. this is real eye opening poll
  • 1 0
 I don't remember my first real mountain bike. But I do remember my first off road experiences. Back in 1971 or 72 my dad was stationed in Japan for the Army and we got to live off base in a small village with other military families. All the kids hung out together of all ages and we rode bikes a lot. There was only one paved road through the village and everything else was dirt roads. So all us kids would ride off road through the hills on our bikes all day long. I shared a bike with my two bigger brothers and of course the bike was ginormous for me. I had to get a running start and throw my leg over the top tube and then pedal on my toes just to ride. Great memories.
  • 1 0
 1998ish Haro Vector. Forced poor dad to go riding with me every day after work. Looking at those pics, though, I'm a little jealous that my dad never told me bikes could leave the ground. Don't think I figured it out on my own until 15 years later!
  • 1 0
 Trek 7000, 1998. In "gold". Godamn I loved that bike, the color was amazing. Rockshox in the front, shimano gears. It would eat chainring bolts all day every day. I probably put just as many miles on it riding to the trails as I did in the trails. Semi slick tires all around too.
  • 1 0
 rode a rigid Sterling through high school all over northeast Vermont...good times... in 97 I got a GT Karakoram hardtail...great ride for the time..still have it for a keepsake too!! a buddy is borrowing it for the time. it's too small for him but, he'll figure that out...hopefully before he goes over the handlebars.
  • 1 0
 First bike I had that wasn't a walgoose was my hand me down giant iguana from my uncle. Had to partially rebuild it and it got modernized with hydraulic disc brakes and a cob job 1x8 drivetrain. Also replaced the noodly manitou fork with a rigid and the bike took me places I didn't even know about. After beating the crap out of her over a winter season she needed a retirement. Very fond memories I had with that bike and surprisingly kept working with a majority of original parts
  • 1 0
 1982 Bianchi my bike ( they only made one model.... Their only model). Traded in my Olmo road bike at the shop and set me on my path to the dark side. Even remember my first ride was across town to show my buddy my new bike. Rode the whole way on asphalt. I guess I didn't quite get it yet. Followed by;

- Richey Descent
- Richey Equipe
- Kona Exposif
- Rocky Mt Element
- Kona Kikapu
- Kona King
- Giant Trance X1
- Giant Trance Advanced.
  • 1 0
 My first one was a Giant Rincon, bright red, fully rigid with canti brakes. I thought I was riding high when I found an old Klein in a pawn shop. Still rigid, but it was aluminum. After I put a Rock Shox fork on it I never looked back.
  • 1 0
 Went through many bikes like underwear but the first real mtn bike was not from Kmart or Sears but a real bike shop. 1995 Schwinn M.O.A.B. in that blue-ish/purple color.. 17", it was $600 full equipped, slapped on some bull horn ends, toe-clips and I was ready to go.

2 weeks later I was able to cash out some birthday money and got a Judy xc fork.. full 60mm of travel at $400 out the door.

Jeezus, cantilever brakes, coil/elastomer suspension tech, 600mm handlebar widths, controltech bars and stems, gripshifters and 3x7 speed setup...


Later on... Schwinn Homegrown... Cannondale F500, F1000... those were the days
  • 1 0
 Gt zaskar steel hardtail full rigid. Never did any MTB with only it just got about on it was so heavy. But my first proper MTB that I used k2 proflex 2000 full sus. Still got it and give it a run out once a year. Bring back girvin forks!
  • 1 0
 some bright orange Apollo through my school days with bar ends and a big speed taco on the bars which the Dynamo dragged so much on the wheel rim that it must have cost me 5mph!!

Left school, started work then it was a Gt zaskar with psylo forks

Anyone else remember stuffing a coke can in the front forks to sound like a brrm brrm? What about those crazy big wheel inserts that acted like the worlds biggest sails?!
  • 1 0
 The first bike I bought with my own money was a customised Kona Kikapu, 100mm full suspension with disc (but not hydraulic) brakes. I bought it from my cousin who decided to get a different one. I was 18, used all my savings and my parents went mad when they found out how much I paid for it, because it was something like their 3 months salary. 4 years later it got stolen, it was in 2009 but I'd still beat the living shit out of the c*nt who stole it.
Now I'm riding a custom assembled Rocky Mountain that cost me triple (I live on my own so my parents don't even know what I buy). I keep it in my room and when outside, I never walk further than 5 metres from it.
  • 1 0
 I got into the sport late. And, my first bike came from a fred meyer. It was called a Royce Union. Full suspension, Smedium frame, v-brakes. I had to put this Monster stem on it to make it fit my 6'5 torso. Honestly, it shouldn't have been called a real bike. EXCEPT, I rode Moab Utah on that bike. I took it to Whistler the very first year the bike park was open. It rode some Gnarly trails in Squampton. Every XC trail within 2 hours of Longview Washington. And that's a LOT. Of course, I had to replace wheels, bars, brakes... Just about everything. But the frame never failed me. After almost 20 years of riding, and 14 failed frames, it surprises me to this day how well it held up.
  • 1 0
 Rode some mtb-shaped objects in the 90's until 2001 when I was 16 and got my brand spanking new rigid steel Kona Hahanna in rare black paint. I think I was more stoked about that bike than anything before or after. It was shocking how much better it was then the shitty bike before it. I rode it for years, changing pretty much every part. Still have the frame and 'Project 2' rigid fork, would make for a nice retro build.
  • 1 0
 My first real mountain bike was a Trek that I got for Christmas. I didn't mtb at the time, I actually raced BMX. So the bike mainly sat in the garage or occasionally got ridden in order to try and keep up with my friends on Go-Peds. Years later I saw the light and transitioned from BMX to mtb.
  • 1 0
 1985 Diamondback; chrome moly steel made in USA. $350 bucks at a bike shop in Pacific beach, San Diego. I remember picking it up and immediately driving to Joshua tree. Rode Farmer john tires in those days. Mostly closed roads and trails in the Socal desert. Freaked out a lot of hikers back then.
Several years and 2-3 bikes later, I got kicked out of Joshua tree National monument and told never to return.
  • 1 0
 My neighbor in the 90's was the team manager for Parkpre bikes. For my birthday in 94 he gave me one of the team bikes from the year before. I thought I was the coolest kid on the block ridding that thing. 2 inches of travel in the front an a gray and purple splatter paint job. Rode it to school everyday then hit the trails behind my house after pretending to be John Tomac. Oh the good old days before wheel size, boost and which dropper post is the best arguments.
  • 1 0
 Giant Sierra about 1988? It had a hyperglide rear cassette, which was brand new tech Smile Mountain LX groupset.
Same as this www.flickr.com/photos/jorgdegroot/5431109323

First suspension forks were Manitou 3s which I put on my rockhopper at the time.
First FS was an Orange X2. URT piece of carp! Shouldn't ever have bought that frame. Pivots kept coming loose and URT was oh so flawed!
  • 2 0
 1997 kona cindercone, blue with yello decals , Indy fork, lx build kit , and yes you guessed it avid v-brakes, although brakes is a shotty word for them. Mud displacers maybe ?
  • 1 0
 I was 12 or 13 and I got a 2006 Iron Horse Yakuza Chimpira. Was a 15" hardtail, 150mm front fork with 20mm TA, 2.4" Kendas, and a 9X3 Acera set up. Tektro I0 brakes, 203mm front, and maybe rear too but possibly not.

I use to be stupid

Thought the bigger the tire the better, the bouncier the "shocks" the better... I later then made it a 1X9, dropping two chain rings, installing a lower guide but leaving the FD on to "hold" the chain incase it fell. Crazy times. Learned so much about bikes and so much from having that bike.


Sold it to buy a clutch for my car


Happy to have found myself buying another, more appropriate bike again years later.
  • 1 0
 1996 Specialized Hardrock GX sport. Awesome bike, lasted me 8 years. What's funny is I've had 8 bikes since that over the last 12 years. Bikes are amazing today, but that thing was good for everything, DH, trails, jumps, riding to school, XC, dual slalom racing. Happy memories!
  • 1 0
 Still got my '01 Kona Fire Mountain that I rescued from a dumpster four years ago. I learned everything from riding to building wheelsets because of that thing. Probably didn't deserve the money I put into it but it does look pretty awesome with that orange Lambo paint and BBG bashwich.
  • 1 0
 Oh man. I had a fully rigid CCM that I started riding on. Looking back now it's crazy to think the trails in the Puddle we used to ride on sh*t bikes. Second bike was a Brodie Bruzza with mechanical discs and a front fork. It was an awesome HT for its time.
  • 1 0
 1991 serotta atx, fully rigid, later equipped with a Manitou M1. I was the typical 16 year old shop kid... never had any money because I was always paying for bike kit. 25 years later not much has changed, and I like it that way
  • 1 0
 I had a 24" Giant, but that was still a kids' bike. My first real bike (26", that is) was a 1996 Diamondback V-Link 3.0 my freshman year of high school. I wanted full suspension in the worst way, and a local shop was letting the '96s go for $800 out the door. I couldn't stop looking at the thing after I bought it. I wasn't crazy about the orange paint, but it had a Deore LX build, a grey Manitou Mach 5 (which was terrible), and most importantly, rear suspension. Weeks later, I raced my first DH event on the bike, then did dual duty DH/XC at NORBA nationals for the next few years. It got some Scott riser bars and better tires then a green Manitou Palmer FS Ti fork from Supergo (which felt like butter compared to the old fork). It was my race rig, my transportation, and my most prized possession. Eventually, I got into cars, girls, and alcohol, so the Diamondback collected dust in the basement, aside from the once or twice a year I would pull it out because I "wanted to get back into riding". Unfortunately, I had gotten fat, and I ended up cracking it in 2002, pulling all of the parts off to build an Azonic DS-1 (which I eventually replaced with a Trek Session 77). There's been many since. Two Trek Sessions, a Cove, a KHS, three GT's, and a Cannondale, but the ugly orange Diamondback is the bike that started it all for me. I still have the frame.
  • 1 0
 GT Avalanche 3.0. Had a Walmart Mongoose full suspension that I had been riding around town for years. Broke it the first 2 outings on single track but was hooked and went out to buy what I thought was the most expensive bike I'd ever be willing to purchase. I now have an fsr stumpjumper...
  • 1 0
 Ah, the nostalgia. Mine was a 1992 fully rigid Scott Sawtooth with Shimano Exage 300 and fitting cantilevers. Soon to be outfitted with Mag 20s, V-brakes whenever they were available and any type of lighter and sturdier parts that were affordable to me pupil. Wait...skip the word "sturdier" Big Grin
  • 1 0
 Jamis Dakar, the pink and purple steel framed wonder. I still have it and still like riding it. Its a road bike with smaller wheels really. I rode that thing everywhere. Its my farm cruiser now. Pulls my girls in the trailer and doesn't miss a beat.
  • 1 0
 1996 Giant Boulder that was handed down to me by my cousin in 1998. Man, I thought that bike was the most amazing thing ever. I broke my axle twice, and the third time it happened, the bike wasn't worth fixing anymore (dents galore, bent rims, the whole nine yards).
  • 1 0
 back in 2007...bought my first "Real"bike....a 2004 Kona Stinky for $800 here on PB. It was a boat anchor...Sure, the Hayes Nine brakes were dead and the rear shock was shot and the dual crown fork (Marzocchi Triple Drop Offs) with 9mm dropouts had no adjustments and the bearings were shit in the Shimano hubs and the seat was torn and of course it was plastered with stickers.... but it was my bike and I loved it.
  • 1 0
 1992 Óbita 2x5 hardtail, I remember everybody had a BMX, so it was a "show stopper".
In the beginning it was to big for me, cause they only found a M size. lol
Had to be close to a step to get on it.
  • 1 0
 1995 GT Pantera with rockshox up front.
I rode the hell out of that bike (wrecked a lot too).
Just sold it last summer to a buddy for $5 and a six pack of beer. Still going strong.
  • 1 0
 '88 Univega Rover Sport. Then traded up to a '90 Park Pre Catalyst. Rode that one 'till the wheels dam near fell off. Then a '93 Barracuda A2R. All fully rigid. All heavy as s**t. Anyone remember those classics?
  • 3 0
 Park Pre and Barracuda!! I had a few Barracuda's back in the day. The shop I worked for carried them. Great bikes
  • 1 0
 1988 McKinley Expedition, 1990 Specialized Stumpjumper Deore DX full groupset....thumbs shifter...so simple.....going on DH track was possible even without suspension.....i wouldn't try that today !
  • 2 0
 1992 I think. Got my DS Race bike in 95. Got my second DS race bike in 2001. Still riding that one... cause kids. I need a new bike so damned bad. Frown
  • 1 0
 I got into mtb later, after growing up on bmx and moto... So my first bike was a leftover '03 Kona Stinky dee-lux that I got in early '04. I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it on sale in the bike shop.
  • 2 0
 Giant ATX 860. Manitou elastomer fork, polished alloy frame, WTB cockpit & tyres and full Shimano STXRC group set. Circa 1996. A close friend still has it. Cracking bike.
  • 1 0
 First proper mtb was a hardcore (random branded Taiwanese catalogue frame) bought from broadribb cycles.loved it! Zocchi z4 air 100s with Magura hydro rim brakes.that bike made me fall in love with mountain biking!
  • 1 0
 Had a schwinn in elementary school. Took it off a jump one day and the front fork jammed shut and wouldn't open. It was at that point I realized I needed something more substantial...
  • 4 0
 Who remembers upgrading their cantilever pads to aztec pads? Game changer.
  • 2 0
 I guess a should consider myself spoiled since I didn't get my first mountain bike until about 6 years ago. I never experienced the dark ages.
  • 1 0
 88 or 89 Nishiki Barbarian with a black-blue-black fade paint job. Fully rigid, cantis, Deore XT drivetrain.

After that came a cromo Spec Stump FS with the rebranded RS Mag Specialized FutureShock. LX/XT.
  • 1 0
 1990 Trek 820 with zoom stem, onza bar ends, biopace chainrings and black on white spatter paint job. Did my first race on it, downhill followed by cross country in the afternoon.
  • 1 0
 89 specialized hard rock. My LBS loved me. I spent all my grocery bagging paychecks on upgrades to it. I remember buying every new tire Tioga came out with looking for the perfect tire. Sold it way to cheap for a snowboard.
  • 1 0
 1988 Diamond Back Apex, with the rear brakes below the chain stay. I was 12 years old. Mine was black with white paint dribbled on it.

www.bikeman.com/images/bikeman/bathroom/catalogs/diamondback1988pg4-5B.jpg
  • 1 0
 1989 Trek 7000 bonded frame and a Mountain LX groupset, I've still got the frame. Some great memories, although breaking my back in 3 places while riding it in Snowdonia isn't one of them.
  • 1 0
 1996 GT Outpost. Altus & Acera X throughout. I remember adding some Club Roost dh bars, Bear trap pedals, DcD, and some Tranz-X brrake boosters. Added some Rockshox Indy C's the following year.. Oh the memories
  • 1 0
 My first bike was a 1999 Rocky Mountain Pipeline, purple and lime green. Just like the one Wade Simmons rode in Kranked 3. I wish I would have never got rid of that bike. It was way ahead of its time.
  • 1 0
 I know I'm really late to this and no one will read it, but doesn't "hardtail" mean that it has front suspension/no rear suspension and "fully rigid" means no suspension at all?
  • 2 0
 1990 Norco Kokanee. Fluorescent green, black, and pink. Bio pace chain rings.
  • 1 0
 My '05 pine green Diamondback Topanga was sweeet when I first got it. It's amazing how perspective changes with time and trips to bike parks!
  • 1 0
 1993 Specialized Stumpjumper M2 with a rigid fork and full Shimano LX kit including hubs (remember when you could get a full group like that?)
  • 2 1
 and shimano deore xt seatpost and headset!
  • 1 0
 @donpinpon29: I think mine had specialized headset and seatpost. However, I did have an XT headset a few years later on a bike.
  • 1 0
 '96 Gary Fisher Wahoo '98 Spec Stumpy -----so mint M2 Alu Frame . V Brakes. Judy. 8spd ..800.00 for the xc racer that eventually morped into a hucking hardtail
  • 2 0
 My first was a 1990 Specialized Rockhopper Sport. Loved that bike, best Christmas gift ever! Thanks Mom.
  • 3 1
 1989 Diamond Back Axis. Full XT. Added a Girvin FlexStem to that bad boy!
  • 2 0
 I had an ascent ex from the same year. How I longed for an axis!!!
  • 1 0
 Walmart full sussy Mongoose, went to a technical high school for machining and made my own disk break mounts to weld on the frame with a manitou bomber fork...legit
  • 1 0
 94 Specialized Hardrock Sport. Within a month I stopped riding my BMX altogether. I was having too much fun on the 'big wheeled' 26er : )
  • 1 0
 I sure do. In 96 I got 1997 Rock Hopper. It had a RS Jett fork if i recall..or a Quadra?? I forget but it was cool. Sadly it got stolen:-(
  • 1 0
 '92 Benotto Montebello. Road gearing and brakes (caliper) but with 26" knobbies. It was stolen some time around '98 or so. I loved it to bits.
  • 1 0
 Schwinn Highland AL, 6 months after bending both rims, and folding the fork, I upgraded to a GT Karakorum, with full Shimano LX 8 spd.
  • 1 0
 Ridgeback 602 I think. Biopace, ubrake, all rigid of course. Was awesome for the time. Well, actually it was sh!t but it's all I had and so it was frickin perfect.
  • 2 0
 A fully rigid blue Saracen, 21 speed with no idea how to change the gears and a good size too big.
  • 1 0
 Lusted after a Schwinn Cimarron mid to late 80s but never owned it.
1989 Miyata Terra Runner...green...spline triple butted tubing. Followed by:
1991 Stumpjumper.
  • 1 0
 Trek Marlin 7... it was the first bike I bought with my own money and it furthered my love for mountain biking... Sold it a few months ago for a Slash, but I still miss it..
  • 1 0
 Maruishi MT15 1983. Really a road frame pretending to offload...
s1232.photobucket.com/user/b1kef0t0s/media/Maruishi17Medium_zpsfa75b25d.jpg.html
  • 2 0
 I don't want to remember it... It was an ellsworth... that's all I want to say.
  • 3 0
 DMR Trailstar with Junior T's
  • 1 0
 My first mountain bike was a Diamond Back Ascent EX in 1991. Replaced in 1994 with the sublime Kona Cindercone, which I still own.
  • 1 0
 '94 Cindercone was my first. Def agree it was a good un. Except for the brakes, but I guess I learned how to manage without. Still got it - well, the frame. Seatpost is all that's left of the original parts
  • 1 0
 Norco Bigfoot sold a lot of golf balls to buy it. Roadrunner sports Squamish before we had real bike shops great bike it's probably still alive somewhere.
  • 1 0
 Specialized Rockhopper base model. Still have it only now retired to a commuter ride with full fenders, Paul brakes and single speed.
  • 1 0
 1996 (maybe 97) Trek Y11. Judy SL fork that literally blew up one day was replaced with an Indy SL. Full LX group 3x8. Still have the frame, fork and wheels.
  • 1 0
 A 2nd hand GT Backwoods frame, and I put all the stuff from a passed -away broken alloy frame: Duo-Track 7007, Alivio transmision, and Vbrakes... The year was 1998 Smile
  • 1 0
 1989: Hi-tense steel POS frame & fork,15 speed non-indexed shifting,Mafac cantis with motorcycle levers.
1995: Parkpre Comp Limited 3
  • 2 0
 1988 Marin Bear Valley,in gloss black,and one of my mates still rides it when out with his family
  • 1 0
 1988 Alegro by Caps Cycles. Under chainstay U Brakes, fully ridged. Wasn't perfect but was enuf to get me hooked onto the trails!
  • 1 0
 Bridgestone MB-2 with a Girvin flex stem and panaracer smokes, blows my mind the stuff that is out now, with what I am lucky enough to have and just how it has all evolved.
  • 2 0
 1997 Specialized S-Works with full XTR. Judy SL fork. Bright green.
  • 1 0
 89 specialized rockhopper. Jumped the crap out of that thing till the rigid fork buckled.
  • 1 0
 1993 Norco TNT, full XTR, hardtail, Rock Shox Mag 21 up front...still using it...but with city slicks now...
  • 2 1
 Where's the "full suspension with cantilevers" option? V-Brakes were a huge upgrade after a few years!
  • 1 0
 Asama Swift.... I was 15 and it was blue. I put Panaracer Smoke tires on it, a gel seat, and bull horns. It was pimp.
  • 2 0
 85 SCORPION 89 FAT CHANCE WICKED I STILL MISS FAT TIRE FLYER
  • 1 0
 Bridgestone MB4, rigid with cantis, 1991. Serves as my city bike now - or trail bike if I want to scare myself.
  • 1 0
 1988 tech nova. fully rigid and cantilevers. raced my first race on that bike.
  • 2 0
 1989 Bridgestone mb6 , was originally my mom's
  • 1 0
 I had a sweet 93 Bridgestone MB3. Dark green. Loved it
  • 1 0
 Nishiki Alien with elevated chain stays and ceramic mavic rims for added v brake power lol. Wish I still had it!
  • 1 0
 Also Scott suspension fork when it came out. Rigid was better than that thing lol
  • 1 0
 Sweet purple rigid Mongoose Rockadile with full stx-rc!! Has it really been 20 years........
  • 1 0
 1991 Trek 7000 I bought it new, I remember every detail and remember the catalog I obsessed over while saving up the money.
  • 2 0
 96 kona muni Mula. Sweet quadra 21r and threw on some ritchey logic SPD's
  • 1 0
 Univega chromo with a front fork. Only one real day really pushing it at MSA circa 1993. What a beaut!
  • 1 0
 Supergo Access with a manitou elastomer 80 mm fork.. riding downieville no prob.. top of the world
  • 2 0
 Still on it. Few more year till we mark out double digit anniversary.
  • 1 0
 A 1996 Giant Rincon. Rode it till the fork snapped. Would love to find another one just to have for memories sake
  • 1 0
 My first real mountain bike was a Specialized Rock Hopper, that thing was sick!
  • 1 0
 1988 Diamond Back Topanga, camo grey. Took all 4 fingers to stop that beast. It set the hook though.
  • 1 0
 1988 Rockhopper. Was riding BMX and Freestyle bikes until then and always rode a skateboard.
  • 1 0
 2010 Orange P7, Loved it until I cracked it hitting a road gap. Also about the same time I realised that it was DH for me!
  • 1 0
 1991 Wheeler in the most beautiful shade of neon red with black sprinkles... phew...
  • 1 0
 No answer option for roller cam brakes - Ergo my vote: other = fully rigid with roller cams.
  • 1 0
 1998 seems a long time ago now...
  • 1 0
 hardtail totalmente rígida com os freios cantiléver kkk
  • 3 5
 Never owned a mountain bike. Road biker for life! JK, that was bs. First bike ever was a BridgeStone... Couldn't say what because it was never painted and I just kind of inherited it.
  • 1 0
 My friend has a mint Bridgestone MB1 he had since new. Just restored it and it looks fresh!
  • 2 0
 '84 Cycle Pro Rigid
  • 2 0
 Yeah. I'm using it now
  • 1 0
 1992 McKinley Hardtail with Shimano Deore LX 3x7 speed and no suspension.
  • 2 2
 So was it rigid, or a hardtail? It can't be both, the two words contradict each other.
  • 1 0
 Norco Sasquatch with manitou Mach 5.
  • 1 0
 I think it was called a Giordana Ocelot, Italian, yellow, sweet ride
  • 1 0
 2004 GT Moto and I still have it!
  • 1 0
 Diamondback ascent ex with smoked paint .covered in mint sauce stickers.
  • 1 0
 You were lucky. I had an Apollo Blizzard 15 with friction thumbshifters and steel rims. £99.99 at Halford's. Tenth birthday present. It was shit but it got me hooked for the 25 years up to now. The mint sauce stickers made it a bit cooler, along with the Tioga Psycho tyres.
  • 1 0
 I had the bright orange one with the splatter paint job. Man I delivered a lot of newspapers to buy that! Got it at caps on South Fraser way in abbotsfotd.
  • 1 0
 2001 Giant iguana. Manitou magnum fork with elastomer damping....
  • 1 0
 Top of the line Supercycle from Canadian Tire with chrome steel rims.
  • 1 0
 84 Schwinn Mesa runner. Next bike 1987 Trek 950/
  • 1 0
 I'm still riding my first real mountain bike, she is 3 yrs old now.
  • 1 0
 1991 GT timberline!! With rock shox plastimer fork. Was dope!!
  • 1 0
 '93 Trek 850 which came fully rigid. I upgraded to a RockShox Quadra 21.
  • 1 0
 Trek 820 Antelope baby, from Laguna Cyclery in 1992
  • 1 0
 Maxxim Hot Chili. Tange steel; full Shimano LX. 1993.
  • 1 0
 Green 24" rigid Roadmaster from Walmart was my ride in 1997.
  • 1 0
 Pro Flex 856 Noleen elastemor shocks f/r
  • 1 0
 '99 K2 Animal with prototype Noleen 6" fork
  • 1 0
 I'm still riding my first mtn bike 2015 giant reign.
  • 1 0
 1997 Haro Escape A2. Still going strong as a commuter bike now.
  • 1 0
 1996 Kona Koa, now it's my commuter!!
  • 1 0
 Barracuda A2E with a Girvin Fork. Still have the frame.
  • 1 0
 fake-cheap santacruz bike
  • 1 0
 1990ish Giant Butte. Chro-Moly frame. BioPace chainring.
  • 1 0
 oh man... 1991 machinery... full rigid
  • 1 0
 Raleigh mustang!
  • 1 0
 Memories! Had one when I could barely lift it off the ground. Don't consider it my first "proper mtb" though
  • 1 0
 Twas a muddy fox
  • 1 0
 Kona
  • 1 0
 96 haro escape a1
  • 1 0
 1990 Peugeot
  • 1 0
 90's GT LTS CARBON
  • 1 0
 GT Palomar here
  • 1 0
 Gt backwood 1999
  • 1 0
 MF purple 98 Trek Y3!!!
  • 1 0
 '93 Raleigh M-50
  • 1 0
 1990 Bianchi Grizzly.
  • 1 1
 16" thunder bmx..that was a funny bike
  • 1 0
 2004 Scott Voltage YZ1
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