What ‘mountain bike’ did you ride in the 70s?
TuckerUK
Posts: 369
Where I lived in South West London/Surrey, THE setup to have was any old frame, single speed using some high flange hubs with rear flip flop (oddly with 16T both sides) and a 32T chaining, straight (if you had a wealthy family) or straightened (the rest of us) forks, no front brake, and of course the knobbliest tyres you could find! Handlebars were free (some liked straight bars, cowhorns were fairly popular, and some like me preferred what I’ve seen referred to as North Road on Wikipedia.
Must look through mums old albums see if I can’t find a photo.
Must look through mums old albums see if I can’t find a photo.
"Coming through..."
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Nothing
On account of me not even being BORN until '83
Showing your age there old man.
You iz clearly not down wiv da kidz!0 -
Initially a racing bike with the bars turned upwards.
Later we started using old kids bikes - more like BMX I suppose.
It was around the time that laid down shocks started coming out on motorcross bikes, so we used to cut the seatstays bend them down and bolt them halfway down the seat tube.
Probably didn't do much for structural integrity, but it looked cool.I don't do smileys.
There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda
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Parktools0 -
Anything we could get from the scrappies....used to cut 'race' tracks through the woods and run races. 3 speed Sturmeys were popular....robust yet gave some options. My neighbour used to race and jump a Raleigh Shopper.... hilariousvmgscot0
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Oh it's all coming back to me.
Racers with upturns bars, yup remember that.
Laid down shocks, remember that well. About the same time forks with axle in front of leg came out I'm thinking.
Our local rag 'n' bone lads used to come past the school and give out frames and bits to the kids.
I remember we used to call our bikes 'track bikes', and the really hip kids had chrome forks...flash tarts."Coming through..."0 -
I was on a Raleigh Tomohawk back then....a little version of the 3 geared "Chopper"...
I then graduated to a grifter towards the early mid 80's0 -
only born in 78, but in the 80's.....my 'mountain bike' was a yellow raleigh boxer, followed by a red grifter that was far too big for me and looked like someting had taken a bite of the saddle.
man....we did some big skids and sweet jumps in those days....
i knocked out my front teeth on a classic...few bricks and a pile of boards style jump.
Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.
H.G. Wells.0 -
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I had a thing called a Hercules which had metal rods instead f brake cables. I was young at te time and living outside of Glasgow. I ran into a Lynx and so I told my mum - who disbelieved me. I told my teacher and described it and she said one had escaped from some park or something.0
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I had a Puch. Flat bars, singlespeed and either 24 or 26 inch wheels, can't remember now. Got it for Christmas around 1970, it replaced my old Raleigh. 0
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About 72 or 73 I had a 24" wheel BSA single speed with a 26" wheel and forks off my Aunties bike bodged on, motorbike trials handlebars, every other tread block snipped off the tyres and pedals that had been converted into shin munchers with a file. Riding down the side of one of the Wigan Alps (coalmine spoil tips for you southern softies) I went over the bars and bodysurfed all the way down to the bottom the bike followed me down smacked me on the back of the head and knocked me out. Woke up in the back of my uncles car on the way to Leigh cottage hospital Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap0
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Only born in 1996, that was way before my time0
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end of the '70 a raleigh arena with some cow bars on it. did me well untill my first ATB in '84"Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
Parktools :?:SheldonBrown0 -
I had a Bmx Mongoose
then in the early 80s had a Muddy Fox courier thats when it all started for me 8)0 -
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Hey, tattooed and pierced long shorts wearin flat brim hat red bull drinkin white Oakley sportin rad person on your full suspension big hit bike – nice work out there.0
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The Northern Monkey wrote:70's? :shock:
Yep some of us are that old. The Yanks always claim they started mountain biking, cobblers they might have come up with the name and got the kudos but loads of people all round the world had been modding bikes to ride off road for a 100 years before Charlie Kelly, Gary Fisher etc got round to doing it.
My dad took his modded single speed Sunbeam over all the main Lakeland passes in the late 40s with his RAF buddies powered by bottled beer and Woodbines before he was posted to the Med. He reckoned Brylcreem was a good emergency lube if you got a squeaky bearing.Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap0 -
First bike in 76 was a folding job, then a grifter in 78- with those sturmey archer 3 speeds that if set just a tad out used to slip badly between 2-3rd, rattling your nuts off the frame/headset. Thankfully I was 10 and they hadn't dropped yet so no permanent damage
They had those crap foam bits on the bars that went loose, perished in the sun, split and cracked then fell off.
Would be good to do a DH trail centre on one for a laugh though eh?!0 -
lvquestpaddler wrote:First bike in 76 was a folding job, then a grifter in 78- with those sturmey archer 3 speeds that if set just a tad out used to slip badly between 2-3rd, rattling your nuts off the frame/headset. Thankfully I was 10 and they hadn't dropped yet so no permanent damage
They had those crap foam bits on the bars that went loose, perished in the sun, split and cracked then fell off.
Would be good to do a DH trail centre on one for a laugh though eh?!
My mates brother had a Grifter and I think it was made out of recycled anvils not even sure the frame had a hole down the middle of the tubes.Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap0 -
...Brylcreem was a good emergency lube if you got a squeaky bearing.
Please tell me that's not a euphemism?"Coming through..."0 -
I liked Grifters, didn't have one, but thought they were cool. Choppers on the other hand I thought were absolutely crap."Coming through..."0
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Between around 74 - 80 I had a Raleigh Olympus with cowhorn bars and a set of cyclo cross tyres.
Takes me back. Fun days.Glen
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.0 -
Born 73 so think I had a trike, but memory is vague. Got a very basic generic kids bike by end of the 70s. Stuff like BMXes, Grifters and Choppers were expensive and only the rich kids had them.
After that it was a drop handled racer I moved onto as my "proper" bike in the 80s. Think it was Raleigh but no idea what.
No actual mountain bike and didn't know anyone who had one. Don't think I'd seen one until late 80s or early 90s.0 -
70's was a tomahawk
80's was a chopper, 5 speed racer, a griffter, a falcon pro bmx
90's was a mongoose supergoose, emmelle "mountainbike", trek 8000, orange clockwork, cannondale m900.
00's same cannondale m900!
10's whyte 9010 -
Raleigh Boxer in the 70s.
Two Raleigh Grifters in the 80s, definitely ridden offroad/through streams etc AND used as jump bikes till I bent the forks.0 -
i was born in the 70s my first bike was a chopper then a grifterfalling off doesn't hurt....its the landing that hurts
FS Giant Trance X3 (2013)
FS Specialized Camber 2011 (2011)=(stolen)
HT Merlin Malt one (sold)0 -
Racer with cow horns,Grifter,Commando then a mate got a Raleigh bomber 8)
Early 80's and it was a Raleigh burner 8)
We pretty much rode owt int'woods in them days 0 -
I had a Raleigh Chipper that ended it's life smashed on a rock beneath a bridge (I was going through a bit of a destructive stage). Then I had a BMX that got trashed from jumping, river riding and years of general off road abuse.
Then onto some generic drop handled bar racers (a definite low point) before discovering booze and forgetting about bikes for a few years. Then late 80s/early 90s got my first mountain bike - a Carrera Krakatoa.0 -
I got my tricycle in 1966, first bike in '68.
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