How did you get started and where did you go from there

Thewaylander
Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
edited May 2008 in The Crudcatcher
Well i Thought I'd ask so its more a get to know everyone thread through what we share thread.

So how did you all start mtbing and how did it proceed?

Myself I started at 14 on a dawes Die Hard, had been ill for a year with fairly bad stomach problems my mates were out cycling and my dad took me out and bought me a nice bike which we researched together(with the proviso i didnt tell my mum or bro and sis how much it cos). from there i started basic trails.

After a while I got healthier and started riding street trials(badly) on a cannondal f700 which i converted to purpose at the time. At uni came in to some cash rebuilt her as a DDG shooter in the army colours, which was prompty stolen a week later out of the secure lock up!.

Then recently a fair few laters i got made redundent resulting in getting my Stumpy FSR comp july last year, been riding trail centers since. fitness is back and it has kept me nicely sane from work and a rubish relationship!

A short life of my biking history for you guys! as an example go go i'm nosey and wanna hear!

Comments

  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    Started when it got popular on the mid 80s - the days of Muddy Fox Couriers.

    My parents got a Courier each, I got a cheaper one and upgraded it - many days of fun cycling around Leith Hill and the Downs (lived in Surrey until I was 14).

    Cycled just for fitness for a while but been fully back into it for about two years - things have moved on!
  • Started out knocking about in the local woods on my racer(!) when I was about 10.

    Then that Christmas I got a Townsend Volcanic, think it was about £100 from Argos. Remember one summer I spent pretty much every day in the woods with my mates, that bike got a lot of use!

    Mate of mine was clearing out his garage and gave me some old (93-94ish) copies of MBUK. Read about Jason McRoy and Hans Rey and wanted to be like them.

    When I started my paper round at 13 almost all my money went on buying new bits to pimp the Townsend with. Had Rapidfire shifter, V-brakes when they were a brand new idea, DMR pedals and a few other bits.

    The Townsend died when I was about 15, would've taken too much to fix on paper round money and my parents wouldn't buy me a new bike.

    Skip forward to 22, I get a bonus at work and at about the same time I split up with my girlfriend after 6 years. Need something to fill my weekends with. Recently got into skiing and like the idea of going fast down hills, but it's not something I can afford to do every weekend. So decide to finally get back into riding!

    Bought myself a Diamondback M40 and a new subscription to MBUK, my fitness was completely gone but surprisingly after 7 years of not riding it didn't take long to get my technical ability back.

    That was a year ago and I'm now riding a few times a week whilst at uni. Moving to Austria in a couple of months so the next stage of my riding career is going to be based in the Alps!
    "The problem was, I was still using my eyes even though I had them shut"

    Demoted to commuting duty

    Orange Crush!
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    Nick - moving to Austria? That's a serious move!

    Should be MTB heaven!

    Anyone remember all the comedy "innovations" in the early days?
    Chainstay mounted brakes, Biopace chainrings, etc!
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    dave's chain device mate, and wow, gogo alps mate!
  • It is a bit of a move! New job are sending me over there, it's only temporary for around a year but should be fun. Who knows, I might decide to stay over there!

    I REALLY wanted a Dave's Chain Device. In anodised purple. Were Biopace those oval ones? Never quite understood that, wonder why they never caught on.
    "The problem was, I was still using my eyes even though I had them shut"

    Demoted to commuting duty

    Orange Crush!
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    Nick - they were the oval ringed chainsets - Suntour did them too.

    Upgraded my bike and got one (Biopace) - slightly odd cycling action! I think they were supposed to be more efficient - but they weren't!
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    used to have a DCD but the life of me i can not remember the colour was on my little adle i made into a trials bike basicly, caad2 frame similiar thing to what ashton had at the time all those years ago. Was well Swisj i must say!

    Dont remember the oval chainsets though, but i have sleapt in the last 10 years at some point >:o)
  • wheelbuckler
    wheelbuckler Posts: 134
    I started early last year, started going out with a few mates on my super Apollo. A new bike soon followed and I was hooked.
  • dirtbiker100
    dirtbiker100 Posts: 1,997
    i wrote a long paragraph but have now just written what bikes at what age and where at what age...

    some kids bike < 10
    raleigh grifter 10
    raleigh max 12
    specialized stumpjumper 14
    dawes watoga 15
    haro bmx 16
    fit bmx 17
    dmr rhythm 18
    fit bmx 21
    marin alpine trail 23
    on-on inbred 456 23
    marin quake 24

    of which i still have the last four in some way or another.

    local quarry <16
    various jump spots around the village 14 - now
    xc, dh, freeride 23 - now
  • Captain Turok
    Captain Turok Posts: 686
    Mmmm.. Raliegh Grifter!

    That was my 1st MTB :wink:
    *Rock Lobster Team Tig SL (22lb 14oz)
    *C. Late 1950's Fixed Gear
    *1940 Raleigh Dawn Tourist with rod brakes
  • Captain Turok
    Captain Turok Posts: 686
    Mmmm.. Raliegh Grifter!

    That was my 1st MTB :wink:
    *Rock Lobster Team Tig SL (22lb 14oz)
    *C. Late 1950's Fixed Gear
    *1940 Raleigh Dawn Tourist with rod brakes
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    now you have posted here mr turok you have to tell us all :wink:
  • Captain Turok
    Captain Turok Posts: 686
    now you have posted here mr turok you have to tell us all :wink:
    :oops:

    Kids bikes > Chopper > Grifter > various bmx's, loved mag wheels (most stolen bke ever?!) > Muddy Fox rigid with white frame and pink bits > couple of road bikes :roll: > Scott rigid. Then in November I got a '08 Rocklobster team tig SL, been loving riding it (and lavishing light weight trinkets on it since, weight weenie-itis! :lol:). Now also keep a "rat road bike" for fair weather commuting.

    My first bouncey bike and my 1st foray onto forums, to find out more about the bouncey bits!

    Great way to while away an hour at work too!
    *Rock Lobster Team Tig SL (22lb 14oz)
    *C. Late 1950's Fixed Gear
    *1940 Raleigh Dawn Tourist with rod brakes
  • god1406
    god1406 Posts: 554
    I went to see a guy about a Schwinn bike, but he'd sold it before I got there, but had an unused Kona Stuff instead, which I bought for £320 in 2003.

    to me it was no different to any other bike, so i learned the basics on it (hopping, wheelying, etc) then took it round Cannock a few times and since then have ridden XC, DJ, street, light downhill, and anything in between :)

    the end.
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    I broke two bikes in two weeks, went to buy a new bike that wouldn't break and got a scott voltage that got hugely upgraded and then stolen, it sort of ballooned from there
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Had bikes on and off all throughout my childhead, including the sorely missed Raleigh Strika (and Budgie, Bullet, Boxer) and even a Banana Racer!

    Didn't start MTBing until about 16 when just left school, where my mate would lend me his Dad's bike, a lovely Raleigh Montage in 501 tubing. First stop Wharncliffe, which on a rigid as a newbie was some intro!

    First proper MTB I bought was a Diamond Back Traverse, with steel frame, 21 speed Alivio, Shimano hubs, a snip at 180 quid in the mid 90s. Remember seeing Peaty riding a Zaskar around Chap, so I thought 'I'm having one of them!', got one cheap while at Uni, and still have it today.

    Also had a few others, such as a Marin Mt Vison, couple of Saracens, and the current tribe.
  • lexiekay
    lexiekay Posts: 379
    I had kids mtb when i was young. lost interest when i was 14ish though, and i didnt have much time for that at uni. Moved to London then and a guy i knew gave me a bmx which i loved but i kind of lost it! Few years later i moved here, and last october a friend from work sorted me out with my current bike, Specialized rockhopper, which i love... tho im still a newbie when it comes to techy stuff :lol: love my bike and cant imagine life without it!
  • Jimbob_no5
    Jimbob_no5 Posts: 1,568
    me myself started about two years ago when i was 13, found dirt jump vids on youtube with the kona clump team, decided i should get a jump bike, so after 7months of 3paper rounds a day i had enough cash to get my beloved kona cowan 05 in red. looked awesome and rode really nice, rode street on it more than anything, but like most young guys i discovered freeride :D my parents been awesome bought me my 06 kona coiler which i love dearly, now im on my way to downhill racing, saving up for a custom built santa cruz v10 :D

    so there you are the story of my mtbing life :lol:
    Pinkbike

    I believe in only 2 things in life.
    1) Drink is not my friend
    2) D-Locking cnuts ;)
  • big-hitter
    big-hitter Posts: 254
    ive been pretty luck so far. i had various bmx's and mountain bikes from toys'r'us till i was 14 then i got my azonic evolutution whitch was kitted out for dh. i promply snapped the frame in 4 months so i got a azonic steelhead and just swapped the bits. did street on that untill 2 months later when i got a 2005 kona stinky which i loved! it wasnt the best bike but it was uber reliable untill just after my 15th birthday i got a upraded giant faith 3. 888rc's, sram x-o's, manitou metel shock, el camino's, hope pro 2's on ex 729's and loads more. cost over 3 grand to build and bought it off some muppet on ebay who spelt it worng!!!! (gaint fiath!!!). i was the only bidder and i got it for £600!!!!!

    been riding my local woods for years, sometimes i do esher too.
    Tree's are not soft. FACT