The First Mountain Bike

[Zealot]

Riding at Red Rock in NV in 94 on the Trek 800 after putting a RockShox on it.  Broken elbow that never healed correctly.

[Further]

I was about 12, had a bunch of bikes. One 20 incher had no crank. Somehow I thought the best possible use of this bike was to drag it up dirt hills, and coast down. No brakes, nowhere to put my feet, just the bike, gravity, and me.

It didn't take long to see the error of my ways.

Kids today aren't allowed to be that stupid. I don't like to hear about kids getting hurt, but everybody should brush up against  reality while they're young to gain some wisdom when they're old 

[Johnny Come Lately Name]

My first MTB was...whatever I was riding at the time. (I kind of had “one continuous bike” that evolved over the years, so it’s hard to say. I’d ride, something would break, I’d replace it and so on. In a prime example of bicycle Darwinism it eventually evolved into a fairly indestructible bike).

It was before “MTB” or “BMX” were “a thing”.

I wanted a dirt bike in the worst way, but my parents HATED dirt bikes and couldn’t afford one anyway.

So I rode my bike on the dirt bike trails.

[Longjohn ★]

The first mountain bike I owned i'm embarrassed to admit to. It was a bright yellow full suspension Walgoose. Steel frame, weighed about a ton. I wore that bike out and bought a Trek.

[team scooter]

In the early '70s we would strip all the extra weight (and rattles like chain guards, huge banana seats, back fenders, etc) off our 20" bikes, installed aggressive treaded tires, replaced the front forks with a larger 24'' forks so mud wouldn't clog the front fenders (also cut down to shave weight). We called them dirt bikes. A few years later the manufacturers came out with bicycles that looked like dirt motorcycles, (I even bought one, a Thunder Road). Then after that came the mountain bikes.

[Johnny Come Lately Name]

20 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I wore that bike out and bought a Trek.

So you only had it two weeks?

[Longjohn ★]

31 minutes ago, F_in Ray Of Sunshine said:

So you only had it two weeks?

I actually rode it two years,two sets of tires and a rear hub. Swing arm bushings were shot when I finally went for an upgrade. When I got that Trek hardtail I felt like Lance Armstrong 

[Johnny Come Lately Name]

1 hour ago, Longjohn said:

 I felt like Lance Armstrong

A dope?

[Zealot]

16 hours ago, Further said:

I was about 12, had a bunch of bikes. One 20 incher had no crank. Somehow I thought the best possible use of this bike was to drag it up dirt hills, and coast down. No brakes, nowhere to put my feet, just the bike, gravity, and me.

It didn't take long to see the error of my ways.

Kids today aren't allowed to be that stupid. I don't like to hear about kids getting hurt, but everybody should brush up against  reality while they're young to gain some wisdom when they're old 

I was about 10. Hadn't learned to ride a bike yet. My older brother took me out to his girlfriend's family's place in Bethel, VA. Think "Waltons" and you'll have s good idea of the area. They talked me into trying to ride. Put me on a bike at the top of a gravel hill road. And doen I went. Lost control halfway down (too much speed and no idea how to slow down) and 'brushed up against reality" pretty bloodily.

It's been a pretty amazing love affair ever since !

[Ralphie ★]

1 hour ago, Zealot said:

I was about 10. Hadn't learned to ride a bike yet. My older brother took me out to his girlfriend's family's place in Bethel, VA. Think "Waltons" and you'll have s good idea of the area. They talked me into trying to ride. Put me on a bike at the top of a gravel hill road. And doen I went. Lost control halfway down (too much speed and no idea how to slow down) and 'brushed up against reality" pretty bloodily.

It's been a pretty amazing love affair ever since !

Wiping out on a gravel road was also a part of my formative bike years!  I hear that my dad nearly fainted taking me to the hospital because of all the blood.