Here's a fun one. What was the first mountain bike you owned? Second bike?

1987 Peugeot Ranger. 10 speed but in a bad way. Steel rims etc. Slack angles, long stays, riser bar. The funny thing with that though, even though it was a heap of shit and I spent a fortune on it just to make it a functional mountain bike, I was able to climb this one super steep rooty climb that on all my subsequent decent bikes (Specialized M2 Team Ed with Bontrager fork etc....) I could never manage due to the terrible weight distribution / body position of the 'NORBA' geometry bikes. If those bikes had never existed, we could have gone straight from Klunker to Full Enduro!

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: DemonMike

1992 Giant ATX 660 Bought it new , had a 50mm RST fork.

Did you buy it at High Gear??

It seems to me like there are so many (old) Woodlot / Bear Mtn / Red Mtn / Burke and etc mountain bikers around and yet Floyd / High Gear are all but forgotten, which is sad to me. Basically, all the bike shops from out that way that I frequented as a kid are gone: Cyclepath/BlackDog, High Gear, The Ridge, AKA The Bike Shop, Overtime hell even Cap's Westwood. I ran into the Dan Sedlacek, previously of OnTop, the other day and it's easy to forget how many genuine folks have simply moved on to other things, even here on the Shore.

Anyways, before I start crying into my beer, I didn't know Floyd at High Gear as a person (separate from the High Gear experience), but I wrote a little something about him on my personal blog if you're interested.

- - - - - -

So I'm not being a thread-ruiner.

If you ask me today, my first real mountain bike was a 1995 Iron Horse, fully rigid in metallic blue and sporting a full Shimano STX-RC build. BUT, if you'd asked my at the time my first mountain bike was a neon-green-and-black hi-ten steel Raleigh with SIS friction shifting, and steel rims. Perception right?

Dealt with all those shops. Made many friends through them as well. Floyd was the best. Great guy he is missed. Troy at Maple Ridge Cycle is there still. Hes just behind the old store.

For whatever reason I never really clicked with that shop. Have a great Troy experience though:

I was sitting at the top of Switchback/Eric Dunning (Sp?) at Mike Lake in Golden Ears when it was it very new and he comes pedalling up the fire road on an orange Norco Bomber leading a shop ride.

Looks at me.

T: “Did you already ride upper Incline? Was it greasy?”

A: “Upper Incline?!”

T: ~ “Just keep going up, you can’t miss it. The best trail around here!”

After they passed I sat for a bit and then finally convinced myself to ride up and see if I could find it. Easily the nastiest, greasiest, rooted jank I had ridden to date. Walked half of it. Crashed hard twice. Went back for more the next time I was up.

LOL

Yay the incline was a nut kicker in spots. Had a couple bad crashes on it.

Troy still has that Bomber , and the yellow one.

Oh my 2nd bike was a Kona Kileau? , the burgundy color yr 93?94? I also had a Marin Zig Zag Trail at the same time. Think it was a 94.

I totally remember being a 14 year old and riding my bike from Pitt Meadows to High Gear all the time to be an annoying shop rat. Floyd was one patient man lol! AKA was where I really cut my teeth with biking though, I still talk to Ian almost daily and go on an annual guys trip with him and some buds.

Posted by: rnayel

When I was 11, CCM Ice, saved up money delivering newspapers over the winter.

I also oggled that same model in the CT catalog daily.  But I couldn't convince my parents to get it for me at the time so things escalated from that $150 CCM to my eventual $400 Norco 2 years later

My very first bike when I was 11ish was an ooold fixed gear my step dad found at the tip, brought home and spray painted a dirty matt orange colour. So many laps around our tiny backyard on that thing.

My first actual mountain bike was a Trek 800 sport I bought with a loan I was meant to spend on my polytech resources in 1999. Rode all the 4wd track I could find. One of my younger brothers left it outside a dairy and it got stolen #sadface. It was Lucozade orange and I've only now realised how much that first bike has informed my colour choices in bikes since. 

My current bike, an NS Surge hardtail is a highlighter red/orange colour. 

Well I'll be.

My first was a Tech Nova, deep blue with a smoky paint finish. Those are super rare. I was pretty much hooked after that and replaced It with a Ritchey Ascent Comp. Those yellow and orange Ritcheys are still around - I see them occasionally as commuters and get a little nostalgic.

'87 Diamondback Apex.  I cut the bars down to maybe 450mm lol.  Then a '90 Rocky Mountain Stratos after the DB got stolen.

When I was 12 years old, my Dad took me to Redlands Schwinn for my first mountain bike ($457 w/ tax), it was a High Sierra in black/smoked chrome.  He thought that much for a bicycle was crazy, if he only knew what it was like now.

After I broke that frame and fork, my second bike was a Schwinn KOM9 I believe...late 80's or early 90's I believe.

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: DemonMike

1992 Giant ATX 660 Bought it new , had a 50mm RST fork.

Did you buy it at High Gear??

It seems to me like there are so many (old) Woodlot / Bear Mtn / Red Mtn / Burke and etc mountain bikers around and yet Floyd / High Gear are all but forgotten, which is sad to me. Basically, all the bike shops from out that way that I frequented as a kid are gone: Cyclepath/BlackDog, High Gear, The Ridge, AKA The Bike Shop, Overtime hell even Cap's Westwood. I ran into the Dan Sedlacek, previously of OnTop, the other day and it's easy to forget how many genuine folks have simply moved on to other things, even here on the Shore.

Anyways, before I start crying into my beer, I didn't know Floyd at High Gear as a person (separate from the High Gear experience), but I wrote a little something about him on my personal blog if you're interested.

- - - - - -

So I'm not being a thread-ruiner.

If you ask me today, my first real mountain bike was a 1995 Iron Horse, fully rigid in metallic blue and sporting a full Shimano STX-RC build. BUT, if you'd asked my at the time my first mountain bike was a neon-green-and-black hi-ten steel Raleigh with SIS friction shifting, and steel rims. Perception right?

Dealt with all those shops. Made many friends through them as well. Floyd was the best. Great guy he is missed. Troy at Maple Ridge Cycle is there still. Hes just behind the old store.

For whatever reason I never really clicked with that shop. Have a great Troy experience though:

I was sitting at the top of Switchback/Eric Dunning (Sp?) at Mike Lake in Golden Ears when it was it very new and he comes pedalling up the fire road on an orange Norco Bomber leading a shop ride.

Looks at me.

T: “Did you already ride upper Incline? Was it greasy?”

A: “Upper Incline?!”

T: ~ “Just keep going up, you can’t miss it. The best trail around here!”

After they passed I sat for a bit and then finally convinced myself to ride up and see if I could find it. Easily the nastiest, greasiest, rooted jank I had ridden to date. Walked half of it. Crashed hard twice. Went back for more the next time I was up.

LOL

Yay the incline was a nut kicker in spots. Had a couple bad crashes on it.

Troy still has that Bomber , and the yellow one.

Oh my 2nd bike was a Kona Kileau? , the burgundy color yr 93?94? I also had a Marin Zig Zag Trail at the same time. Think it was a 94.

I totally remember being a 14 year old and riding my bike from Pitt Meadows to High Gear all the time to be an annoying shop rat. Floyd was one patient man lol! AKA was where I really cut my teeth with biking though, I still talk to Ian almost daily and go on an annual guys trip with him and some buds.

Amazing. So many questions but I’ll keep it to: Ian was involved in Local Ride after AKA? I worked on the sales desk at Orange when they opened. Tell him I said hi!

Bought my first pair of Profile Racing cranks from him and Dave when the shop was in Pitt Meadows.

I have this memory that around the time the shop was broken into when some ne’er-do-wells broke through the wall of the neighbouring business?!

First mtn bike was a Norco of some sort in the mid 80's. 2nd was a late 80's Miyata (with under the stay u-brakes), got stolen in the early 90's and I never replaced it. Didn't do much riding back then, so it doesn't really count.

Didn't have a mountain bike for about 10 years until 2000 (doctor told me to quit running sports, said riding would be better for my knee), got a Devinci Taos (upgraded everything as it broke and it all broke), finally cracked that sucker, bought a Devinci Hucker frame from Steed that I had been eying for the whole time I had the Taos. 

Don't think the doctor had any idea what kind of riding I was going to do, WBP and The Shore on a hardtail.

I cannot really remember the year, 1990 or '92? I have no idea, really and no pictures which is a real bummer. But back then it was more important to ride. 

First one was a used Bianchi with a seriously weird frame design, fully rigid and cantis - but I loved it, until I found out that the previous owner had a car accident and fixed the headtube himself, without telling me. So I could not replace that the headset. It really broke my heart, before that I rode quite a few steel roadbikes into the ground, trying to discover nature on two wheels in the middle of the 80s. I always loved biking, it gave me a sense of freedom from quite a difficult home and neighbourhood, to me biking still feels like gliding/surfing along.   

Then, in I think '95, came a British-racing green Katarga LX, at first still with cantis (I think) but with a RS Quadra R, a beautiful hardtail. I worked all spring and summer for that one, and pick it up in a city that was a two hour train ride away. I read about the bike in the local magazine and it was the best handling bike when going downhill. I could not afford a proper DH bike and remember thinking that it looked the part and the magazine had to be right. I loved every minute. I still have that frame.

I got hooked on mtbing on a crap huffy full suspension bike that barely worked, rode it way harder than it was ever intended and wrecked myself a couple times in the process. 

Then I got a 2003 Norco sasquatch (from Russ hays same as a couple others) for my 13th birthday I think? Last bike parents got me and I rode that thing a ton until I bought a second hand specialized sx trail off someone on here in like 2009.

No photos, but the first was a first generation Norco Sasquatch.

My second was a first generation GT. It was fully chrome plated. This was before they bought into the "double diamond" that the boys from Onza were pushing. BB would swing like a pendulum.

My first bike was not as good as this one I just put together as a beer cruiser for my wife. My first bike was a 15 speed nishiki from around '86. Probably weighed 30 pounds and the SIS indexed shifting was the mind blowing tech that it came with.

This on the other hand I believe is a '95 Specialized HardRock GX Sport. Not sure what the GX stands for but it is actually a double butted tubeset! I guess when they didn't sell you suspension or disc brakes they had to put something worth $ into the bike.

Anyone know if these were actually welded in USA. I have a bet with my wife.

Posted by: RAHrider

My first bike was not as good as this one I just put together as a beer cruiser for my wife. My first bike was a 15 speed nishiki from around '86. Probably weighed 30 pounds and the SIS indexed shifting was the mind blowing tech that it came with.

This on the other hand I believe is a '95 Specialized HardRock GX Sport. Not sure what the GX stands for but it is actually a double butted tubeset! I guess when they didn't sell you suspension or disc brakes they had to put something worth $ into the bike.

Anyone know if these were actually welded in USA. I have a bet with my wife.

I believe Specialized in that era had all their frames manufactured overseas, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I got that info from. My very own '91 HardRock served me well as a drop-bar commuter, and will be welded into a cargo trike when the Corona pandemic passes. It's long, low and slack, but seems to be made of plain-gauge, high tensile steel tubing. Also, the worst cantis I ever dealt with.