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Hi Peter, The first Range Rider frame made by Jeremy Torr for Geoff Apps had RR001 as a frame number. 8481 could be a date i,e; 01/08/84 or 08/01/84. It's my understanding that English Cycles only marketed Geoff Apps style bikes after Cleland Cycles stopped making bikes in mid 1984 which makes...

Hi Rikoned, very interesting! Thanks for posting. It's good to read about the positivity of those prompting the new mountain bikes by organising early events. The premise seems to be that people given an opportunity to try them out would want to own one. But when you talk to people who were...

Ok. It seems likely that you have an early production Range-Rider on which not all the teething troubles have been sorted. My assumption is that Jeremy did not start selling Range-Riders until after Cleland Cycles stopped making bikes in mid 1984. Though I remember seeing Jeremy riding these...

Hi, PWDF, Welcome to RetroBike! It's good to hear that another owner of a Geoff Apps style bike has joined the site. I own an original spec 1985 English Cycles Metro-Trekker in white, that has the same style and colour of decals as your Range Rider. Though some components were different on...

Hi Max and welcome to Retrobike. None of us were veteran mountain bikers back in 1984, apart from Geoff Apps? :rolleyes: My recollection is that few people back then predicted that the UK's fledgling sport would grow so quickly into what it became in the 1990's and beyond. The arrival of...

I recently found this story about a father and son who where both bitten by the 'Tracker' bike bug. The father in the 1950's and the son presumably in the 70's. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT TRACKERS, THE FORGOTTEN HEROES OF DIRT. (August 2023) So despite so little about 'Tracker' bikes being recorded...

This was taken at a time when three of the world's off-road cycling traditions came together in one place. So a rough stuff bike to left of frame, a Cleland Aventura from the British 'Tracker' tradition to the right, and probably taken by someone riding a US mountain bike.

Another photo on a winter's theme, but this time from the Chilterns end of the Ridgeway near Wendover in late December 1984. This illustrates the different nature of the Ridgeway as it passes through the Chiltern woodland.

This shows the risk of using supposition. The reality is that I never bought issue No 4 of Bicycle Action and so have never seen that 1984 Small Dole ATB Expo report before. Thanks Rikoned for posting the link and some great detective work. :cool: And also thanks to Charlie Kelly for his...

It's time we had some Ridgeway Archaeology! A picture of Wayland's Smithy Neolithic long-barrow from April 1986.

Not the FW but I do have the lamp brackets. The two lamps were used for off-road night riding, one pointing at the ground and one pointing ahead. I remember the Ever Ready lights gave a 'T' shaped beam pattern. I sold the FW in the late 1980's by which time it had evolved into a gravel bike...

By popular demand. Another picture of my drop-bar FW-Evans ATB taken in the summer of 1984. As shown in this photo, this bike originally had the gear shifters on the stem, which is not much good for making quick changes of gear. So after being let down by the stem-changers at the 1984...

Wiltshire can be an county that people pass through on their way to Dorset, Devon or Cornwall etc. But it is very scenic, with large sweeping landscapes, pretty thatched villages and amazing archaeology. It is well worth a visit, and I consider it to be an excellent holiday destination.

Here is one of the few pictures I took of the Ridgeway itself: This was taken near to Avebury in June 1988. But, just one heavy downpour could change this easy trail, of dry, crumbly, compacted clay, into a wheel-clogging, slippery mess.

Well done Rikoned!:cool: I felt sure that the Small Dole event was mentioned somewhere in Making Tracks magazine, but just couldn't find it. The event probably didn't get a mention in Bicycle Action magazine because it was promoted by a rival publication, Bicycle Magazine. Now that he as...

Thanks for posting those pictures Ippikin, they bring back so many good memories. :cool: Most of my own photos are of the archaeology and landscape and I seldom thought to photograph the trail itself. Probably because I was too busy concentrating on the riding. It's so good to see the ruts as...

Yes, wet chalk is a trap, waiting for cyclists who haven't yet come to grief whilst riding on it. When I first copied Geoff Apps use of low-tyre pressures in the mid 1980's, when using 26" skin-wall tyres, it destroyed the side-walls and the tyres slipped on the rims, causing the valves to rip...

Hi shedobits, Yes, Goring to Princess Risborough is also pretty straightforward as long as you use the roads, not the footpath out of Goring and join the Icknield Way just SW of Ipsden. East of Risborough, you need to frequently divert to avoid the footpath sections of the Ridgeway. Which is...

I have a few more pictures of that 1984 FW Evans on the Ridgeway I can post here. Maybe I should start a separate thread about the story of that bike?

I agree wholeheartedly that people who use the countryside should be considerate of the needs of others and where they are not, remedies need to be found. Ultimately, restrictions should be put in place in order to stop trails from becoming so damaged that people are put off using them. Having...