(1984-2014) 30 years of UK mountain biking.

[mrkawasaki]

It's natural and excusable for everyone to seek to establish the provenance of their own particular bicycles and, in light of the American lead/domination/saturation that was to follow in the nineties, I am more than intrigued to hear about/discover this patchwork quilt revealing the organic home growth or reaction to the earlier American activities. Whether it be shops, custom builders led by customers or UK bicycle brands looking for the next big thing - it was a fascinating time that became the foundations for a nineties phenomenon. As a matter of interest, in terms of sales, which was bigger for UK cycling business - BMX (first time around) or mountainbiking?

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

So tell us about the test!

To tell you the truth I can't remember very much of what I did. What I do remember are my first impressions of riding the bike through West and North West London: The wide handlebars and the riding position that meant that you were looking straight at that big fat knobbly front tyre. The bouncy tyres and how secure they felt as they rumbled over pot holes and drain covers. I was not happy with the wide bars when weaving through stationary London traffic and even though I was used to having stem mounted gear changers, it was great to be able to change gear without moving your hands.

I think that I took the bike up to Wendover on the Sunday for a gentle potter about? I had ridden there previously on my road bike before meeting my first meeting with Geoff Apps, David Wrath-Sharman and others in the evening. Back then I had no concept of what mountain biking entailed. Just an interest in getting out of the city and exploring the countryside.

...I am more than intrigued to hear about/discover this patchwork quilt revealing the organic home growth or reaction to the earlier American activities.

For me, and I suspect many others, the love of riding over rough terrain was inbuilt after a childhood spent messing around on bikes. It was just a matter of finding a bike that was more suitable than a 27" road bike fitted with low gears that I had back then. So when I saw my Raleigh Bomber in the Peak District circa 81/2 I immediately fantasized about buying one, converting it to derailleur gears and fitting a seat pin long enough to allow me to ride it.

Back then, had absolutely no interest as to the origins of the mountain bike design though I did know that the Ritchey' Montares were American. It was only the contributions of Charlie Kelly to Bicycle Action Magazine and a Mountain bike book by Rob Van Der Plas, that I learned of the origins.

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Hi Tony, welcome to RetroBike.
For someone who's "memory is not what it was" you have told a first hand story that is remarkably consistent with that told by the chroniclers of the day. It also fits in with my own experience and archive records.

FW Evans were one of the earliest to have Mountain Bikes, if not the earliest; I remember seeing a pair of Stumpjumpers there (Magura Motorcycle Brake Levers?). However, they had a couple of bikes in at a time, rather than "available". They said something about Richard Ballantyne being involved in importing them, I think.

Here is a quote from my potted history of the early UK scene:"1982-83 Ritchey mountain bikes are brought to Britain by the likes of Journalists, Richard Grant and Richard Balantine, and Norman Hiller the owner of Covent Garden Cycles.
Evans are asked by Richard Ballantine to prepare two Ritchey’s for Tim Gartside's and Peter Murphy's Saharan Adventure that took place February 1983. These two bikes were to be the inspiration for the Evans and Saracen bikes. At the Harrogate show in 1983 there were four mountain bikes on display but it is unclear wether any of them were from British companies."

My brother had an early Evans, in 1984 - it was an excellent frame, in Reynolds 501. My recollection is that the Saracens and later Evans frames were not the same, nothing like as snappy to ride. Certainly these were amongst the first bikes but not the first. Madison were selling one too (Ridgeback) pretty early on. It was not in the same league, being somewhat heavy... It was, though, the first MTB that I ever test rode, from the Beta Bikes shop in North London, and as far as I can recall the first MTB that was generally available.

Yes the Beta Bikes/Madison Ridgebacks are widely regarded as being the first foreign produced Mountain bikes to be made for and imported by a British Company. They first appeared in the 1983 Frewheel catalogue, and probably in Beta Bikes at the same time? Due to the low price and catalogue distribution they were reported to be the the top seller before being overtaken by Saracen. In 82/83 there were also reports of other imported bikes. However, they were imported in small numbers, and because of their rarity, usually sold for inflated prices.

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Re: Re:

Unclejack, I have no problems whatsoever with you compiling my previous posts into a more complete history. In fact it saves me the trouble.

With regards to the hire bike having a number of 001, neither of my Saracens have frame numbers on them so I suggest that this reference was the bike shops hire bike no 1 and not frame number 1. I don’t know what the turn around on a handbuilt frame would have been but I expect that it would have taken some time for those first few bikes to be built & be ready for the shops. If they were dated I guess they could read sometime between conception circa (Feb 83) and arriving at the shops (May 84)?

You may be right. But I personally prefer my little fantasy that it was the first mountain bike to be produced for F.W. Evans. An interesting fact about this bike was it was black whilst all the other bikes in the shop and subsequently all early Evans ATBs were silver or red. It was not a hire bike as such, but one they offered to hire to me so that I could properly try it out.

And interestingly I believe that the Evans ATB I subsequently bought did have a frame number as I bought a "U" lock that came with a insurance guarantee if it failed and your bike was stolen. (the type where you can only claim if the thieves leave the broken lock behind). I'm pretty sure that for this I had to register providing the bikes value and frame No etc. I still have the lock so I may have kept the guarantee.

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

As a matter of interest, in terms of sales, which was bigger for UK cycling business - BMX (first time around) or mountainbiking?

This is a UK sales graph from a report on "Raleigh in the last quarter of the 20th century"by Tony Hadland.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/raleigh.htm

Here you can see the spike caused by BMX sales that bombed in 1983 and the gradual rise in mountain bike sales that replaced the lost BMX sales by 1989 and exceeding them by 1992.

You can also see the decline in Raleigh sales. Maybe instigated by their late entry into the UK mountain bike market? According to their board room minutes, they thought that mountain bikes would be a short lived fad.

I don't however believe that the Graph tells the whole story, as increasing mountain bike sales almost certainly led to a corresponding decline in road bike sales.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

What a fascinating read , thank you for all the info ,

Having seen that second photo makes me ;

a) Wish I were there , and

b) Embarassed that my oldest bike is as recent as '93

Mike

 

[Easy_Rider]

Re:

I guess you've seen this spec sheet from Nov '84 before?

I guessed mine to be '85 but can't find a frame number. It matches the cross fell description.
I was going to join the guys for the Snowdon ride on this but couldn't do it in the end.

Fascinating read on the early UK mountain biking scene.

 

[jaypee]

Re:

There's a peak finder on eBay (and eBay watch) right now with that spec sheet as one of the photos

 

[Mike Muz]

Re: Re:

There's a peak finder on eBay (and eBay watch) right now with that spec sheet as one of the photos

Shhhhhhhhhhhh! :facepalm: :roll:

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Re:

Here is an initial a list of Mountain Bike brands available in the UK in 1984. Many are taken from the pages of Bicycle Action but some are from other sources:

Imported and made by foreign owned companies:
Ritchey, Specialized, Kuwahara, Peugeot, Diamond Back, Pro-Lite, Geko, Gitane, Bolten, Motobecane, Ammaco, Hutch, GT, Mongoose.

Imported by British owned companies:
Muddy Fox, Ridgeback.

Handmade one-off produced to order in the UK:
Roberts Cycles, Andy Powell, Swallow, Bob Jackson. English Cycles. Jack Taylor -RoughStuff bikes?

Mass or batch produced in the UK (Available off the shelf):
Cleland, Saracen/F.W. Evans, Dawes, Eclipse, Overbury's, Condor, Elswick-Falcon.

Are there any that I have missed out?
Do you believe that I have placed any brands in the wrong category?