So where do we start with my MTB history. Well, you have to go all the way back to 1986, when I got my first ever MTB, a Champagne and Brown, 5 speed Maverick. That first MTB still holds a special place for me, BMX’s where all the craze and everyone had either a BMX or a drop handlebar thingy, but when I saw that Cow horned Maverick in Halfords, I knew it was for me.
So there is me in school, with this new bike and along comes a like minded soul, from then on we spent the rest of our informative years sat at the back of Mr Metheral’s maths class hiding the latest copy of MBUK in some book about trigonometry. During my first few years my second bike was a Dawes Wildcat that had been re-painted by a local shop owner. I raced a fair amount all over the country and even though I didn’t podium or get great results, for us it was all about the crack and loving taking our beaten up bikes out and riding like our hair was on fire. There are a number of times that I can look back on in my cycling history with fond memories, like bunking off school with ‘Sinnerman’ to ride our bikes around the woods as a practice for the upcoming local races, Malvern Hills classic and seeing that shiny new Clockwork being pulled out of a Sierra estate, also riding the brand new Off-road Proflex bikes. Obsession days and nights and the many great rides that I have owned in between then and now.
A lot of water and bikes have passed under the bridge since those days at school, things have come and gone and we have all changed, but one thing has and will remain in my life all the time, Mountain Bikes.
Fast forward to April 2010, and I stumble across this website called www.retrobike.co.uk, and I find like minded people that also think that most modern bikes are tripe and long for the return of the proper bike. In the collection at the time is my 1998 Rockhopper Comp FS and a collection of bits and bobs that I have been acquiring for a rainy day. So I sell off some forks and brakes and buy something that I always wanted, a 1991 Al-mega DX. I choose this as when it first came out I fell in love with it as a 17 year old does, the fluro colours, the groupset and the look, it just rocked. After looking around I could not find a mint example and it soon dawned on me that I would have to re-paint and re-build one, so I settled on a solid example and paid for it, a few days later it arrived…..
So there is me in school, with this new bike and along comes a like minded soul, from then on we spent the rest of our informative years sat at the back of Mr Metheral’s maths class hiding the latest copy of MBUK in some book about trigonometry. During my first few years my second bike was a Dawes Wildcat that had been re-painted by a local shop owner. I raced a fair amount all over the country and even though I didn’t podium or get great results, for us it was all about the crack and loving taking our beaten up bikes out and riding like our hair was on fire. There are a number of times that I can look back on in my cycling history with fond memories, like bunking off school with ‘Sinnerman’ to ride our bikes around the woods as a practice for the upcoming local races, Malvern Hills classic and seeing that shiny new Clockwork being pulled out of a Sierra estate, also riding the brand new Off-road Proflex bikes. Obsession days and nights and the many great rides that I have owned in between then and now.
A lot of water and bikes have passed under the bridge since those days at school, things have come and gone and we have all changed, but one thing has and will remain in my life all the time, Mountain Bikes.
Fast forward to April 2010, and I stumble across this website called www.retrobike.co.uk, and I find like minded people that also think that most modern bikes are tripe and long for the return of the proper bike. In the collection at the time is my 1998 Rockhopper Comp FS and a collection of bits and bobs that I have been acquiring for a rainy day. So I sell off some forks and brakes and buy something that I always wanted, a 1991 Al-mega DX. I choose this as when it first came out I fell in love with it as a 17 year old does, the fluro colours, the groupset and the look, it just rocked. After looking around I could not find a mint example and it soon dawned on me that I would have to re-paint and re-build one, so I settled on a solid example and paid for it, a few days later it arrived…..
