First production mtbs in England ?

[kaiser]

What a fantastic thread , I seem to remember Mtb's by way of an advert in a BMX mag showing 2 guys on mountain bikes with one jumping approaching the camera. Would this have been an advert for the bicycle action mag above? Anyone else remeber this?

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

The first UK Mountain Bike oriented magazine 1984

This may be what you remember

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Re: Rewriting History

I attach my evidence that the Raleigh Maverick was made in Japan. No one seemed to disagree with this at the time. Does anyone have evidence that it may have been made in Britain?

My dad has one that I'm pretty sure is the model pictured in the review - in any case, the details of the components match: Sugino PX cranks, Sakae post with fore-aft quick release clamp, etc. I'm pretty sure there's a frame decal that identifies the bike as coming from the Special Products division at Ilkeston. I'll give him a call and see if he can confirm.

Certainly, his is lugged Reynolds 531, not the Japanese CrMo described in the review.

 

[legrandefromage]

I had a 'Greyhound City (pronounced 'shitty') 5' in 1985 - 5 speeed, fat tyres but only sidpull brakes....

 

[one-eyed_jim]

The Crane brothers had a couple of Ritcheys, which they took to the Sahara around 1982.

Crane cousins, innit?

"Atlas Biker" and "Bicycles up Kilimanjaro" describe their early mtb adventures. I don't recall much detail about their equipment, except that they had specially modified freewheels with a big sprocket they called "the winch". Ascending Kilimanjaro in the fog, the leading rider would call out gear changes to the rider behind. "One from winch. WINCH!"

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

The Raleigh "Special Products" division at Ilkeston designed a number of one off Mountain bikes for compettition and even one for a log jump record attempt. I understand that cyclist Tim Gartside was influential in moving Raliegh towards making Mountain Bikes. This eventualy led to Gerald O' Donovan, of the "Special Products" division at Ilkeston, designing a machine they called Midnight Express. This in tern led to him designing the Maverick.

Yes, there was a 531 version.

 

[Alba 7]

1st UK MTB

Hi,
This is my first post having lurked (and drooled) for a while.

I'm feeling rather old since I bought my first MTB in early 1986 (the orginal white with yellow badging Muddy Fox Courier). As I recall, the shop had Fox's, Saracens, and a couple of other British makes (possibly Ridgeback and Dawes). They also had Specialised if I remember right. I'd been looking for a while which makes me think that most of these had been around since at least late 1985.

About the same time my mate got from the the Police, a stolen and never recovered bike. It had no logos or names (having been painted matt black) but he was convinced it was a Raleigh Maverick (the picture on the cover of Bicycle right down to the Y stem and massively wide handlebars is it to a tee). It was definitely lugged and weighed a ton compared to the Fox.

Flogged the Courier to a mate after two years and bought an Overbury's Pioneer in late 1988. Still got it, still ride it and must get around to giving it a wash one of these years.

When I picked up my Pioneer from the lovely Enid in St Pauls, she commented that one of UB40 (she didn't say which but I'm guessing one of the Campbell brothers) had just bought one with a custom paint job - white with brown flecks on the underside of the downtube and cross bar so that it looked muddy even when it was clean.

Someone earlier mentioned Llanwrtyd Wells. I worked there at an outdoor centre on and off from 85 - 90. In 85 there was already a mountain bike hire place on the go but no idea what they were using at that time.

Nick.

 

[velomaniac]

When was the first Ridgeback Madison mtb's.

I ask this because I briefly had one which had very amercan mtb slack geometry. More of the early sort of DH feel to it, rear biased rider position and lots of fork rake. Absolutely useless for going uphill unless you put all your weight over the front end. The bike just felt very oldschool and 1980's.

First mtb I ever seen was a Raleigh Maverick circa 84-85.

Cheers

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

When was the first Ridgeback Madison mtb's.

The first Ridgeback MTBs, came out in 1983 and were made in the far east. They could be mail orderd from Madison's 1983 Freewheel catalogue or bought from their Beta-Bikes, West-Hampstead, shop. By 1984 there were three models: the Ridgeback STD (light grey), Ridgeback XT (light grey) and Ridgeback 501 (dark grey).

Your right about the frame geometry. As far as I know the only early pioneers who got it right were the American Charlie Cunningham and the English Geoff Apps. Everone else took time to evolve from the slack geometries of thr original Clunkers.

 

[kaiser]

Re: The first UK Mountain Bike oriented magazine 1984

This may be what you remember

It was :roll: don't know were the 2 guys bit came from, memory is recognisably fuzzy these days

I bow down to your knowledge though, fantastic