It was 20 years ago today (I think) that I bought my first MTB. It wasn’t my first foray off-road, I’d already spent a couple of years riding a converted road-bike round endless laps of Rainbow Woods.
Originally I wanted a Saracen Tufftrax but wasn’t allowed to buy that and had to get a 23" Raleigh Memphis from Hares in Moorland Road, now The Velo Lounge. I had it for two years, broke one frame, bent a set of forks, but rode it everywhere until I replaced it with the first of two Alpinestars bikes.
I’ve now owned 13 different MTBs over the years:
- Raleigh Memphis
- Alpinestars Cro-Mega (x2)
- Orange Clockwork
- Univega 704
- On-One Inbred
- Cove Stiffee
- Planet-X Jack Flash
- Craftworks FRM125
- Kona Kaboom
- Kona Unit
- On-One 456
- Trek 69er
9 of those are still in my possession in one form or another.
If inly you had been allowed to by the Tufftrax things might have been so different? I blame your Mother! And does that list include all those stolen bikes at Leeds Uni? 2 in 3 weeks at one stage I seem to recall. And my insurance had to keep buying the next model up because the equivalent had been discontinued!
It was the two Alpinestars bikes that got stolen, the Orange Clockwork was the final replacement.