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Your first "real" bike

eaterofdog

eaterofdog

ass grabber
Sep 8, 2006
8,350
1,595
Central Florida
What was the bike that you really got into biking on?

I took the common path of getting a cheap big box bike, being warned I was going to die riding it like a madman, then buying a bike shop bike. I was a late starter, getting into bikes when skateboarding was starting to hurt too much. Did the XC thing a bit, then started jumping and dropping off of everything I could find. Changed over to DJ bikes when they became common and been riding ever since. I also drug my old skater friends into DJing, so we are still sessioning 25 years later.

2000 GT XCR2000. I broke two frames and helped GT go downmarket. :eek:



And I'm sure there's already some old janky-ass thread about this. I don't care.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,101
1,153
NC
I saved up and bought my first real mountain bike in 1996.

I was riding a Diamondback Sidewinder and rode it into bent rims and a grinding bottom bracket and brakes that didn't so much stop me as suggest to the wheels that it might be a good time to think about slowing down.

So after much saving, I went out and bought a Gary Fisher KaiTai. This exact color/spec:


It was awesome. The tires were absolutely scary to ride on dirt but I really didn't know better so I just slid sideways a lot. I had a friend who rode competitive XC and worked at a shop but was always broke, so he would sell me his parts when he needed a few bucks. It eventually (by which I mean about 3 years after riding it stock) got upgraded to some pretty nice parts, XTR/Mavic rear wheel, carbon seatpost, XT drivetrain.

I should have kept it. It was about a perfect commuter bike after I sold off the expensive bits. Parts got given away and the frame got taken to the dump in the madness of moving.

This might have been the worst invention ever, though:


I can't count the number of times my chain got bound up in there, sometimes tight enough that I had to walk home. Eventually I removed it.
 
Pesqueeb

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,367
16,855
Riding the baggage carousel.
I had a TREK of some sort, can't remember the model, but it was a hardtail with lower end Marzocchi fork that I bought used 2002/03 I guess. Had bikes as a kid of course but quit riding when I turned 16, due mostly to the fact that my parents lived in the boones and it was 30 minutes by car to anything.
 
CBJ

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
12,881
4,226
Copenhagen, Denmark
1993 Marin Indian Fire Trail - stolen after 4 months



Nice mix of XT and Deore and 10,4kg. Bought such a piece of crap bike after that that I still get angry just thinking about the stupid shop who sold it to me. At least I got rid of that and quick and got a Cannondale that was even nicer than the Marin.
 
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jdcamb

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
19,849
8,453
Nowhere Man!
My Grandfather got me a used Kent 20" bike for my 6th birthday. I was the only kid in my grade in the projects with a 2 wheeler. It got stolen because I left it unlocked in the basement. I didn't another bike until we moved out of the projects when I was 9.

My Grandfather was a garbage picker and would bring home bikes and parts. All my friends and I would build bikes for our selves out of the stuff he would bring home. The end of East Delevan ave was bike central back in those days. It was cool. We rode everywhere. We were like a gang, we would venture into other nieghborhoods and ride down streets and playgrounds with other kids hanging out on them just to be chased. We never got caught. We would get together well into our teens just to ride Grandpas bikes.

At my Grandfathers funeral we had a bike procession with a motorcycle cop and everything. My first real bike was a Schwinn Letour 2 sizes to big for me. An Irish Priest bought it for me. Years later he told me that my Grandmother gave him the money to buy it for me. My Family always made huge sacrifices to make sure I always had a good bike. I am very lucky like that.
 
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Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,088
6,024
borcester rhymes
96 Diamondback v-link 1.0. shock broke, BB went wacky, ended up getting passed around my friends like the local _______. Ended up giving it to a friend to get him into mountain biking, then he stopped talking to me a month later, LOL.

Before that it was huffys.
 
KavuRider

KavuRider

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2006
2,565
4
CT
After my bike was stolen, a Trek 820.
Then I saved and worked and saved - bought a 2000 Kona Stinky. That bike changed everything for me.
 
Jim Mac

Jim Mac

MAKE ENDURO GREAT AGAIN
May 21, 2004
6,352
282
the middle east of NY
TN said:
as a youngster i always wanted one of those.
Click to expand...
Mine was more basic than this one - 1 piece crank, etc. But I did feel "awesome" as I had ACS hubs built up on composite rims. Looked cool , braked like crap! Sold it for cash towards my 1st car - and by doing so, it became one of my many regrets of selling off my childhood piece by piece.
 
4130biker

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,884
450
I'll go with my first brand new bikes-

First NEW bmx- Hoffman Taj, Black- that was the coolest feeling ever to have a brand new frame!



First mountain bike (and complete)- Kona Stuff. A buddy of mine helped me pick this out, and it was an awesome first bike. Durable for beating up, and climbed well for being new to the s
port.
 
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denjen

denjen

Certified Lift Whore
Sep 16, 2001
1,691
36
Richmond VA
After the stanchions pulled out of the crowns on my Walmart special and I face planted and ended up with a bunch of plates in my forehead I got a 1998 Specialized FSC Comp.

 
kazlx

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
2005 Kona Coiler. Just went out and bought a bike because it looked like fun. I thought I would be able to find something decent for $500. I was wrong...ended up getting the Kona on closeout for $1300.
 
CHepler

CHepler

Monkey
Sep 5, 2005
212
18
Stock Mongoose 1979
Bought it that day raced it that night. Rockin' reflectors and an open face. That was the start of spending everything I made on my paper route for years to come.




my buddies falcon and the bike shop van in the backgroud
 
padrik5

padrik5

Monkey
Dec 23, 2004
173
0
Silverdale, Wa
got this when I was around 4-5

mine had a blue frame with black tires though.




my dad had to weld the stem and handle bars together because the big kids would alway get me to jump crazy stuff. lol. I wish I still had those balls... :rofl:
 
stoney

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,647
7,325
Colorado
BMX: Robinson SST
MTB: Schwinn Steel Tank circa 1994
MTB 2: GT XCR 2000 - 1999
 
-BB-

-BB-

I broke all the rules, but somehow still became mo
Sep 6, 2001
4,254
28
Livin it up in the O.C.
In 1997 my Cannondale Road bike that I had since 1985 was stolen shortly after I moved to San Fran.
On a firends advice I got my first MTB... a Schwinn Mesa.


It was stolen about 2 months later so I bought a Schwinn Homegrown Factory.
I still have that frame hanging in my garage. Where are you going to find a HT that light and that strong? Worth WELL more than I could ever get for it if I sold it.(lifted image... Mine was polished, not blue)


Then, in 1999 I tookthe DH plunge and got a Ellsworth Dare that I snapped in less than a year.
 
AngryMetalsmith

AngryMetalsmith

Business is good, thanks for asking
Jun 4, 2006
21,237
10,151
I have no idea where I am
Cycle pro BMX when around 1981. Raced on it till I got a drivers license.

like this one:



In art school I had a Schwinn for commuting and ended up riding it for fun and doing stupid things on campus. It was too big for me, but I didn't know any better.



mine was blue


Then around 1990 I bought a Trek 7000 and started racing XC a couple months afterwards.
I had a frame like this one with the neon green splatters.
 
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