Originally Posted by The Outlier

I don't know the exact year that mountain bikes became popular, but the first mountain bike I ever saw (and owned) was a Western Flyer Grizzly. It was the epitome of generic, but back then I didn't know what generic was. Evidently Western Flyer bought up other bikes and put their name on them- at least that's what one expert told me. I can't even find a picture of it online to confirm its existence, but you can believe me that it existed. After ramping so many times, the handle bars caved in (That was probably the last time I ramped anything). It was then that I bought a Trek. But The black and green Western Flyer had served its purpose. It got me into biking and survived the Katy Trail in Missouri.

What was your first mountain bike?

Originally Posted by Yamato72

Don't laugh:



I bought this at Sears in 2000 and within 2 years had replaced the wheels, BB, derailleurs and brakes/shifters with Deore LX. The only reason it has survived under my bulk all these years is because the frame is so heavy and tough. It's some kind of alloy. The fork is some kind of cheap, non-adjustable knock-off that has somehow held together all these years. I have kept it tuned up and ridden trails with it just about every year since 2000.

It is wearing cruiser tires in this pic because I put 700 miles on it this summer training for a bike tour before I saved enough money for a road bike. I would like to put knobbies back on it this fall and have a little bit more fun on the trails before I (hopefully) get a decent MTB next spring.