Your first bike

veronese68

I have something in common with Chris Hoy: Girls bike

Cleat Eastwood

i'm often mistaken for Chris Hoy, everytime I go skulking in the girls showers all I can hear is 'Hoy, get out'

My first bike was a tomahawk - the steed of champions.

rjsterry

There was some tiny thing with stabilisers which I learnt to ride on, but the first bike that I could call my own was a second hand Raleigh Chopper. Awful thing really: heavy as a cast iron bath, terrible handling, stupid gear stick that would collide with your testicles if you slid forward off the saddle, which of course you did if you braked hard.

First proper bike was a rather diminutive 5sp steel Dawes tourer - I've ridden steel roadbikes ever since.

Initialised

Can't remember that clearly. I think it had big bouncy white tyres and a light blue frame and I used to ride it to school. The first bike I remember getting was my big brother's BMX after he got a Raleigh Racer. Both of them later became mine and I crashed both of them. Broke my finger on the BMX and landed on the bonnet of a friends dads car on the racer. Funny how the events of one's youth carry over...

Mr Sworld

One of these...



It was soooo.... coooooolllllll.....

Twostage

Mine was red, single speed (or no gears as we said then) , no idea what but I'd guess a Raleigh. Enduring memories :-

Learning how to ride it (it didn't have stabilisers). I first learned how to ride up hill but I had to push it down hill :roll:
Seeing how far over I could lean it whilst going in a circle. Grip eventually went, I still have the scar on my leg.
Biking down our avenue and getting my cowboy gun holster stuck in the brake handle and crashing into a wall. (knew going down hill was dangerous). In the days when you could load toy guns with caps that made a real bang.

DrLex

Having had my brother's cast-offs until teenage, I saved up and bought a Raleigh Clubman in the early Eighties; lovely 531 frame. Alas, lost to house clearance peeps when left with the parentals.

rolf_f

I remember learning on a very old looking, rusty brown bike with enormously fat tyres. Would probably be pretty good on snow. I don't recall what I had next (if anything) but I remember getting a proper "racing" bike when I was about 10.

My best mate had a Raleigh Arena - mine was rather crapper than that though I didn't think so at the time! I don't actually know what the make was but it came from NJ Thakes at Sawbridgeworth - I think the original Cycle King. Judging by their adverts, the top of their range is an awesome £400 (take your choice between the Infinity Alp d'Huez or the Viking San Marino) - they even have some of the chains nicely crossed in the pics - http://www.cycleking.co.uk/AMMACO-XRS70 ... t-343.html

Maybe someone will remember the bike - it may have been an Ammaco - it was a bronze metallic with yellow and black checkered stickers. My dad got the same thing in a larger size in mid metallic green - same stickers. Came with suicide levers which probably didn't contribute to me bending the frame when I ploughed into a kerb

I then had at University an old Raleigh (with four figure frame number) and a wrap over seat stay. Don't know the model - it was blue and silver with a rocket design on the seat tube. I'm pretty sure it was a cheap crap bike. No idea what happened to that one.

After Uni I got the Dawes which I rode home from work today! 8)

Yukirin

my first bike was a blue and yellow mini bmx clone. Second was a 'unisex' girls bike. Third was a proper bmx with the pads and everything.
I then purchased a raleigh burner with skyways for £5. It was a wreck so I repainted it with some old Toyota car paint and got some pegs, gyro, stem and chainwheel from the lbs. Also acquired a 12speed raleigh hybrid around the same time. Living in the sticks it was the only way in to town.
After landing my first job on a fruit and Veg stall I purchased a gt performer. That got upgraded to a hofman george and sold when i went to uni.
Then no bike until 2 years ago when i got the raleigh hybrid to commute to work, that got written off in an rta and now I have my first 'racing' bike.

byke68

Mine was a second hand Raleigh with Sturmey Archer 3 speed and drop bars (I was a late starter!) then graduated to a Raleigh Record Sprint which was cool at the time.

iPete

I had a fixie! I seem to recal the brake coming off one day and going over the front

woodnut

Some kind of "fairy cycle", with small fat, wide tyres, then a frankenbike with a smaller front wheel than back one (not a real chopper though).
My first proper bike was a beautiful 5 speed Puch Pathfinder, a rare one in metallic red.

kelsen

A green and yellow jobbie with solid tyres and only a front brake which one day resulted in me flying over the handlebars and impaling my arm on a freestanding 99 flake ice cream sign.

Happy memories!

Jay dubbleU

Second hand rusty bike with rod brakes, leather non Brooks saddle, no gears - too big for me but my dad said I'd grow into it - painted it white because I thought it looked cool - I was 12 at the time.
First proper bike was a red and gold 3 speed Raleigh - stripped down and given the biggest tyres I could find - ridden round Wykeham and Dalby forests with mates on similar monster bikes in the 1960s before 'trails' and mountain bikes were invented

EKE_38BPM

Jay dubbleU wrote:

First proper bike was a red and gold 3 speed Raleigh - stripped down and given the biggest tyres I could find - ridden round Wykeham and Dalby forests with mates on similar monster bikes in the 1960s before 'trails' and mountain bikes were invented

Theres no school like the old school! JW is a pioneer.

My first bike was a Raleigh Tomahawk. Hand me down from my brother.
2nd bike was a Raleigh Chopper. Hand me down from my brother.

This theme continues for quite a while...

mudcow007

I think mine was a Raleigh StreetWolf, complete with missile sound effects

for the uninitiated heres a pic



oh just rememebered whn i had out grown my street wolf i had a sheexy lime green and pink Townsend mountain bike which got nicked

Sharkyssurfers

first major bike was a raleigh bmx burner red and yellow, then had a bike called an american swing bike, which you could unloosen a screw at the back and the back wheel would then wobble all over the place, never could understand that thought process, had a dawes racer red and white, but cant remember the model, then a raleigh magnum (not the pink one thats a mustang i think) black with electric blue writing, and then a townsend terminator mtb that was a cool bike and i put a lot of miles into that off and on road, and then that was it for about 20 yrs, till i got my montague paratrooper, then a year later carrea tdf and year after that scott cr1, hmm its been nearly a year since i got that one maybe i should upgrade

domgears

Early years were just a couple of hand me downs, nothing I can remember apart from the time I came off going downhill.

My first, from new bike of my very own was a birthday present when is was 11 or 12, it was an Ammaco Monte Carlo, in white, I rode it all over the Lake District (where I grew up), my it brings back memories, I never had to get off and push up any of the hills, including Wrynose pass.

SimonAH

First two I can remember as new bikes were a Raleigh Bomber and a Raleigh Pathfinder (one of the last Raleighs made in England).

roger_merriman

mainly cheap singlespeed bikes probably 2nd hand.



most of the riding would be along dirt roads, my folks lived and still do live some distance from the lanes let alone bigger roads.

remeber riding pushing that a few miles to Keepers Pond (rd nr by is the Tumble) and they freewheeling home. after buying a icecream.

Sharkyssurfers

This was the swing bike i was on about and the 2nd picture shows the crazyness of riding it with the screw loosened

veronese68

Sharkyssurfers wrote:

This was the swing bike i was on about and the 2nd picture shows the crazyness of riding it with the screw loosened

That's beyond crazy. Were your parents trying to get rid of you?

Sharkyssurfers

i think i was only 7 or 8 at the time, it felt like a badly buckled wheel when they first undid the screw, hence i didnt have it long and it was dodgy turning corners or putting on the brakes

clarkey cat

a variety of second hand bikes...a notable one:

a White, Beige and Brown Emmelle. When that was stolen from my front garden (left there unlocked overnight) it opened my eyes to the evil in the world. 'Who would take my bike without asking?', I asked my Dad, in tears.
'It could be anybody,' my Dad said, 'even a man in a suit.'

It wasn't though. It was Gary Spencer, a local thug.

msmancunia

clarkey cat wrote:

a variety of second hand bikes...a notable one:

a White, Beige and Brown Emmelle. When that was stolen from my front garden (left there unlocked overnight) it opened my eyes to the evil in the world. 'Who would take my bike without asking?', I asked my Dad, in tears.
'It could be anybody,' my Dad said, 'even a man in a suit.'

It wasn't though. It was Gary Spencer, a local thug.

That's actually nearly made me cry.

Mine was a Raleigh 14 girls bike. But then I am a girl. I loved it, until my brother left it on our driveway and my uncle drove over it by mistake with his piece of cheese shaped car.

OneForTheRoad

Mine was what I think was called a Raleigh Boxer had the pipe insulation stuff attached to it so your nuts (which probably hadn't dropped) didn't get squashed. Followed by: Raleigh Burner, Raleigh Montage and then Raleigh Apex. recently salvaged the Apex from the guarage and now use it as a commuter. It was too big 20 years ago and its still a bit big now!

Daz555

The first proper bike I can remember having is this one:



Before that I had a couple of no-name bikes that I forget and for a long time I smashed about on a solid-tyred trike with rod brakes.

Daz555

msmancunia wrote:

clarkey cat wrote:

a variety of second hand bikes...a notable one:

a White, Beige and Brown Emmelle. When that was stolen from my front garden (left there unlocked overnight) it opened my eyes to the evil in the world. 'Who would take my bike without asking?', I asked my Dad, in tears.
'It could be anybody,' my Dad said, 'even a man in a suit.'

It wasn't though. It was Gary Spencer, a local thug.

That's actually nearly made me cry.

Mine was a Raleigh 14 girls bike. But then I am a girl. I loved it, until my brother left it on our driveway and my uncle drove over it by mistake with his piece of cheese shaped car.

I still remember the day 25-odd years ago when some theiving scum walked up to me, pushed me to the floor and rode off with my beloved Raleigh Super Burner. I was devastated.

Super Burner, where are you now?



Sniff.......

Twostage

msmancunia wrote:

I loved it, until my brother left it on our driveway and my uncle drove over it by mistake with his piece of cheese shaped car.

Austin princess or something ?

veronese68

Twostage wrote:

msmancunia wrote:

I loved it, until my brother left it on our driveway and my uncle drove over it by mistake with his piece of cheese shaped car.

Austin princess or something ?

My thoughts exactly, didn't post it as I thought it showed me as the true saddo that I am.

rolf_f

Twostage wrote:

msmancunia wrote:

I loved it, until my brother left it on our driveway and my uncle drove over it by mistake with his piece of cheese shaped car.

Austin princess or something ?

If it was the 70s there were lots of cheese shaped cars!