what was your bike when you was a child

sigorman85

was having a convo at work today about bikes and how much they have changed i thought it would be a laugh to see what ppl had when they wer young to what they have now .i think raleigh was the daddy back in the day! so lets see what ppl have pics if you can ...

i had a peugeot was a 5 speed cant remeber the name but probaly wasnt safe lol think my mum paid 20 quid for it lol
now i have a specialized camber so not much change lol

leevil knievil

First bike I remember was a budgie, then a striker I think it was raliegh remember pulling a very long wheelie on that one day, then it was a grifter with that damn slip gear I am sure raliegh had some sadomasochistic working for them or a upset housewife but did jump 9 house bricks on it, was a beast that bike then onto bmx's a few of those then stopped after parents stopped buying them, but at 18 when I started work bought a emelle racer that was not a bad bike that was when I was on the dark side, pretty much a life story there

sigorman85

lol i used to build ramps and that when i was young lol had no fear at that ages now i tend to think about things well sometimes i do .....i also had a amaco that lasted about 4 months snapped the bars in 2 from wheeling and bent the wheels to bits from playing speedway in the woods

Cat With No Tail

A couple of townsends and emelles, then a silver fox of some description, then a muddy fox of some description, then a raleigh max.

sigorman85

ralieigh max ......classic!

cooldad

When I was a kid you had the option of racing bikes or bicycle type bicyles. We used to spin the bars upside down on our racers and scramble. My dad had been a top amateur time trialist so I was lucky in getting decent bikes, I remember Peugeot, Carlton and then Zini, which was a serious bit of kit at the time.
I also think we invented MTB in SA. Saw some pics of the Clunkerz mob in a surfing mag, so we 'aquired' a bunch of kids bikes and scrambled on those.
Was just about the time 'laydown' shocks were coming out on motorcross bikes, so we used to cut the seatstays, bend them down and bolt them to the seat tube. Looked very cool but didn't do much for structural integrity.
Then we discovered engines.
Bikes are for kids really.

sigorman85

would like to see a pic off this lol some crazy ideas

Anonymous

Kid bike was some cheap generic thing, Sturmey Archer 3 speed. Can't remember if what brand (if any) it was. 2nd hand I think. Budgets were tight in those days and expectations were that a bike cost about £50 max (and even that was considered expensive).

Looked rubbish against the Grifters (and the few BMXes the rich kids had).

So I put a siren on it. In fact looks incredibly similar to this, if not is the same one (still for sale over 30 years later!) - http://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Super-Sir ... B000AO9PA2

Cooler than cards in the spokes or flame stickers. At least when you're 8 in the early 80s.

Later came the 'proper' bike. Drop handled Raleigh thing. Big hills where I grew up and thus never really went far on it and got bored. Tarmac anyway. Nothing really after that bar a bit of bike at uni to get around, nothing, then fat bloke in his 30s decide to do mountain biking and promptly half kill myself.

sigorman85

some brilliant storys here that thing looks wild

Buddha1584

My pride and joy was a Raleigh Chopper. But most of the time it was just a case of knocking together what ever you could get hold of.

bonobo85

I remember having a piece of junk Apollo bike when I was quite young which didn't last too long, then it was a Claud Butler (can't remember the model) and then a Raleigh M-Trax 1000 which was actually quite good! I still have it hidden away somehwhere in the garage!

YeehaaMcgee

First of all, Some awesome 3-wheeled thing that my dad made. Me and my brother and sister all had it when we were kids. It had parts from all kinds of different bikes, and could carry passengers. It was the awesomeness!

Raleigh Budgie,
a Puch BMX,
my brother's old Mongoose BMX.
Some Raleigh road bike.
A Peugeot kids' MTB - had friction shifters, but sadly not one of those disc wheels everyone wanted back then.
My brother's hand me down Peugeot triathlon bike
Then a Kuahara Parkway MTB-style thing
A borrowed Kona Cindercone and Lava Dome borrowed from my mate and his dad.
A Carrera mountain bike (which was dad's really, but I kept "borrowing" it)
A Saracen something or other aluminium MTB
Then another Saracen 'cause the first one broke.
Then another Saracen 'cause the others broke (THIS is when Aluminium was getting a bad rap, things have improved a lot since then) we kept one of the old ones and had it re-welded and heat treated. neighbour still rides it.
Then a Marin Wolf Ridge
Then a Kona Cindercone Hardtail
Then another Marin Wolfridge.

Of those, the triathlon bike, both Marins, and the Carrera are still being ridden, as well as the repaired Saracen, and one of the replacements.

Lots of happy memories

brindlescoops

19th Hand Budgie
Yellow and Blue Mini Raleigh Burner
Chrome Frame Raleigh Burner (God I wish I had this now instead of letting it rot around the side of the house when I got..).....
Raleigh Mustang S.I.S (the SIS bit was oh so very important, must have covered more miles on this that I ever will on my current bikes

Then I kind of lost the MTB love when I got my hands on:
Yamaha FZR 600 Genesis
Suzuki GSXR 750

Now back on non engine bikes!

70\ʹspenguin

A budgie (i think), then my best bike ever which was a raleigh striker with a pedal back brake. I too spent summers doing the longest skids in our cul-de-sac, making ramps to jump over some kids who were smaller than us and crashing head first into the bricks when the ramps used to collapse.

Then i had some kind of 10 speed racer that got knicked. Then another 10 speed that got knicked. Then a raleigh Chrome Burner to which i added a £21 pair of CW handlebars and some mushroom grips. I think it took me 6 months to save up for the bars. Then i got a raleigh team replica racer like this one, but that got knicked too, followed by my mate's peugeot in white with black plastic chainrings :shock:

Then i discovered a different type of riding with one of the local bikes, then i drank beer and the peugeot never saw the light of day again.

YeehaaMcgee

Plastic chainrings?
That's a new one on me!

jeannot18

First bike was a bike found in the rubbish, hardly any breaks, second bike was a girl's bike, given to me by my grandmother's landlord grandaughter (money was tight during those days). Then with my mate we managed to get hold a couple of Solex (Google it to get an idea), we remove the engine and use the pedals only, they were as heavy as tanks but indestructible.
Then at the age of about 22 got myself a brand new Peugeot road bike!!
JC

TheEnglishman

My first bike, complete with stabilizers was an RSW11 - One of my first memories was when my father too the (very bent) stabilizers off and held on to the saddle while we went out, him walking holding the saddle. And then I remember my fathers voice was much further behind me than the length of his arms. I could ride a bike!!!

Next up was a Raleigh Tomahawk - a purple one. I longed for a Chopper but one never came.

After that was a succession( I got a few nicked, ISTR) of drop handlebar bikes that never left much of an impression on me other than things I cycled to school on every day.

waby1234

Mine was a Raleigh Max Ogre.... and I've still got it!!

Weighs a ton, but still rides well.

I used to ride it down the side of a quarry. Scary!

Grubbythumb

Some of you either have fantastic memories, or are an awful lot younger than me!

We were not flush when I was a kid, so I used to get s/h bikes that my parents bought from various neighbours and friends. I don't think I ever had any gears, I certainly don't remember any. There were then a few 'tip' bikes, that we use to either have upside down drops or 'cowhorn' handlebars fitted to, sometime a back brake, sometimes not, and 'knobblies' which I guess must have been cyclocross tyres.

At the grand age of 14 my parents bought me my first ever brand new bike..... a Moulton Mini :shock: It had a rack on the back and front suspension and everything. But, it was mine and I rode miles on it. By the time I was 16 it also had 'ape hanger' handlebars, as I was just a bit taller than I was at 14.

Added to the Moulton when I was 15, was a Claude Butler that I bought from a kid at school for 50p. It had Sturmey Archer three speed hub that was broken and stuck in 3rd gear, one pedal and one axle shaft that I could not for the life of me get off, but it went ok and at least it fitted me.

Then came moped's and that was that for a bit.

Turns out the CB was a good one, and I sold it to a lad for a handsome profit. He restored it back to its former glory.

What do I have now? All retro, except some of them weren't retro when I bought them: Zaskar, STS-2, Yates, Roberts and the latest is a Bigfoot e-stay frame.

I'm not stuck in the past though, as I've also got my eye on the 29er scene.

sigorman85

Some brilliant reads! Thi has taken off quite well cheers guys

tenfoot

First bike was a Raleigh Tomahawk

Next a Sun Solo GT Racer. I used this to ride to school everyday for 5 years.

Play bikes - a 2nd hand Raleigh Chopper which we used for jumping until the handlebars snapped off when my cousin was on it, and an Ultra Burner which came from my mum's catalogue and was part birthday present and part paid off with pocket money etc.

Very much a Raleigh family, but now haven't ridden one for 25 years.

paul.skibum

my brother and I used to share two bikes - the cool one was a small blue framed number with fat(ish) tyres on that could be jumped and was light enough to actually get around on (I dont remember it having a name) the second was some weird abortion of a thing, semi step through frame that weighed so much it felt like it it was filled with concrete. It had solid rubber opuncture proof tyres and rod brakes.

I learnt to ride ont he purple one and then spent the next 2-3 years fighting for the blue one - I seem to remember we only ever used the blue one so we'd build a jump and then just take it in turns rather than risk crushing the world with the tank!

In my teens I didnt really have a bike, my brother had an old raleigh racer, 10 speed and I used to use my mums folding shopper! It was a beauty. We grew up in Cornwall where fashions like bmx and skateboard never made much of an impact back then!

I took my brothers racer to uni where I fixed it up and resprayed it (gorgeous pale blue fading to white - looked good and the paint was reflective n headlights so I didnt have to waste money on lights!), used to ride it to and from uni and took to scrambling round some trails on campus during breaks - crashed my racer into a tree and broke the steerer/quill connection thing! I guess my racer was also my first mountain bike!

Racer was stolen in 1993 and I replaced it with a Ford Fiesta. Finally got another bike in 1999 (at the age of 28), my Raleigh Silverback.

mrlee

raleigh lizard then a raleigh massif.

looking to buy another lizard just for sentiment

felix.london

like the OP mine was a 2nd hand (at least) Peugeot racer/road bike that cost £20 and had orange handle bar tape. I so badly wanted a BMX like the cool (rich :evil: ) kids - then E.T was released and made it even worse!...it still hurts

Then when I got to secondary school I built my self a mountain bike with a random frame which I spray painted, straight rigid forks with the flat crown and even more random parts although I think I remember fitting 3x6 SIS gears on it at some stage

Then in about 1992 my parents bought me a yellow & blue Ridgeback with 21 gears, Biopace chainrings and toe-clips 8)

...happy days

snotty badger

First bike was a Clipper, given to me from my neighbours. Then my folks got me a second hand Grifter, nice memories, I'm sure it weighed as much as the moon though!

adrenalinemunki

Raleigh Activator II for a good few years, then a Dyno Compe bmx for another few

One 80

dont know what my first bike was but it had stabilisers and my older broth and sis would stand on them while i was riding so they snapped off and then i had to learn to ride without them at 4.
later i had a second hand striker, grifter and my only new bike was a 10 speed BSA drop handle, then i had a few bmxs i would build up out of other peoples cast offs has i would snap the frames doing silly jumps. after that i had another second hand raleigh mtb till i was 17 then bought a car and left the bikes behind for 20 years till a few months back.

ElliesDad

Can't remember my bikes when I was very young, they must have just been bog standard generic Raliegh things. The first bike I remember though was a Raleigh Medale 5 speed racer which I got when I was about 10 so must have been around 1979. I loved that bike and it saw me through secondary school, it must have been pretty robust as I remember some pretty heafty crashes when messing around with my mates. The one that really sticks in my mind was just after I got the bike, I was watching the rear gears change as they were a bit of a novelty - and rode straight into the back of a parked car. The stem went straight into my nuts and I couldnt walk for about a week!

sigorman85

I was watching the rear gears change as they were a bit of a novelty - and rode straight into the back of a parked car. The stem went straight into my nuts and I couldnt walk for about a week


ha ha aha hahaha brilliant!!!!!!

craigw99

a red and yellow bmx,
then a Diamond back ascent - in a wonderful smoke paint job - that got nicked :-( so then is as the sigs below
Cannondale m1000 - started off with suntour microdrive and got upgraded as the p/t chippy wages allowed!
then last year i got the boardman on a CTW scheme

craigw99

sigorman85 wrote:

I was watching the rear gears change as they were a bit of a novelty - and rode straight into the back of a parked car. The stem went straight into my nuts and I couldnt walk for about a week


ha ha aha hahaha brilliant!!!!!!

- did the exact same into a skip!!!!!