What was your type of cycling as a teenager?

#david2012

Having got back into cycling in a big way
I recall riding everywhere as a teenager on my BMX .. I was more into the freestyle than racing, and although I had a 'racer' (as we used to call them) spent a lot more time mucking about on my BMX.. craved a Raleigh burner and drooled over a diamondback, probably why I dont mind treating myself now as I was never spoiled as a child !

elderone

chopper and some other bikes that i cant recall.long time ago.

Paul 8v

I was a roadie, then a mountain biker. Now a bit of both!

rick_chasey

Roadie & townie.

spoiledone

Lived on my BMX as well - a Factory Kuwahara. Man I loved that bike!

fludey

Started with a Dawes 5 speed racer, then knicked my Dads 10sp Dawes before he gave in and bought my first expensive bike as it was at the time...a Peugeot Triathlon...road everywhere on that.
Believe it or not some 20 years later its still going a mate had it off me and bought it back to life

I do have a MTB but my life has been spent on road bikes, just wish I never took so long to get back into it :oops:

Mikey23

A Raleigh with a three speed sturmey archer and a saddle bag. Loved that bike

RDB66

Jeez, good question....

We used to make up alot of our bikes...Old steel frames with Cowhorn handle bars, Nobbly Tyres and the like.
Had a mk1 Chopper as most people did back then.
Then got my first BMX a Team Murray when i was about 13...that was 33 years ago !! Was on that bike morning, noon and night.
Ended up racing for Faze-7 BMX a shop in Waltham Cross Herts owned by Joe Barlo...great bloke. I used to race a Redline SL then. My good friend at the time was Tony Slater (also rode for Faze-7) He went on to ride for Redline in the USA...he did pretty good iirc.
We used to race against the likes of Andy Ruffle, Tim March etc all round the country. Bingley Hall up North used to be a great weekend of racing. Won my first and only race there for Faze-7..lol

Great days and lots of great memories !! cant believe that was 30 odd years ago...where did that go !!

chrisaonabike

Got my last bike when I was 15. A 'Puch Super Sprint' that I abused for two years. Soon after I got it, I rode into the back of a parked car, while looking backwards admiring the gears as they changed. Then, pretending it was a BMX bike, abused it more, out with lads from school in a local park.

Then I stripped it down, repainted it black, refitted everything, took it to uni where it lasted me 6 years. Eventually it got nicked, first a wheel, then the other wheel, finally the frame disappeared.

Now I have another bike, so I'm officially 15 again.

Bordersroadie

Great thread.

Well, I'm 48 so. . . .

I recall vividly my first new bike. Metallic gold, single speed kid's bike, called a Raleigh Chicco. My older sister got a girl's version at the same time. I must've been seven or eight maybe. I loved it. Even back then I loved the whole "gear" thing, the aesthetics of bikes, and I pored over bike brochures in the finest detail, regardless of whether or not I could really aspire to whatever bike I was lusting after.

I soon became a roadie (MTBers didn't exist!) and spent seemingly all my time including holidays on two wheels, so I guess in teenage years I was a cycle tourist more than anything. Most of it was on an old steel Peugeot, which took me all over the UK and Europe up until I was out of my teens. Aaah, nice memories.

tomhowells

Raleigh Burner - went everywhere on it. Skyway wheels, California Lite pads, stunt nuts, the lot! My nan bought it for me, I loved that bike!!

Silly Old Hector

A second hand 5spd BSA (so sophisticated ), maturing to a Raleigh Record Sprint (501, cheap Campag gears), which I bought a set of handbuilt wheels from my local bike man (incorrectly spoked, always one or two loose).

Built a single-speed from some old bits and spent ages spraying it a great shade of electic blue. Guess the paint added 1kg to weight !

Left biking before returning, in my 20's to my Trek 2300 road bike and some forgettable steel, clunky MTB.

unixnerd

I had a five speed Peugeot racer (really more of a tourer!) in metallic red, loved that bike. Never really went for rides much above 35 miles on it but did a lot of them. Used it as transport in all weathers to get around town. Traded it for a ten speed Raleigh Routier just before going to uni.

saprkzz

When I hit my teens, I got into Mountain bikes, and rode until I was 16 and got my first car, I owned a couple of bikes, starting on a HUGE!!! Raleigh Massiff, then got a Specialized Rockhopper Comp, then a Klein Rascal. We used to go up to the local woods, mess about, and also around the town doing tricks and stuff that would break a lot of my bones now a days, After that bike went, it was all about the cars, didnt own another bike until I was 25, then back on the MTB's.
Got into Road cycling when I was 33, and got quite addicted and ride more now than I ever have.

simon_masterson

I almost exclusively used my bike for my paper rounds. My parents know nothing of cycling or fastidious bike maintenance and used to buy me the cheapest tyres they could, so I constantly had punctures and knackered chains coming off, etc etc etc, so cycling was a bit of a drag unfortunately. Couple that with the fact that I had the same bike from the age of 11 until I was 18, so by about 14 or so it was too small... I was - and still am - very fond of that bike, however - my grandma bought it for me, and it lives under a tarpaulin behind my parents' shed as I can't store it. The frame is still intact, and the rest of the components were never any good anyway.

So really, I wasn't a cyclist at all as a teenager (which is a shame in a way because it would have been an ideal time for me to get into it) beyond the odd ride here and there with a friend. The end to the story however is that when I was 15 I met my wife, and her dad is a veritable cycling genius to whom I owe my involvement in the sport. I haven't yet broken something he can't fix.

polska1979

I was into BMX freestyle in a big way!

Had an S&M dirtbike, which IIRC had more spent on it than my current road bike. Fcuk knows where I used to get the money....i was only 15!

I used to ride in Wakefield at a skatepark, few pros rode there as well. Jamie Bestwick?? also used to go to Hastings every year and enter the backyard jam

Have a few scars on my chin from stacking doing 360's and tailwhips, also have a big scar on my knee from river jumping.

You certainly dont lose your bike handling skills though!

Mikey41

For much of my teens I was on a BMX, but then took to a racer (it was green and either 6 or 12 speed) when I went to college in the Lakes. I was 16 and couldn't drive yet, so I went everywhere on the bike.

After failing at college, I got a mountain bike that got stolen, then another one (Marin Bobcat Trail) that was used a little and then sat in the garage for many years. I flogged it to a workmate for £50 about 6 years ago.

blackpoolkev

Banana seat,Cow horns with tassles. 8)

philbar72

A Stratton bmx aged10 to 13, then a Raleigh sprint 5 speed racer aged 13 to 16. Since that time I had a Raleigh mtb then a Specialized hard rock mtb (sold both). Last time until this year I rode a bike was 2004. Got the BMC in August and haven't looked back.

Mettan

BMX as a kid - had a Road bike for a bit as a teen - mountain bike for a while late-teens early twenties - Road only since.

dynamicbrick

Paper Round.
5 miles every morning, which variable amount of weight over one or both shoulders. Sunday was astonishing - mainly because I was too bone idle to take half then cycle back to the newsagents for the other half.
Rain, shine, snow, sleet, sheet ice, you name it, I cycled it.

Come to think of it, I would do a 5 mile Sunday paper round, then cycle the 6 miles to the rugby club, represent my town in the U-16s (flanker, as the position used to be called), then cycle home. After lunch I'd probably cycle round my girlfriends in a neighbouring village 5 miles away. Shag her silly, then cycle home again... Christ, I was fit.

The steed which carried me through this, and also took me to the yoof club three evenings a week, over to whatever girlfriends I was dating, into town to the model shop, and all the way through my teens until I got my motorbike at 17 was... the Raleigh Mustang - the pink and white entry level one.

I loved that bike. It was utterly unbreakable, and I reckon must have completed at least 15000 miles in my hands with only a gear cable breaking. It was shagged beyond comprehension when the Suzuki RG125 Gamma replaced it, but still worked. They don't make 'em like they used to etc etc.

I'm off to eBay now

thegreatdivide

A cracking Raleigh Equipe road bike. At that time my hair started to recede. It was a dark blond which I grew into a ponytail and I wore penny rounder glasses. Add to that my 9 stone weight, plus cycling shorts and wool jersey and for a brief while I looked like 'The Professor'. Sigh.

keef66

First bike was a proper sit up and beg job with a gas pipe frame and Sturmey Archer 5 speed hub gears. Weighed a ton. I was probably aged 8 or 9. Used it almost daily for getting about, maybe within a 20 mile radius of home.

Next up was a 5 speed racer I bought from a classmate in the first year of secondary school, so I was 12. He worked in a bike shop at weekends, so he'd built it up with some decent lightweight kit. Suddenly doing longer rides; 50-100 miles in a day, sometimes to the coast and back. Also remember a week long youth hostelling tour round the Wye valley.

Later still (16?) I bought a 10 speed Raleigh Tour of Britain from another schoolfriend, and transferred the best bits from the older bike. Continued to use it for both long weekend rides and for getting to / from social events / school / work. That one saw me through university and into work, at which point I lent it to a mate who had it nicked from Sainsbury's car park.

Cue a 15 year absence from cycling while doing the marriage / house buying / raising family thing. Then saw mountain bikes appearing. Bought one of those and did quite a bit of off road riding for a 10 year period before the lure of the road drew me back. Bought a proper road bike for my 50th Birthday and been loving it ever since. How did I do without it for so long??

unixnerd

How did I do without it for so long??

I know what you mean. I really regret not cycling in my 20s.

kingofthetailwind

I had a five speed Raleigh racer when I was about 12. Not sure what model, it was alll white. I think my parents bought me it after seeing American Flyers on VHS.

Other bikes of note - a hand me down Raleigh Grifter, and a Raleigh Vektar that said I was doing 40mph. Fell apart pretty quickly.

rich164h

Raleigh Chipper (not chopper) for a while then a Raleigh Grifter. Man, that bike used to weigh as much as my house I'm sure!!! After that I think I have a really old 5 speed racer with a ridiculous solid plastic seat and no padding whatsoever. After that a series of Raleigh mountain bikes, but unfortunately each one of those ended up getting nicked so after I got to about 16 I didn't actually have a bike until I got to about 30 years old when I got a specialized FSR SC comp on the ride-to-work scheme. In the five years since then I've added a BMC road bike and an old Dawes Horizon tourer that I bought off ebay for £80, did up, and completed a 1400 mile JOGLE on.

I really regret not getting back into cycling earlier that when I was 30 though.

dynamicbrick

rich164h wrote:

a Raleigh Grifter. Man, that bike used to weigh as much as my house I'm sure!!!

Looking back now, I'm pretty certain they used steel rods on the Grifter, rather than tubes - it was unbendable.

I think much of my shoulder/neck problems now I'm in my 30s is down to hauling that thing over styles and so on.

haf1zur

Skyway, myway was the only way back then in the 80's

mouth

Raleigh thing that was bronze with white tyres and only a front brake.

Raleigh Burner - black and yellow -(almost) the colours of my then beloved Nottingham Panthers.

Hawk 5spd ATB. Was a hideous mint green colour and weighed more than me.

Universal somethingorother MTB with 12 - YES 12 - gears. Was actually quite a nice bike but didn't cut in in the cool stakes of the bike shed at school.

Same time as the Uni I had some kind of racer with a solid plastic seat which was given to me by a family friend and to be honest I used it just as much as the MTB. It was cool and then one day it literally just stopped dead in its tracks. No idea what was wrong with it.

As I outgrew the Universal POS/BSO** I had access to my brothers steeds. He had a Raleigh Equipe or something and a Raleigh Blueridge MTB which was lovely. I used these for a year or two and mostly used them to ride to school and my main girlfriends house as well as to cider fuelled binges down the park.

Carrera MTB which I bought with my birthday money at 16. Went everywhere on that and not long after this was running a paper shop in my spare time which included the odd hung over paper round and then to college etc as well as the g/f's house. It was also a good pub bike. Kept this until about two years ago but seldom rode in my 20's.

Raleigh Banana which I bought on ebay after a few shandies. Didn't even realise I'd bought it until I got the payment request the next day. Never even checked the size which turned out to be too big. This rekindled my love with road bikes though. I sold it for a bit more than I paid to a good mate and replaced it with a Carrera. He then sold it and replaced it with a Triban. The kid who he sold it to sold it and bought a Defy. The guy who he sold it to now has a Boardman as well. I heard it's for sale again.

I now have a Raleigh MTB (couldn't tell you which model - gift from the monster in law) and the Carrera TDF. I try for 50 miles a week if I can but have just laid the road bike up for Winter. I'm not precious about it because I believe it should be ridden but on an icy road I'd rather come off the Raleigh cos I've got longer to get my arms out if I do go over. Give me a dry day though and I'll use it.

CiB

Blimey.

Was 9 when I had my first bike, a sit up & beg standard bike with no gears, but it got me from farm to school for a couple of years. Independence, and I had a speedo - one of those with a cable driven by a disc that rubbed on the front tyre.

My granddad sourced me a racing bike when I was 11, turned out to be a ladies frame but it had 5-speed dérailleurs and was bomb-proof, until the front forks cracked. That kept me mobile for 2 years.

First proper racing bike - a Raleigh Sun 5 speed lightweight with impossibly thin tyres and 5 gears when I was 14. Used it for school, paper rounds in the morning, evening and Sundays, for getting up to the rec for football and visiting chums houses.

Bought a brand new 10-speed racer from the mail order catalogue when I was 16, and it was crap. Orange, cheap, useless gears, wheels popped spokes like nothing else but it did for our first 100 miler to Skeggy and getting to college, work, pubs etc.

At 19 I bought a brand new Dawes road bike. It lasted 3 months till the frame split, got a replacement under warranty and used that on & off for the next 10 years. It worked, not much went wrong, I had a car...

22? Maybe? Built a good bike from a half decent spare frame and new gears & wheels. Painted it jet black, loved it then gave it to my brother I think.

Bought a hand-built bike when I was 30, 10-speed, cost me £550 which was a fortune then. That did me for club rides, 110 miles to the would-be-in-laws a few times (how impressed were they...? ), kept it but with gradually diminishing use until...

Mid-30s, bought an intermediate. Didn't want to; went to buy a new road bike but was convinced that this would be better. Still got it, Boy #1 used it for school until recently. Never liked it.

Late 30s - Bianchi, as a wedding gift from OH. A proper road bike, that got me back into it properly. Lasted me for 5 years till I met a Fiat on a roundabout and he wrote it off for me.

Replaced it with a Scott S20 with new-fangled Shimano 105 g/s, lovely bike, rode it until I fancied something nicer so three years ago bought a BMC SLX01, which I still have. Upgraded the bars, saddle, wheels & then bunged some Di2 on it a few months ago to make it the best bike ever, anywhere. That'll do me for another year or so.

ethanhayes

I started off with a crummy little apollo bike my mum and dad got me.
Treated it like dirt, jumped off walls that were bigger than me... Loved the guy.

Then I didn't have my own bike for years, so I messed around on my dads old raleigh mountain bike, but then he got a fancy new mountain bike. So I proceded to destroy that too! Got into mountain biking a bit, but found my self spending more time trying to go down roads quickly than I spent trying to go down dirt quickly.
So I decided to buy a road bike - Got a decathlon (recently sold on here!) Loved the guy, did me proud!
I was then addicted.
I now have a Focus Cayo and izalco,

Bare in mind I'm the ripe old age of 20.