Childhood freedom your bike gave you. Your stories....

[Mrs M]

My sister and I, on our Halfords Cascade "racers", brother on his Grifter and our two pals from up the road on their bikes used to mostly go to the park every day in the school holidays. Sometimes we planned bigger rides further afield and made up packed lunches, explored new places and found new parks. All lots of fun, kept us fit and cost nothing.

 

[Sara_H]

When I was growing up we didn't really go places on our bikes - just 'played out' on them. Typically a group of local kids would hang about in the street one might have a bike, the other roller boots etc.
If you were riding on the road and a car came mates would shout "CAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR" and we would respectfully pull over to allow the car to pass safely!!
I once" ran away" to my Nan-Nan's house on my bike after a row with my Mum. It was about 1.5 miles away but felt like more. I was about 9yrs old and a legend with my mates for a few minutes when I was returned!

 

[User32269]

Bikes on ferry cross the Mersey, then a whole new world opened up, Cheshire and north Wales to explore.
A chance to escape the pebble-dash boxes and concrete.
My mate Paul trying to swap buttys coz his mum used to make him greasy beef burger ones and put them in the fridge the night before.
Legs hurting like hell on the dark return to our estate.
Still - even at 50 - feel like a kid again when bombing it on the bike.

 

[Haitch]

Hyde eh Cec Duckworths

wow Cec Duckworths there's a name from the past

Do either of you remember Hyde Roads bike club? That's where my parents met.

 

[Hill Wimp]

I used to cycle miles with my friends. I remember many rides out on my Raleigh Honey to Willow Woods, over The Glen to Kingsdown and up Kingsdown Hill to St Margaret's. How the hell i managed that hill i will never know as just looking at it now makes my knees buckle.

 

[Gatters]

Do either of you remember Hyde Roads bike club? That's where my parents met.

I remember the club name only Alan, being from Glossop the 'Velo' was may chosen club

 

[Sara_H]

I used to cycle miles with my friends. I remember many rides out on my Raleigh Honey to Willow Woods, over The Glen to Kingsdown and up Kingsdown Hill to St Margaret's. How the hell i managed that hill i will never know as just looking at it now makes my knees buckle.

I had a raleigh growing up. I've tried to do an online search to find out what model it was but have drawn a blank. It was Raleigh blue with white tyres and had one of those trunk bags on the rack. I seem to think it was single speed. Not sure how old I was when I got it, but initially started with stabilisers then rode it til I was 11ish.

 

[MontyVeda]

Never did any great distances as a kid, but spent most of it on two wheels, mostly doing big skids and jumps, but also lots of tinkering. As soon as i realised what spanners did, i undid every nut and bolt i could find. I remember finding a spanner big enough to fit the head tube nut and thinking "oh bugger" when seemingly hundreds of tiny ball bearings spilled out over the garage floor... thus giving me the challenge of putting it all back together before Dad got home from work. Before BMXs came along, peeps had a wide variety of fix-up bikes. Big bull horn bars on a shopper, racer bars on a chopper, and shopper front wheel on a racer to make a chopper. My first BMX was a grifter frame and forks with skyway wheels and BMX bars which really turned heads down at Coastline BMX and the race meets down at Pontins. Then i got a Sun Solo with 10 gears. It seemingly took me months to work out how to work them properly.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I remember one ride with a friend in the early 60s in particular - Birmingham to Gloucester and back (roughly 120 miles) - no preparation, on the spur of the moment, age around 13, 14, main road A38 for much of the way. So, so hungry on the way back we stopped to scrump apples from a handy orchard. Must have got back late - can't remember parental response on arriving home - but in those days we just went out for the day - no plan, no phones, no worry.

 

[RedRider]

First bike gave the freedom to become a mobile purveyor of imaginary frozen dairy products.
Hours spent with it turned upside down and when I turned the cranks imaginary ice cream would appear which was sold to imaginary friends. Hours of fun.

 

[Dave7]

When I was 15-17 (1961-63) I cycled many miles on my nice shiny Triumph Palm Beach 3 speed sturmey archer. One time I rode to Anglesey. Another I did the Horseshoe Pass in Llangollen. But I was on it most days as I recall. Happy days indeed.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

at auctions and then maintained and modified ourselves (anyone else remember "apehangers")

From where we lived was a three mile trip on the Old Ramsey Road to the back of RAF Wyton where we would spend days with a packed lunch watching aircraft (Canberras, Victos, the occasional Vulcan or Lightning)

Or there was a similar trip to se friands at Hemingford Grey and down to swim at Houghton Mill if teh wather was good

Or the longer trip to Earith to see the hovertrain trials




We lived on our bikes!

I must have passed you a time or two, I lived in Bluntisham as a kid in the 70s and had pals in Earith, Somersham, St Ives etc, We used to ride down to Wyton a lot and watch the planes take off from the gate at the end of the runway, We would take longer rides out with whoever was free and days out with various USAF pals and parents who lived in the village.

My Elswick Whirlwind 5 speed with Gold frame and Blue mudguards was my first proper bike for doing more than local village to village hops & a gateway to the world, especially given that busses were very few and far between and parents were at work or not driving.

The hover rail line came down near us too it was such an incongruous concrete ribbon running through the farmland and by the dog walk paths.

I have an abiding love for the Canberras, as they were very regularly over our house so low you could almost wave to the pilots, Nimrods and even more so Vulcans turning the sky dark and shaking the ground as they flew past.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

riding a bike (tracker bike, bmx, dad's old raleigh) gave me the chance to earn money with a paper round, and the chance to go watch the planes at manchester airport on my own. when i was 17 i got my driving licence, which gave further freedoms and possibilities with the opposite sex…

these days cycling gives me the freedom to enjoy time on my own, or in the company of my clubmates…

 

[outlash]

As my mum had a brother who died in his youth, she naturally was reticent about buying me a bike but she finally relented when I was 9 (it was supposed to be for my 10th birthday but as that's not until late november I had it early to coincide with the summer holidays), it was a BH California Star BMX, Blue & Yellow with blue Araya rims being the highlight. I remember that summer being out all day, basically living over Barking Park which was round the corner to my house and riding out to South Park, and Ilford where Superbike was which was the local BMX emporium. Good summer that .

 

[ufkacbln]

I must have passed you a time or two, I lived in Bluntisham as a kid in the 70s and had pals in Earith, Somersham, St Ives etc, We used to ride down to Wyton a lot and watch the planes take off from the gate at the end of the runway, We would take longer rides out with whoever was free and days out with various USAF pals and parents who lived in the village.

My Elswick Whirlwind 5 speed with Gold frame and Blue mudguards was my first proper bike for doing more than local village to village hops & a gateway to the world, especially given that busses were very few and far between and parents were at work or not driving.

The hover rail line came down near us too it was such an incongruous concrete ribbon running through the farmland and by the dog walk paths.

I have an abiding love for the Canberras, as they were very regularly over our house so low you could almost wave to the pilots, Nimrods and even more so Vulcans turning the sky dark and shaking the ground as they flew past.

Did you go to to St Ivo?
I used to go out with a girl called Ruth who lived in Earith