Do you remember...

[Bobby Mhor]

Mines was a three wheeler, white plasticy seat,maroon in colour with shiny chrome everywhere. I must have been toaty at the time. 5 or 6 ?

 

[WellyWonkey]

Mine was a brand new grifter for chrimbo. My mum and dad had it on it's stand in the kitchen with it's lights on when I came down stairs.
Remember it like it was yesterday. Best pressie ever. Not sure what "slip gear" was all about though??
Ahhhhhh. Fond memories.

 

[ScotiaLass]

Mine was a brand new grifter for chrimbo. My mum and dad had it on it's stand in the kitchen with it's lights on when I came down stairs.
Remember it like it was yesterday. Best pressie ever. Not sure what "slip gear" was all about though??
Ahhhhhh. Fond memories.

I remember mine being a brand new Raleigh - don't remember the model but it was a gold colour.
Mum had sat it beside the Christmas tree and put gold and red tinsel over the handle bars
I do remember screaming in delight though

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Mines was a three wheeler, white plasticy seat,maroon in colour with shiny chrome everywhere. I must have been toaty at the time. 5 or 6 ?

Toaty! There's a word I've never seen before. I like it!

 

[ScotiaLass]

Toaty! There's a word I've never seen before. I like it!

Ha! Not heard that in a while!!

 

[Bobby Mhor]

Toaty! There's a word I've never seen before. I like it!

Yeah, the bleedin' word has followed me in life dunno why I'm 18st

 

[Leaway2]

1887?! You've had some innings old chap!

Looking good on it too . Wonder how much you get for an 1887 Raleigh!

 

[Firestorm]

My first bike was a viking 18 inch wheel.
My first real cycling memory is sleeping in the back of my parents Anglia Estate whilst they provided support to a friend in a 24 hr tt (Nim Carline sic ) won it
That and High Beech in Autunm for the club hill climb followed by a club picnic and a mass sided game of football afterwards.

 

[AndyRM]

I've a couple of early memories. One being when I was around 4 and my dad had taken off my stabilisers to modify/straighten them or something. At some point I got bored of waiting and he came out of the garage to see me zooming around our garden in Torphichen on my little blue Peugeot.

Secondly, probably when 8 or 9, I was out on a hot sunny day in our cul-de-sac on my shiny new Raleigh Activator. I decided to jump up onto the kerb but made a hash of it. A combination of melted tarmac and gravel with a topless youth resulted in a painful time having stones tweezed out of me by an exasperated mother.

 

[RedRider]

Little silver thing with white tyres. It must've been my dad holding the seat and running and letting go. I was balancing and pedalling but I need to steer as well? Too late, I hit the kerb and fall off.
That must be forty years ago but I picture that kerb rushing towards me as clearly as I recall sliding off on ice last winter.
We'd have races around the block but my third hand silver machine was no match for the bigger kids' Choppers and grifters. Frustration!
Sometimes I'd balance it upside down on it's seat and bars and turn the pedals so the wheel spun round. This made pretend ice cream which other kids would pretend to eat.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

I remember the first time i got one of these ,, it was the best and worse day of my life...nothing to do with cycling but the the title "do you remember your first time" brought back the memory

 

[Salad Dodger]

I remember having a knackered old tricycle when I was about 5. It had solid tyres and a single rod operated brake that didnt work, so it was feet down to stop, or just plough into whatever obstacle was in front....

I would have been about 8 when I learned to ride a 2 wheeler. No "training period" on stabilisers. Just straight onto a 2 wheeler, going up and down the unsurfaced road at the back of our house, with my dad running alongside, until the magic moment when he finally let go and I was on my own. I can't remember what bike it was on, though.

I do remember my first "proper" bike - an Elswick Hopper in blue and lilac. 3 speed Sturmey Archer gears with a twistgrip gear change. Full mudguards and a chain guard the size of the Isle of Wight. It must have weighed twice as much as me! I loved the sense of freedom that bike gave me. There was a network of back alleys behind all the houses in our estate, so you could ride round the whole estate, practically all off-road, just crossing about 3 roads. Great fun, especially when it had been rainy - lots of lovely puddles to splash through. Those were the days!

 

[Herbie]

I remember it as if it was yesterday - I was about 7 I think. Dad let go of the back of the saddle and I pedalled on not realising. I can still recall the feeling of excitement when I realised I was riding unaided. The bike had a bell with a picture of a horse on it.

ditto but without the bell

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I got a bike (a chopper-style one, with a long 'banana' seat) for Xmas the year I turned 8. It was in the living room when I woke up on Xmas morning. Needless to say, I was very excited! If only Dad realised that he would spend a few decades of my adult life vainly trying to convince me to get a driver's licence, he probably wouldn't have bought the bike . Of course, the first thing I did with the bike was get out on to the street I lived on, ride it down the hill towards a dead end with a wire fence, and then I forgot where the brake levers were and rode straight into the fence. This failed to dampen my enthusiasm for bikes one whit.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I was 5, it was a little red & white Universal (make) with white grips, white mudguards with red coachlines and a white saddle toolbag with a couple of spanners in it. My dad took me out without telling me where we were off to & I spent an hour or so trying different ones before settling on this one (the tool bag was a major factor ) from Cedar Cycles near Cambridge. It took me a couple of weeks trundling up and down the street to brave it with no stabilisers & then I was away.