Ever had a bike stolen as a kid?

[T4tomo]

I had the front wheel of my BMX stolen whilst locked up outside our student house at Uni, rear wheel and frame remained locked to the drain pipe! Little scrotes must have come armed with a spanner. The receipt from the LBS was sufficiently vague to get a new pair with metallic red rims on the insurance, which remained unstolen.

I think the wheels cost more than the bike as I only paid £25 for it from the newspaper small ads. Sold it on as I left uni for £30!

 

[porteous]

In 1957 my father bought me a bicycle for passing the 11+. It was a 1956 Rudge Pathfinder in Electric blue with a dynohub on the front wheel and a 4 speed Sturmey Archer hub on the rear. In 1962 I joined the army and a friend asked to "borrow" my bike while I was away. Predictably it was stolen and, although I thought about if from time to time it was not until I retired that it became an itch that needed scratching. It took three years to find the right frame and a year to rebuild as a replica of what my bike would have become ( I had changed the mud guards from white to red, and the rubber hand grips to bar tape, and was planning on alloy bits as I saved the money, so the recreation has alloy rather than steel in all the places it matters). I managed to find rebuilt 27" SS wheels with a NOS 4 speed, fitted and now, on high days and holidays, I ride it to remind myself how it felt to be a teenager!

 

[Hugh Manatee]

That is proper attractive.

 

[screenman]

Yep, this could even be it, same colour etc. Except this one has lugs.

Claude Butler lugless, I was 14 at the time and the bike was too big for me but I did some miles on it.

 

[dfthe1]

In 1957 my father bought me a bicycle for passing the 11+. It was a 1956 Rudge Pathfinder in Electric blue with a dynohub on the front wheel and a 4 speed Sturmey Archer hub on the rear. In 1962 I joined the army and a friend asked to "borrow" my bike while I was away. Predictably it was stolen and, although I thought about if from time to time it was not until I retired that it became an itch that needed scratching. It took three years to find the right frame and a year to rebuild as a replica of what my bike would have become ( I had changed the mud guards from white to red, and the rubber hand grips to bar tape, and was planning on alloy bits as I saved the money, so the recreation has alloy rather than steel in all the places it matters). I managed to find rebuilt 27" SS wheels with a NOS 4 speed, fitted and now, on high days and holidays, I ride it to remind myself how it felt to be a teenager! View attachment 346545 View attachment 346546

That is one of the most beautiful bikes I've ever seen.

 

[Drago]

In 1957 my father bought me a bicycle for passing the 11+. It was a 1956 Rudge Pathfinder in Electric blue with a dynohub on the front wheel and a 4 speed Sturmey Archer hub on the rear. In 1962 I joined the army and a friend asked to "borrow" my bike while I was away. Predictably it was stolen and, although I thought about if from time to time it was not until I retired that it became an itch that needed scratching. It took three years to find the right frame and a year to rebuild as a replica of what my bike would have become ( I had changed the mud guards from white to red, and the rubber hand grips to bar tape, and was planning on alloy bits as I saved the money, so the recreation has alloy rather than steel in all the places it matters). I managed to find rebuilt 27" SS wheels with a NOS 4 speed, fitted and now, on high days and holidays, I ride it to remind myself how it felt to be a teenager! View attachment 346545 View attachment 346546

Lovely.

 

[dfthe1]

Mine was a GT Outpost (not this particular one -- it's just a random photo I found). The first bike I ever had from new, for Christmas when I was 12. I was so ridiculously excited about it then it got nicked from our locked shed a few months later, along with a bike my dad had bought specially to start riding with me.

My next bike will be orange. Now I've started looking, it may have to be a GT Outpost -- not sure if they did adult sizes.

 

[porteous]

It's worth the effort, and thanks for the compliment.

 

[Vantage]

The first to get nicked was a Raleigh Budgie...the Choppers baby brother. Some kid at school swiped it. My dad hunted the little sh** down and got it back.
Then it was my Raleigh Mustang. I'd had it barely 2 weeks after Santa delivered it. Dad wasn't impressed. I'd left it outside the post office while buying sweeties.
Then it was the Claud Butler Somethinorother MTB. Next door neighbours son and his council estate lowlifes lifted it from the back garden. Couldn't prove it though. Dad again wasn't impressed.
That was maybe 2-3 months old.

Plenty more followed in adult life.
My current bike started as a Dawes Vantage bought new in 2012 which morphed into the Raleigh Tourer it is now. It's the longest I've ever held onto a bike. Probably because I don't dare ever leave it anywhere.