How old were you when you got your first proper bike?

[Bimble]

No, not a hand-me-down one from an older sibling or one of those cobbled together bikes made with bits and bobs from the garage (and the neighbours garages) - a brand spanking new proper bike from a bike shop!

I have a picture in the photo album at home of me and my mate stood with great big grins on our faces and our new racers proudly held out in front of us. I was 10 and it was a Christmas to remember because, despite being hopeful, I never actually thought I would get a new bike. It was a Raleigh racer and me and my mate rode our new bikes everywhere until they, quite literally, fell to bits. Fantastic.

The photo still evokes those warm and fuzzy childhood memories of bombing around (pretty empty streets by today's standards) and going on "adventures", which amounted to hour-long rides around the outskirts of the large estate we lived on. Good, carefree, happy times.

How about you?

 

[Venod]

I had a few cobbled together ones before I bought a brand new Raleigh, bought with my own money earned working on a farm in the school holidays getting in the harvest, I would have been 14, 51 years ago where's it gone.

 

[PK99]

45, first bike of any description - never had a bike as a kid

 

[Alan O]

Well, I got my first new bike as a kid, probably around 8 years old - it was a kid's bike with fat tyres, and I can't remember much about it at all.

The bike I consider my first "proper" one was given to me, by an older cousin. It was a Falcon "racer" from the Ernie Clements days, and it was seriously nice - decent gearing (even a Campag chainset) and other quality parts, Brooks saddle. It lasted me all through my senior school days, university, and for 3 or 4 years after that, and I covered a good few thousand miles on it.

It wasn't until the 80s when I was in my mid-20s that I got my first grown-up bike new from a bike shop. It was an Orbit Gold Medal, 531c, touring geometry, and I did a lot of miles on that too -- I still have it and it's still going strong. In fact, it's the only bike I've ever bought new - my others are second hand, or builds on vintage frames.

 

[13 rider]

12 years old at Christmas, Raleigh Olympus bought with lots of coop stamps showing my age . Best pressie every rode it until I was 18 for miles and miles and can't remember replacing anything except tyres which were worn out skidding to a stop everytime

 

[Spiderweb]

I think I must have been 11 or 12 years old when I got my first brand new child size drop bar racing bike. I loved it, it was lime green and black and was a Wearwell Martino. It had those tiny Aluminium mudguards fitted, almost every bike did back then. I remember the brakes being Weinman type 730 I think, they used to polish up really shiny with my dads T Cut. The gears were a revelation, all 5 of them operated by a single down tube shifter which was Shimano and covered with a white rubber sleeve. We were never off our bikes, rode them everywhere. No padded bib shorts like today and we never got sore backsides! Eventually I resprayed the bike with rattle cans bought from the local motorist discount centre, the colour was a very fetching 'Lagoon Metallic'.
I remember those days with much fondness.

 

[arch684]

I was 32 before i bought a new bike,all bikes before that were old bikes from the 60s and 70s.Wish i still had them all

 

[Sharky]

First bike was a second hand Hill Special (fixed) when I was 10. Previously belonged to a club mate of my dad's.

 

[Threevok]

Got my brothers Raleigh Chipper handed down to me at 7.

I had a Raleigh chopper for Xmas when I was 10.

Built (and sold) a couple of DIY mountain bikes - from frames and bars found at the tip - in my early teens.

Bought an Apollo Outrage from Halfrauds at the age of 32 - Hated it but had it for a few years.

Bought a Shogun Torsion when I was 35 which I absolutely loved. I upgraded it to death, pushed it beyond it's limits and finally ran it into the ground.

Bought a cheap BSO (Promax Aggressor) as a spare, while I was awaiting new bushings for the Shogun. It lasted 5 minutes. Gave it away twice !!! Kept coming back.

Four years ago, I bought a 2005 GT Avalanche 2.0 Disc frame off Fleebay for £20 and swapped all the parts (except forks) from the Shogun - I still have this bike, but has been heavily upgraded since. The only parts left on it from the Shogun are the brake rotors.

Four years ago, I rescued a new Kinesis Decade Virtue frame, from a cycle shop display stand. I built it up with brand new (some modified) parts. Technically a brand new bike, it took years of saving, Birthday/Xmas/Fathers Day/Anniversary presents and waiting for sales, in order to finally finish it in time for my last birthday.

As for any future bikes, I cannot see me parting with the Kinesis (if I did you would have to offer me a lot of money for it). I am on the lookout for a replacement for the GT (frame) though.

 

[Reynard]

Umm, last November at the age of 41... My Wiggins Rouen roadie.

All of my previous bikes had been skip rescues and hand-me-downs except for the MTB which was bought for me from a bike shop, albeit secondhand.

 

[pawl]

Aged15 1056.My parents bought me a Dawes Clansman Benelux three speed gears

Rode this for several years.Rode my first club T.T did a1 -8.Upgraded gearing to 5 speed and fixed in winter

Eventually the down tube parted company must have been due to the hard life it had,rough stuff riding,camping trips
No knobbly tired mountain bikes back in the 1950s
Happy days

 

[Venod]

Aged15 1056

Time Traveler ?

 

[hoopdriver]

I got my first bike when I was seven, or just before then - in 1965. I shall never forget it. My mother bought it as a surprise - we had little money and although I wanted a bicycle very badly, I never dreamed I would actually get one! It was sitting on the driveway, waiting for me, when I got off the school bus. It was so unexpected, I remember wondering whose it was, never dreaming it was mine.

It was a clunky secondhand Eisenhower-era Schwinn, two-tone (green-and cream) with coaster brakes and chubby 20" tyres. Whether anyone considers that a 'proper' bike is immaterial. To me it was a marvel, a thing of beauty, and I treasured it. I had wheels. I imagined I could go anywhere in the world. And in the years since, I have (albeit on different bikes! )

 

[the stupid one]

Aged 13, I think, I was given a Puch Pacemaker for Christmas. Crashed it a couple of times, got a few stitches in my head, replaced the damaged handlebars, and I was still using it to get to work and back fifteen years later. I don't remember what happened to the bike eventually, possibly it was so knackered that I left it in the yard when I moved house one time.

 

[Vantage]

I was about 6 or 7 and my dad came home in his HGV for once. It was my birthday. He opened up the trailers doors and there it was...a shiny new Raleigh Budgie in light blue.
The first bike I personally bought from an actual bike shop was a Proflex Attack LE when I was about 20. It took my 9 months of pre-dated cheques which I could only afford because I was still at my parents. I was almost glad when some scrote stole it as it was the most unreliable pos I ever rode. Oddly, it was also the most expensive bike I ever owned.