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

[Tin Pot]

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?

38.

 

[TheDoctor]

I was 16IIRC when I got a Coventry Eagle 10-speed for Christmas.
On Boxing Day I rode it to my Grannies in Kettering, about 50 miles away.
But my first really good bike? A Dyna-Tech 401 Ti from Hatfield Cycles, about '94 IIRC. It had 14 speed Exage components, and was a very nice purple.
I still have it, but in SS / Fixed form now.

 

[raleighnut]

All my bikes have been rebuilds of frames or donated down the family apart from a Saracen Blitz from insurance after my MTB was nicked during a burglary at home.

The trike was the first new one I ever paid for myself.

 

[Milkfloat]

Being the second boy in the family all my early bikes were hand-me-downs, even when I was racing and my brother was not. After that is was secondhand bikes as there was no way I would have been able to afford new. My first new bike was with my first paycheck after University. A friend worked for Trek UK, he managed to get me my bike with his employee discount plus an extra discount for a paint blemish. I still have that bike today (20 years later) and use it as my commuter and family bike.

 

[slowmotion]

I had to save up my pocket money until I was 54.

 

[MiK1138]

1st bike was a 2nd hand Mark 1 Chopper nutkiller gear knob, adjustable apehangers and proper rounded sissybar it was orange until i decided to paint it black using Gloss paint, 1st brand new bike was 5 speed Raleigh Olympus reckon I was about 12

 

[MiK1138]

.....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. )

2 wheels, pedals, handlebars!! sounds proper to me

 

[hoopdriver]

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Dave 123]

My red Raleigh Grifter. I suppose I'd have been 10. That was a great bike! Weighed as much as an elephant though!

 

[mjr]

30. I had at least two nice bikes when I was younger but I'm almost certain they weren't new when I had them.

Who cares anyway? When I was young, we seemed to have loads of energy but were also quite relaxed because we didn't have much else to do, so as long as the bike wasn't totally stupid or broken, pretty much anyone could ride in the pack. There was enough of a range of ages that we were used to compromising on speeds and who went up front - races were dull because the oldest would usually win regardless of who rode what bike, so I don't think we did race much.

 

[jefmcg]

First proper bike and first bike of any kind: 28.

I think I had ridden a bicycle twice in my childhood - both borrowed from cousins - so I knew how to balance.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

A Christmas present when I was 5 or 6, a pinky/purpley coloured single speed with solid tyres. I remember boxing day and my Dad taking me out to teach me to ride it, he showed me the brakes and said I'll hold the back of the saddle you pedal, I pedalled off up the road then looked round and he was standing a hundred yards up the road watching me.

 

[pawl]

Time Traveler ?

I remember the first Dr Who didn't actually travel on the Tardis

Sorry typo should read1956.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

As far back as I can remember, I've always had a bike. I can remember from about the age of 5. Obviously a 'proper' bike - for a 5 year old.

 

[Bollo]

A had a couple of second-hand-but-in-good nick bikes up until I was about 15. I'd rescued a road bike from a skip and fettled it to a point where it was just about ridable (the cottered cranks were never quite right) so Ma and Pa Bollo treated me to a Raleigh L'Equipe (I think). I rode the nuts off it, first around Northumberland and then the North York Moors after Pa Bollo was posted to Fylingdales. I sold it when I went to university, which I regret to this day.