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

[raleighnut]

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.

The Blue/Grey or the Red/White model ?

 

[RoubaixCube]

About 6 or 7. It was a red Raleigh BMX

 

[Bollo]

The Blue/Grey or the Red/White model ?

Ooooooh, I think it looked like this, but hunting on the interbob suggests it might have been a Cadet.

 

[Firestorm]

I was 8 when I got an 18 inch wheel Viking
At 11 I got an Elswick Hopper 24 inch wheel
I was 14 when my Dad did up a Sun 5 speed "racer" for me , which I wrecked a year or so later by ploughing into a parked car.

 

[Reynard]

I still have one of my skip finds - a Hercules junior bike of late 50s vintage. I took it out of a skip at a jumble sale and rode it for a couple of years as it was. The Emelle MTB is also part of the Casa Reynard stable, but I've only ridden it once since I got the Wiggo as it's a touch too big for me. If it was cleaned up and updated, I reckon it could make someone a nice commuter / hack.

A few years ago I pitched all the others because I simply didn't have the space for them, something which I now regret as there was a very nice Belgian-made tourer type frame with flat bars and a single speed which I acquired from a family friend. Really wish I still had that bike.

 

[FlyingCyclist]

First bike - 20ish
Real bike - 33 (bought it 3 weeks ago)

 

[gavroche]

14, in 1964, as a reward from my parents for passing my exams. It was a orange Peugeot road bike, with down tube shifters. I loved that bike.

 

[Cycleops]

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

That wasn't a Dawes, must have been a Raleigh King Harold.

 

[Cycleops]

My first bike was a Triumph Rodeo when I was eleven.

I couldn't ride when I picked it from the shop but at the end of the two mile journey home I could.

 

[pawl]

That wasn't a Dawes, must have been Raleigh King Harold.

Definitely a Dawes.Rember the advert banner,Get your pleasures out of Dawes on Haslams bike shop ln Loughborough.
How would King Harold know he had an arrow in his eye at the time.Wouldnt't be able to tell the difference between a Dawes and a sit up and beg Hercules

 

[numbnuts]

39

 

[raleighnut]

Ooooooh, I think it looked like this, but hunting on the interbob suggests it might have been a Cadet.

View attachment 361632

I went looking for a piccy of the red/white version which was called the 'Super Equipe' by Raleigh and found not only a picture of my bike but it links to a thread on here. The 'super' designation just meant a slightly higher spec level of kit was bolted to the same basic Raleigh frame but they're a lovely riding bike, mine has virtually none of the original kit on it apart from the handlebars/brake levers

Just goes to show that the 'Robots' on this site do 'harvest' posts to put them on t'internet, click on the picture and it is a link to the thread.

 

[PlanB]

The old man would get me an old munter from the 60s with rodded brakes and a creosote paint job.

"prove you can look after it & you can have a new bike"

It was already shagged .... he knew his money was safe & never did buy me, my brother or sister a bike.

 

[Mrs M]

About 13 or 14.
A lovely metallic mint coloured Halford's Cascade ladies 5 speed "racer" with bling white bar tape".
Sister and I got the same bike.
Loved that bike and polished her after every ride

 

[Welsh wheels]

I was 21 when I brought a Dawes hybrid, which was my first brand new bike. I used to ride a lovely secondhand green Raleigh before that got nicked. I rode the Dawes into the ground working as a cycle courier. I left that job and discovered road bikes, of which I have owned three in less than a year.