What got you started .

[Ghost Donkey]

A bit freedom as a bored kid. I had a bike and a friend started riding with his older brother. By the time my mum finally agreed (possibly when she realised it woiuldn't stop her watching tv all day every day) I was off and loving it on the rods in west yorkshire. Old BSA Sport road bike to begin with and then a second hand viscount when I got a bit taller. The viscount was always a bit on the large size for me and when it was over twenty years old and I started cycling regularly again I went for a new bike and gave the viscount to a friend who still rides it regularly.

 

[addictfreak]

I was bitten by the MTB bug a good few years back. I hired a MTB in Grizedale Forest and had a great time, I thought I must have one of these.
About 5 years ago a lad joined our shift who was into Road Bikes. I gradually became interested and bought my first Roadie.
I now own an MTB, 2 Road bikes and a TT Bike. Just wish I had more time to ride.

 

[coffeejo]

Had a bike as a kid and as a student, but never really thought about it again until I sold my car in the autumn. Bought a hybrid in January, loving every minute, seriously thinking about saving up for a road bike. And possibly getting something with suspension. Which may or may not replace said hybrid

 

[MontyVeda]

Had a bike for as long as I can remember. In the 70's everyone seemed to have 'scrap heap' challenge bikes, made of bits and bats from here and there and everyone wanted big bull horn handlebars. My first 'proper' bike was a Raleigh Sun Solo with 10 gears (woo), but also had a grifter frame with bmx bits stuck on it and a Ultra Burner (the Grifter conversion was a way better bike than the Ultra Burner. The Sun Solo kept me going for a good decade (resprayed and rebranded as a Raliegh Special), before being passed around Lancaster for a tenner throughout the 90's. Then i bought a knackered MTB for the parts to bung on a diamond back MTB frame I'd aquired... that got resprayed fluorescent Orange and Red, and rebranded with Radion washing powder logos and Biological Automatic Washing Powder stencilled on the top tube (my antidote to all the 'cool' names which adorn MTB's). That got replaced when a friend of mine needed to sell his Orange P7 and that's been my main steed for 11 years now (and hopefully many more years to come). I don't see cycling as a sport or exercise, it's just transport to me... cheaper than a car and faster than a walk.

 

[Hilldodger]

Got back into cycling in the early 90's to recover from a 150mph motorbike crash.

Now it's my life.

 

[monnet]

My father always cycled and as a kid I wanted to be just like him. Aged 7, I got my first 'racer' a red 5 speed 'Viper' which set my dad back it bit but I think in terms of use and pleasure it got and gave, it was probably one of the best value purchases he ever made.

In my early and mid teens I had a Peugeot which I used as transport (and probably didn't treat particularly well). By 18 I started taking it a bit more seriously and got a late era Ribble steel frame. Then university and prolonged periods living abroad led to what I refer to as 'the lost years' of my 20s, I rode when I could but cycling was no longer central to my life.

Then I moved back to the UK got a Spesh Allez, started training for and then did the London-Canterbury TdeF Sportive, joined a club, started testing for fun, bought a Scott Addict, started racing and now cycling is probably the most important thing in my life. It's certainly the most expensive!

 

[monnet]

I'm a medium build and 6' 1", so for me that was seriously skinny! (My party trick at the time was to slide a roll of Sellotape over my wrist and all the way up my arm to my armpit! )

Just tried this, can't get it over my elbow! Maybe it's because I'm using Smith's own brand tape instead of Sellotape.

 

[XmisterIS]

That is seriously skinny! I just tried it, it goes about 1/3 of the way up my forearm!!

EDIT: Damnit, now I can't get it back down over my hand.

 

[coffeejo]

Don't try this without adult supervision

 

[gbb]

Had a bike for as long as I can remember. In the 70's everyone seemed to have 'scrap heap' challenge bikes, made of bits and bats from here and there and everyone wanted big bull horn handlebars. My first 'proper' bike was a Raleigh Sun Solo with 10 gears (woo), but also had a grifter frame with bmx bits stuck on it and a Ultra Burner (the Grifter conversion was a way better bike than the Ultra Burner. The Sun Solo kept me going for a good decade (resprayed and rebranded as a Raliegh Special), before being passed around Lancaster for a tenner throughout the 90's. Then i bought a knackered MTB for the parts to bung on a diamond back MTB frame I'd aquired... that got resprayed fluorescent Orange and Red, and rebranded with Radion washing powder logos and Biological Automatic Washing Powder stencilled on the top tube (my antidote to all the 'cool' names which adorn MTB's). That got replaced when a friend of mine needed to sell his Orange P7 and that's been my main steed for 11 years now (and hopefully many more years to come). I don't see cycling as a sport or exercise, it's just transport to me... cheaper than a car and faster than a walk.

Absolutely true for me too...exactly why i could strip and overhaul a freewheel at 13 , no new bike as a kid, all you could do was throw something together, preferably with bullhorn or cowhorns.
Driving at 17 saw me abandon bikes altogether for maybe 5 years, then started frequently commuting by bike, a Carlton Continental racer saw me for many years.
Got the bug to extend it all at about 42....got my first ever new bike (honest)...a raleigh chimera which was fantastic and reliable but slightly heavy, did me for circa 6000 miles. Never gone back since.

 

[ColinJ]

Just tried this, can't get it over my elbow! Maybe it's because I'm using Smith's own brand tape instead of Sellotape.

That is seriously skinny! I just tried it, it goes about 1/3 of the way up my forearm!!

EDIT: Damnit, now I can't get it back down over my hand.

Don't try this without adult supervision

To put it in perspective - I can only get the Sellotape to wristwatch position now!

 

[david1701]

To put it in perspective - I can only get the Sellotape to wristwatch position now!

half way up my forearm (procastinating and avoiding photoshop)

 

[Deb13b]

I didn't really like bikes when I was a kid. I got a burgundy elswick shopper with a White wire basket on the front when I was about 11-12, didn't like it and it lived in my mums shed for about 25 years til she gave it away. I never bothered learning to drive. Then earlier this year at 39 years old I stumbled upon the pashley website and was smitten lol. Finally ended up with a blue pashley poppy and I get out as much as I can, usually every day, even if it's just for some shopping. Yes I have a basket on the front and I know people think I'm crazy for not having some gazillion-speed mtb but when I get on that bike I have the biggest smile on my face, it makes me soooo happy.

 

[Arch]

Apart from when I was a kid (and I learned to ride late, at about 10), I got a bike after I sold my old Mini, and used it to go to work, but it was just transport. Then when I quit the job and came to Uni in York, I brought the bike, and didn't use it for the whole first term, as it had to live up a flight of stairs. Then I moved into a house with my new best friend Tom, and he started to work on the bike, which was a ladies roadster from Halfords. He added a chainring, adjusted the bars, changed the saddle, and suddenly, I enjoyed riding - he was a keen cyclist, and as I loved him dearly, I took to it too. Thanks to him I got into cycling promotion, touring, found out about recumbents and all sorts, started to read Velo Vision, became a Cyclist.

He's dead now, but I still have cycling, and indeed, the bikes he built for me, or improved for me, so he's sort of still here.

 

[Salad Dodger]

I had bikes as a kid, but got more interested in mopeds and motorbikes in my late teens. Bought a cycle in my 20's but it was just a passing fad.

Bought a cr*ppy "mountain bike" in the early days, but it was so horrid that it didn't really encourage frequent riding... Spent most of the time fixing bits back on as fast as they rattled off it.

In my 30's I got into kayaking and that became my principal pasttime for a lot of years, as I ended up being an instructor for our local club.

In the last few years, wife and I have bought a campervan, and cycling combines with camping or campervan trips rather better than paddle sports do (or at least it combines better for us). So paddling has more or less completely finished and about 18 months ago I bought a full sus mtb and I love riding it. About 9 months ago my wife also got a bike - her first for a good number of years - and now she is happy to ride out for about 10 miles or so (as long as terrain is pretty flat!) and we both almost look like proper cyclists!