Your Christmas bike story.

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Slick

Guru
I have to admit, not sure if its an age thing or not, but I had a tear in my eye thinking back to my old man working 7 days to keep 5 of us in the manner to which we had become accustomed, and my dear old mum working nightshift and trying to stretch the cash as far as possible to make sure we missed out on very little of the important stuff. Things like running a club book trying to earn a bit of commission which culminated in 2 brand new O'Brien racers for 2 very happy wee boys. Loved that bike.


View: https://youtu.be/TIiGUQtOK7A


What's your story?
 

Smudge

Veteran
Location
Somerset
Every Christmas i would pray to God for a new bike. Never got one of course, the Lord doesn't work like that.
So i stole one and prayed for forgiveness.
 

AuroraSaab

Veteran
Lovely story. We were always skint too. I'm not sure we ever had new bikes. I had an orange shopper bike, maybe a Mini Moulton or similar. My best bike was a gold bike I had when I was about 10. I rode it everywhere, including to school, which was about a hundred yards away. It had metallic blue mudguards. Might have been a BSA. I covered it in Apollo stickers which came free with chewing gum I think. When a kid round the corner got a brand new Raleigh Chopper for Christmas, we thought they'd won the pools. I still like it on Christmas day when you go out and see all the kids on their new bikes.
 

Mark Grant

Acting Captain of The St Annes Jombulance.
Location
Hanworth, Middx.
Our bikes were always 'bitsas'.
As No. 11 of 12 kids there was no way I could even hope for a new bike!
My older brother bought a Chopper when he was old enough to get a Saturday job and save up the money.
 
OP
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Slick

Slick

Guru
Lovely story. We were always skint too. I'm not sure we ever had new bikes. I had an orange shopper bike, maybe a Mini Moulton or similar. My best bike was a gold bike I had when I was about 10. I rode it everywhere, including to school, which was about a hundred yards away. It had metallic blue mudguards. Might have been a BSA. I covered it in Apollo stickers which came free with chewing gum I think. When a kid round the corner got a brand new Raleigh Chopper for Christmas, we thought they'd won the pools. I still like it on Christmas day when you go out and see all the kids on their new bikes.
I think everyone loves to see kids out on Christmas day on new bikes. I felt a bit self conscious one year I did it to try and work up an appetite. I knew everyone was trying to work out if it was a Christmas present I was on. :blush:
 
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OP
Slick

Slick

Guru
Our bikes were always 'bitsas'.
As No. 11 of 12 kids there was no way I could even hope for a new bike!
My older brother bought a Chopper when he was old enough to get a Saturday job and save up the money.
My old man was very resourceful and whilst cash was tight, we were eating steak for breakfast as he was a butcher and was excellent at the bartering system. He always came back from a farm after butchering a beast with much more than he was supposed to and one day he told my brother to walk out to a local farm and pick up his new present. I was so jealous when he came back red in the face with a second hand chopper but It didn't last too long when I realised why he was red in the face. He had blootered the jewels off that gear stick after missing a gear, he never ever really forgave that bike for that. :laugh:
 

Slioch

Guru
Location
York
I must have been a great disappointment to my parents.

My parents were by no means flush, but when I was about 8 I got a new purple boys "racing" style bike for Xmas, and my sister (3 years older) got a Raleigh Shopper type bike.

Guess which one I preferred hooning around on?
 
He had blootered the jewels off that gear stick
EH ?
 

Paulus

Started young, and still going.
Location
Barnet,
I got my my fist "new" bike Christmas 1969, before then it was second hand ones. It was a 3 speed, blue and gold coloured Raliegh, 26 inch wheels with matching metal mudguards. It lasted me right through school, and into the first few years at work.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
I was about 7 when I got my 1st 'new'* bike, went out on it and when I had to stop grabbed the front brake as hard as I did on my (rod braked) Trike.................................................My 1st 'faceplant'

* It might not have been brand new but was very shiny. :becool:
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Always second-hand roadsters for me and once my school buddy and I found an old delivery bike in a river, fished it out, sawed off the basket, which was part of the frame, and turned it into a chopper with a 3-speed Sturmey Archer hub, a huge chrome headlight running off a bottle dynamo and the small front wheel borrowed off my brother's bike.
 

wormo

Guru
Location
Warrington
I remember my first bike once I learnt to ride was a second hand orange bike. That's all I remember about it. Use to pretend I was riding the IOM TT, even had a plastic crash helmet with a visor. Had quite a few near misses but thankfully back in the early 70s fewer cars about.
 
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