Your first "grown up" bike? Or your history?

[Sheffield_Tiger]

So what was the first "proper bike" you had then?


This was mine (not this one, mine was much rustier!), the wonderful 1973 Raleigh Traveller (problem was, it was 1989 when I came to own one!)

My first NEW bike was a Raleigh Lizard.

With the help of the LBS my mother and the sales guy carefully picked out a 23" frame with the saddle clamp rubbing on the top of the seat tube for a 5'8" me. Obviously mother didn't want to be a grandmother at any time as I could hardly even straddle the top tube! I tried to take the oversized beast off-road, couldn't control the huge thing and smashed the front wheel up. What I also did was weaken the frame as I found a week later when I had a low-speed bump and the insanely long steerer tube just folded inwards, the top tube stretching and down tube folding.

Two weeks of shiny newness, then back to the '70s and '80s for a Raleigh Sensor. Which I crashed and bent - being preoccupied with the digital display

Numerous 2nd hand cobbled together things got me about after that.

Eventually I saved up for a Raleigh Mustang which got upgraded and altered constantly, with slicks and drop bars in one incarnation of its life as a camping bike, that I had for years without managing to break it! Hopefully the trend of me not bending and breaking bikes will continue!

 

[rusky]

Mine was a 2nd hand red unisex town type bike with a rear rack & 3 speed SA gears.

My first new bike was a Raleigh Mustang (dark red one). the steerer tube snapped & caused me lots of dental work & an out of court settlement with Raleigh!

 

[BrumJim]

After my 14" wheeled mean machine (not even a Grifter or Tomahawk), came the Tempest Allegro, 10 speed with Phoenix 101 tubing. Hilldodger got his hands on it recently.

 

[Barbelier]

Mine was a heavy old Claude Butler that my dad bought second hand and spend days doing up. Have no idea exactly what it was, but I was as proud as punch of that bike. Never had a new bike as kid and it didn't matter at all. Happy memories of youth hostelling holidays with my father.

 

[Bman]

What do you mean "proper bike"!?

My first bike was a proper bike. A Raleigh (mini) Burner

 

[ufkacbln]

Depends on what you call a "proper bike"

I had a couple of "scrapheap" builds as we could then thrash them, and my first new bike (as I could be rusted to look after it) was a "Raleigh Wayfarer"

However the first "real bike" that I built was a Raleigh Phaser for my youngest brother - found stolen, vandalised and dumped - but given back to us bythe POlice when unclaimed

Identical to this:

He is now in his late mid forties, but I still have it and it has been used by nieces and nephews until recently.

Apart form that there are a lot of firsts

First racer
First recumbent
First folder
First racing recumbent
First folding recumbent
First workbike
First tandem
First recumbent trike (Hllldodger has that as well!)
First touring bike
First Rohloff

Saddest thing is I still have most of them as I cannot bear to part with such old and valued friends unless there is a burning reason why not to keep

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Raleigh Olympus

 

[Bandini]

A second hand Dawes Celeste with engraved handlebars.

 

[Hacienda71]

I had lots of second hand bikes off brothers as hand me downs but I had a Raleigh Weekender as my first new bike for my fourteenth birthday, it was a 15 speed touring bike with drops and suicide levers. Did a lot of miles on it, had it until my late twenties when my Father decided his garage needed to be cleared and it went to the bicycle heaven in the sky also known as the local tip

 

[Norm]

Golly, I had a Raleigh Wayfarer in... must have been 1975? It was stolen, I don't miss it. I wouldn't consider that a grown up bike, though, it was very much a school-run special for me.

The first grown up bike was a new Viking road bike I got in 1978/9, I still have it in the garage. 10 speed, no handlebar tape and it's probably half the weight it was when new, given the amount of rust on it, but I rather like riding it, suicide levers and all.

In 1990, Mrs Norm and I each got a Giant Cold Rock ATB for a tour down to Cornwall. We didn't do enough shake-down testing and both bikes fell apart by day three, so we came home on the train, got them fixed then continued the tour by car with the bikes in the boot. We still have these bikes, too, and I was out on mine earlier today. It now has rear rack, City Jet tyress and mudguards and has become my town bike of choice, as I can't get too precious about leaving it anywhere.

June last year, I went into my LBS to get my son a bike and ended up buying myself a Giant Talon 3 MTB. Bottom of the range, fairly heavy but it handles as well as I need it to handle and I love riding off road on it. I've only done about 600 miles on it, though that does include a couple of fairly long (50+ mile) days in the saddle.

October last year, I picked up a Specialized Secteur Sport Triple. Lovely road bike, beautiful to ride but I've been a bit nervous taking it out recently, as it doesn't handle potholes well with me on board.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, I found cycling nirvana in the shape of a Specialized Tricross Sport Triple. Not as good on the tarmac as the Secteur, not as good off it as the Talon but, damn me, it's pretty good at both and it allows me to head off for a ride without worrying too much about where I'm going. I might contemplate a long-ish road ride but with a few miles of gravel bridleway, I might want to cross the river on the tow path before heading up the tarmac to the Cotswolds, the Tricross (or any other "psycho-cross" bike) is perfect for that.

If I head off to the coast, I have the road bike, if I head off to Swinley Forest, I have the MTB, for everyday cycling, the Tricross has been getting a lot of use.

 

[longers]

My dad got a frame from the tip and built it up for me as my first grown up bike. He took me to DynoStart and I had the full range of rattle can colours to choose from.
I went for a lovely metallic brown.

It was a bit of a tank but a great bike and the fact my dad had built it made it better. The colour wasn't a good choice though. I was thinking about the rides we'd do and how they'd compare to the rides we do now. I go further to get a loaf of bread somedays. The hills of my youth are mere pimples.

The next bike was one I bought myself, worked and saved up for it. A Peugeot Galibier that a friend had ridden into a parked car. It was ever so slightly cracked at the seat tube join so he didn't trust it but I did. A superb bike and it felt really fast until it was nicked .

 

[Willo]

My broad significant cycle owning history (significant to me I hasten to add), I know they are not all 'grown up' bikes but they felt like they were at the time:

Tomohawk (still vividly remember the joy of the Santa note and the trail out to the garden where it was hidden)

Grifter (a very comfy ride from memory)

A sensible silver racer (can't remember the make but not an inspiring bike during my teenage yrs, but it was practical and got me around )

A cheap mountain bike from Halfords (which is still going strong after more than 10 years and in fairness with virtually no problems, and no care from me)

Specialized Allez - same colour as my old racer, but more inspiring (not sure whether that's because it genuinely is more inspiring, or I'm having a mid-life crisis after hitting 40). If some had seen me practising my clipless earlier on my patio they'd confirm it as the latter First bike that I clean after each ride, if that's a measure of grown up!

 

[Randochap]

It was a Sun, a "Manxman" I believe. There's pictures of it on VeloWeb, on My Bikes page.

Sold it when I came to Canada. Wish I had it now, but to my surprise there is one in a local bike shop. It was the owners first "proper" bike.

 

[Browser]

An Emmelle Cortina MTB, my first ever brand-new bike, bought in 1987 when I started work and needed transport, similar to this one on Ebay only mine had the seat further back, lights and a rack.
Mother would not hear of me getting a moped (in retrospect probably very wise!) so I got this. The idea was I'd use my existing bolide and save my wages for a new bike, but she said she'd lend me the cash and I could pay her back, which I did. Had I had a tiny amount of the knowledge I've gained since, particularly since coming on this forum, I'd have bought something waaaaaay different.
Still, I though I was the dogs wotsits
To this day it remains the only new bike I ever got knocked off, which I was soooooo dis-chuffed about at the time

 

[tyred]

Probably the 1971 Raleigh Twenty (which I still own). It was passed on when my sister was finished with it. I then had a sort of low end singlespeed roadster type bike (probably 1970s as well). It weighed a ton. I then got my first and probably only new bike, a Townsend 15 speed MTB, (I still have it as well) I rode it a lot at the time, gradually getting things like road tyres and mudguards so it is basically a hybrid now. It had a ten year rest before I started cycling again. I have also added a 1977 SS Carlton, a high-tensile steel Peugeot (possibly a UO8), a 1951 3 Speed Rudge roadster and SS lady's shopping bike to my collection. I fancy one of the lighter, cable braked threespeeds and a 1930s lightweight. It has occurred to me as I type this that the Townsend is the only bike I have ever owned that's younger than I am.