Your first proper bike?

[Kiwiavenger]

I was just thinking earlier about my old bikes and what one I would love to have back just to own it.

I remember having an old Peugeot mountain bike that had a knackered rear derailleur so I removed it and made it a single speed without removing the cassette. I ended up getting rid of it due to buckling the frame! The bike I would love to have back though would be my old claud butler enduro in silver with bar ends 18 gears and knobbly tyres! It was what made me love cycling to begin with. Anyone got one? Lol.

 

[Brandane]

A Puch Alpine 5 speed in yelllow (pic is from a recent one on e-bay)

Bought it new in 1976 for £45. Had to pay the money back to my parents, so got a summer job (I was 14) which paid 20 pence per hour. Took me all summer to pay off that bike but I loved it. Then some ba***rd stole it from a tenement close in Edinburgh in 1977. I was gutted. It was recovered by Police a few months later but it had been trashed and was never the same again .

Incidentally, the one on e-bay sold for £85! Not bad for a 35 year old bike that cost £45 new.

 

[perplexed]

When I was in my mid to late teens, (1980's) I had a 5 speed Raleigh racer... Lovely.

 

[cyberknight]

Raliegh grifter, the hub gear broke in top gear so i cycled round for years like that ...no wonder my legs are worn out

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Mid 1960's, I'd be about 13-14, I brought a Dawes Kingpin, 3 speed with carrier and dynamo lighting, It was brought on HP in my Dad's name and I paid it off out of my paper round money. It was the first bike I brought myself, previous bikes had been brought by my parents.

 

[Primal Scream]

1965 CarltonContinental, bronze colour with chrome forks.

5 speed Benelux gears and a singlr chain wheel

£14-10/- From a local cycle shop.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

For me it was a metallic green Dawes Junior Kingpin when I was 7. Just the basic single speed one but I loved it and rode it until I got too big for it.

It's the first proper one coz it was the first bike that actually took me places rather than just up and down the street I lived on.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

raleigh chopper back in '76 but my racer - first "proper" bike in 1980 - an O'Brien Invincible 21 speed.
bugger go nicked a year later and couldn't afford to repace it.

 

[Dave 123]

Raleigh Grifter when I was 11-ish, cut out cereal box, clothes peg=MOTORBIKETASTIC!
Raleigh Winner when I was 15 that I used to do massive 15-20 mile rides on! I see one parked in the lane near my work occasionally, if I stand and look at it long enough my stubble turns all downy and my voice goes all over the place!

 

[taximan]

Sun Snipe c1965 £ 16/14/11. a bit basic by todays standards but it was a comfortable ride.

 

[MontyVeda]

Raleigh Grifter when I was 11-ish, cut out cereal box, clothes peg=MOTORBIKETASTIC!
...!

Good Lad!

for me it was the Raleigh Tomahawk in glorious amber. similar to this:

I could fit a house brick on the little back rack, with the idea that i'd be able to do huge massive big wheelies... it didn't really work and I've never been good at wheelies

I did however claim my brother's Grifter when he'd moved on to a racer and I'd grown out of the tomahawk.

I still have the Tomahawk though I'm thinking of turning it into a radiator!

 

[WorcesteRob]

Mine also was a Raleigh Tomahawk but in fantastic purple!

just like this one, oh the memories.

I remember falling off many a time with the small front wheel slipping on gravel or not making it up curbs.

Can't remember what happened to it, brings a tear to my eye as many an hour was spent playing out having so much fun.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

CCM Targa, got it at Canadian Tire on Scott St in St Catharines, did some miles on that, I remember trying to draft behind transit buses on Vine St, happy days. (circa '78)

 

[paulw1969]

Muddy Fox Courier in white with purple airbrushing circa late 80's...my first commuter and doubled up great for canal towpaths at the weekends. I'll count this as my first bike as it was the first one i bought with my own money.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

A white 2nd-hand Youngs racer, around 1970 hence no photos, upgraded to 10 speed! I'd point it at the south coast of a weekend and it would keep on going till it got there, and then I'd point it back towards SE London and, apart from a little struggling back up Polhill, would keep on going till I got home again to do the school homework I'd been avoiding. The most I did on it was a one-day London-Southampton-London, a good 170 miles with a slightly buckled front wheel wearing jeans and no padding. That bike was like an eager working dog - it just wanted to get out in the open and keep on going.