Your first proper bike?

[redcard]

First bike I remember owning was a Raleigh Strika.

First bike I remember buying was a Universal mountain bike I bought with my paper-round money. Bike was stolen from me on the way to collect the Saturday night papers.


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[smokeysmoo]

After Raleigh Budgies and such like my first 'proper' bike was a 5 speed Sun racer, then when I outgrew that my folks got me the 10 speed version of exactly the same bike and man I felt like a king. First thing I did was remove the suicide levers and fit a pair of tan coloured hoods, well it was the early 80's.

 

[TheDoctor]

My first decent road bike was a Raleigh Dynatech Ti 401, back in '92 or so.
Still ride it, although it's a SS these days

 

[WorcesteRob]

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.

I remember these bikes well, they were the envy of many people! The price tag of around £400 was out of my league but the colour scheme looked fantastic and against all the Raleigh mtb's of the time (team, maverick etc) it was a real head turner.

 

[smokeysmoo]

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.

I remember these bikes well, they were the envy of many people! The price tag of around £400 was out of my league but the colour scheme looked fantastic and against all the Raleigh mtb's of the time (team, maverick etc) it was a real head turner.

Ah yes, I got a MF Courier with the lilac/white fade colourway for Christmas circa 1987. I had to pay half towards it as it so expensive, (this was when MF was still a respected brand don't forget). I loved that bike but cabbaged the front forks with constant wheelie pulling. I nearly bought one off eBay last year but it so far from original I couldn't be mithered.
It finally got replaced with a yellow Peugeot 10 speed racer
This wasn't mine, just the first pic I found on t'interweb.

 

[youngoldbloke]

1960/61? Secondhand frame, but immaculate -
Frame: Ted Gerrard, dark blue. Campag ends – dropouts
Campag seatpin
Brooks saddle – Swallow? No bag loops, large copper rivets
Cinelli stem – chrome, enamel badge
Alloy bars – not Maes, but deeper
Mafac centre pull brakes – red blocks
Campag small flange QR hubs (rear D/S threaded, fixed and freewheel)
Mavic sprint rims
Stainless double butted spokes
Tubular tyres, tub savers – single wire
Campag Gran Sport (?) front and rear changers, down tube levers, with blue Campag rubbers
Regina 5 speed block (13 top?)
T/A chainrings (small spider 53/42?) on forged steel cottered cranks (UK make)
Lyotard platform pedals, Brooks (?) clips and leather straps.
Pump (Bluemels?) on seat-tube, Campag push on adapter, red, white, blue plastic rings on barrel
Solihull CC sticker
Black cable outers, black cotton bar tape.

Loved that bike, but had to sell it when I went to college - where is it now?

 

[palinurus]

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.

Nice.

My first decent commuter was a Courier Comp, the bright green one. Magic it was. Longest serving commute bike too- 11 years.

 

[palinurus]

First proper bike, being the first one I'd ride distances of greater than 10 miles, was a red Raleigh singlespeed with a cantilever frame- possibly called a Raleigh Roller.

First one I paid for myself was a white Peugeot 10 speed from Marshall Ward catalogue. Traded it in a Bob Addy's for the Muddy Fox.

 

[paulw1969]

Ah yes, I got a MF Courier with the lilac/white fade colourway for Christmas circa 1987. I had to pay half towards it as it so expensive, (this was when MF was still a respected brand don't forget). I loved that bike but cabbaged the front forks with constant wheelie pulling. I nearly bought one off eBay last year but it so far from original I couldn't be mithered.
It finally got replaced with a yellow Peugeot 10 speed racer
This wasn't mine, just the first pic I found on t'interweb.

This was the style before mine me thinks. A colleague had this one and when i bought mine the colour scheme was differnet as the lilac/purple faded out halfway down towards the bracket. The one above has obviously been fettled with substantially, but from memory mine had slightly bigger tubing, i think, it had oval cranks and as i have said i think the paint job was different....brings back memories....i sold it dirt cheap when i moved to Nottingham....wish i hadn't but times were hard.
If anyone has any more pics, put them up please i'd be interested if my memory is right and the later model does indeed look different....

 

[MisterStan]

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.

View attachment 8068

Looking sharp!

 

[steveindenmark]

I don`t want my chopper back. God they were awful to ride.

I will have the 40 years back instead please.

Steve

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Raleigh Budgie.
Raleigh Commando.

Then onto grown-up bikes

Raleigh Traveller was my first, did a few short (25 mile) trips

But the real first was an old Raleigh 5-speed, similar to a Superbe but with SA 5-speed hub - the 5-sp shifter fell apart, I rigged a shifting system up that only I could operate with a 3-speed lever and a friction thumbshifter. Then the steel rims bent to hell, so i took the wheel apart and built my first wheel. That was the bike that introduced me to the finer arts of "fettling". Also the first bike I wnt on a camping trip on, from Hull to Spurn Point.

The one that I did most miles on and enjoyed riding the most was a Raleigh Sensor that I bought in a real state, repainted in Humbrol enamel, fitted some better brakes (still sidepull), guards and rack, and got running really sweetly - until I ploughed it full-pelt into the back of a Peugeot 205, writing both car and bike off! (15 year olds and bikes...). Funny how indexed gears were just a luxury then.

Fond Memories...

A few bikes later came my other milestone - a Raleigh Mustang that I bought cheaply (£100) as it was an old model from the bike shop I had a Saturday job in - part-exed the steel wheels with a lad at school for his alloy rims, got some cheap Mountain LX thumbies which I then mounted onto the side of drop handlebars, and went touring for a week around the North York Moors

 

[sunnyjim]

First not-a-child's bike was a Hercules - hand-me-down from elder brother, done up in fancy paper as xmas present. First bike bought with my own earned money - Carlton (Raleigh-owned) Corsa. £76 new IIRC.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

First bike, my sister's cast off ?Hercules? with a mixte frame. Wrecked it pavement racing, rode striaght intot a concrete lapmpost - got a bloody good hiding to.

Then a Mk II chopper in red for my 14th Birthday ('74). Stolen from the school bike sheds.

Raleigh Olympus, destroyed 'bombing' down the woods.

Viscount Aerospace, which tried to kill me.

Then I discovered petrol and took rugby seriously and didn't cycle again until the 90's....

 

[CopperCyclist]

Depends what you mean by 'proper'! When I was young, I remember getting very excited about by first 18 speed mountain bike. I remember it was red, with the model name being 'Terminator' but more than that escapes me!