These aren't pictures of the actual bikes I owned, they are pulled from the web to match what I had.

My first bike looked like one of these:


When I was first learning to ride, my knees kept banging the fake top tube and I would crash. My dad removed it and I suddenly was able to balance.

My second bike was one of these. I desperately wanted to have a BMX, but I got this as a hand-me-down from my mom's boyfriend. I hated it and was typically ungrateful for an 11 year old.



Next was my grail bike of its day: a 1983 Mongoose Expert BMX my dad bought me when I was 12.



Next up, I bought a 1987 periwinkle blue panasonic sport (I think model 500, but possibly 1000) in high school. Couldn't find a good pic.

After college, I was car-free for about a year and got around on a blue 1993 Giant Rincon. I had just moved to Chicago and it was my introduction to Chicago winters to be commuting by bike in -20 F temperatures