Originally Posted by
Shp4man
Or any of the banana seat/ape hangers/20 inch tire bikes popular back in the day? Mine was a Monkey Ward 3-speed with the shift lever on the top tube, a leopard pattern seat and gold frame color. Don't ask me what my parents were thinking that year. The bike was quite a sensation at school. It ended up being stolen after about a month.
You?
My first bike was what sent me on a lifetime of riding and building bikes. I had what we called an "English racer" 3 speed with 26 X 1-3/8" wheels INSTEAD of a Stingray like most of the kids on my block. Nothing special, actually an American-made Murray entry level department store bike. I count that choice as the most fortuitous bike choice in my life, because while those other kids were just riding around the block and doing little stunts with ramps and such, I was able to ride far an wide. I did the Boy Scouts' cycling merit badge with a group from my troop, and was emboldened by how easily I could ride 30 or 50 miles on this road-worthy 3 speed. I have since acquired derailleur bikes galore, done double centuries, ridden coast-to-coast, climbed the highest paved pass in Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, and Tennessee, raced cat 4 and cat 3, and I am now running my own bike shop as a prolonged retirement party. Most of the kids riding Stingrays never had another bike.