Suburban

My first bike wasn't actually mine. It was my older sister's bluebird, who is close in age and was about the same size. My mother says I took it to one of the older kids on the base and asked them to take the training wheels off. My sister was so angry with me because she didn't know how to ride it and I'd essentially stolen it. I just sort of figured it out on my own and rode it for about a month before my father came home (military brat) and he put her training wheels back on it. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old around 1985.

After that I had a bmx that I trashed riding a wall and then a sleek pink road bike that I loved. I had about 7 speeds and I loved trying to keep up with my Dad on the road. I took very good care of that bike and used it from about '88 to '94 when it got damaged during a move.

I have no idea what the names of these bikes were as a child. I'm surprised any of you remember the names of the bikes you rode as a kid.

Drillium Dude 

It was the early '70s, and if you had a cool dad (like mine), you got a nice, shiny red Schwinn Apple Krate for Christmas. If he was the kind that wanted to challenge you a bit (like mine), he wound 200 yards of kite string all around the house, through trees and shrubbery, and tied the end to the bike which was parked in the garage. Then he handed you the loose end and told you to wind it all up to find your last present at the end of the string

The coolest kid on the block was the one who could leave the longest skid-mark with that Schwinn-Approved "Slik" rear tire. Ah, memories!

Thumbs up, Dude:



DD

RobbieTunes

silvercreek

My first bike was a 1956 JC Higgins I got for my 9th birthday.

clubman 

Boys Raleigh, little wheels, coaster brake. Got it in '63 at 5 years old but it was a hand me down from my cousin so it was likely late 50's. I remember my uncle giving me that first push so well.

Grim

Not sure the brand, Maybe AMF? That should be summer of 69. I'm about 3 in the picture. Its a Fixie.

My sister actually has the bike on her mantle. Her husband built it a display stand. It was her first bike as well. It was a convertible. The top tube is removable to make it a step through.

krobinson103

I think my first bike was a 1979-1980 Raleigh something with no brakes as the pedal brakes were broken. It was a tan/brown color with white well sprung saddle. My Grandfather got it for me and I had a ball travelling way too fast down the steep hill we lived on and stopping with my shoes. I wore out a lot of shoes that year. That was 33 years ago and I've always had a bike in the garage since. I never get tired of riding my bikes. The motorcycles are fun, but the simplicity of a bicycle can't be beat.

Flying Merkel

Guess about how old I am: A Schwinn Stingray for Christmas whe I was 6. The most beautiful blue that ever a bike has worn. Drag Slik on the rear to handle the torque of 6 year old pipestem legs. White sparkly banana seat. Sissy bar with the clamps that never held, causing the seat to droop until it hit the tire or little Merkel fell off. The Stingray is still a great looking bike today. Mine no longer exists. BMX'd it to death in high school.

The abomination that was also called "Stingray" is a wretched anti-fun bike to ride.

Flying Merkel

That is a classic "bicycle face". Same expression as a 40 year old guy who just landed the CF bike of his dreams.

Drillium Dude 

Join the crowd

For the record, I'm guessing 48 YY.

DD

Mos6502

The first bike I bought with my own money was a 3 speed "All-Pro" (huffy rebrand)


I remember having some sort of Huffy BMX as a kid, and I also inherited what I seem to remember was a totally rad Skyway BMX - that my mom in keeping with her usual evil ways simply gave away when I was in highschool. Today it probably would have had some value.

Flying Merkel

Good guess. An even 50. After the Stingray, I was given a............. Varsity.

kroozer 

1967 red Rollfast single-speed, had a lot fun with that bike. But what really got me seriously into cycling was a 1975 Schwinn Continental. Both long-gone.

David Newton

In 1956 I was 5, my dad refurbished an older Schwinn fat tire cruiser, I remember the curved top tube.
He painted it Forest Green, he must have had a lot of forest green, I remember lots of stuff he painted forest green.

It really was for my older brother, but there was only one bike for us both. I had to lean the bike against the house to climb on, and push off.
I couldn't reach the pedals at the bottom of their stroke, so to stop, I could only hop off.
I almost was hit by a car when I couldn't stop at the corner, on the sidewalk, and rode into the street.

rothenfield1

My recollection is of a dark purple Murray stingray type single speed bike with banana seat and ape-hanger bars. We lived at the bottom of a long downhill road that I enjoyed flying down then locking-up the brakes in a skid into our driveway until one day loose gravel caused a major wipe-out resulting in wonderful bloody road rashes on knees and elbows. That was a seminal moment.


My first ‘real’ bike was a yellow Schwinn 10spd Continental. Man, that was really sumptin’. If my parents had only known how far away from home I road that bike, I’d probably still be grounded.

owenmyers

I had a variety of different bikes when i was young, but it was my 1985 53cm Peugeot Avoriaz with HLE that got me into Road biking. Right after i got a 1988 54cm Peugeot Bordeaux also HLE, i was hooked for life.

El Segundo

The year was 1951 and I was six years old. My parents bought me a 20" bike (girls style since boys bikes were out of stock) from Western Auto. I remember the first ride down the gravel road in front of the house I crashed and folded the leading edge of the fender back on the tire. Nothing disappoints like getting the first scratch or dent on new vehicle.

Eventually moved on to a Rollfast in the early sixties which I stripped down for riding in the woods and trails. After we married in 1971 my wife and I bought bikes, she got a Hercules 3 speed (which she still rides) and I got a French made 10 speed with Huret derailleurs, bike was a piece of heavy gas pipe trash and eventually went to wherever that type bike goes to rust in peace.

My first "good bike" was a 1988 Diamondback Ascent EX that I bought new and still ride regularaly.

k_as_in_knife

My first bike was Sears 24-inch "midweight", coaster-brake single-speed. It's the red one in the catalog page here: 1966_SearsChristmas_Page413. I still remember my dad running along behind hanging onto the seat until I learned to balance it myself, in the recreation field near our old house. That bike hung around for years until was utterly used up (the bike-jumping craze inspired by Evel Knievel finally did it in).

That bike took me on my first ride of any length (seven miles!) when I was only about 8 years old or so.

For years, there was a running rivalry between Sears and Schwinn, at least among our crowd - Schwinns were pricey, but Sears came pretty close for less money. At least in the bottom-end juvenile stuff, which was all we ever saw at the time.

kc0yef 

first bike was an orange tricycle my dad put 2x4 blocks on the pedals so I could reach I don't have that problem now but the q-factor when I was young made a difference I am sure

harpon

Well as long as we're doing trike pictures- this must've been Christmas 1955-

But my first real bike was a Red 20" JC Higgins I got also for Christmas in 1960 I guess- it later became a "Sting Ray" with the new high rise bars white bananan seat and knobby wide rear tire in 1964.

In the meantime, Dad bought an old 26" ballooner bike and fixed up and painted and I couldn't even reach the pedals for awhile-

after that it was a new '68 Schwinn Varsity- Britrish racing green-

when that got stolen in '71 I'd ridden several century rides and finished second in the Junior division Indiana State Championship. We went all the way over to Dayton Ohio where I was going to get a Gitane Tour De France, but ended up with the Gitane Super Corsa- Full Campy.

A couple of years later i built that into a Colnago- hit a chevy head on and totaled it- then an Exxon Graftek- then a Masi- Also a Paramount track bike.

Now I ride a '67 Peugeot PX10 I've had since 1987

RobbieTunes

That picture has "I'm headed to see that little pony-tailed girl on the corner" all over it.

Rocket-Sauce 

Mid 1970s BigWheel (ok not a bike, but it was my first sense of freedom):


My first 2 wheeled bike was a hand-me-down beat up rusty 1968 Schwinn Orange Krate. It didn't last long -my cousin (previous owner) left it out in the rain/snow etc.

My next bike was a still hand-me-down-but-much-newer AMF Evel Knievel. Loved that bike and it sent me to the emergency room multiple times.

RobbieTunes

^ A future Travis Patrana? ^

harpon

"Admiral Perry Sky Pilots!"-

and it just kinda lays there after 1-A dudes!

Get yourself a cadillac that doesn't fly....

tremolo1965

My first bike was a Senator in dark metallic orange / bronze - a Sears model imported from Austria. I will always remember the day my grandfather rolled it out of his and my grandmother's kitchen into their living room. It had training wheels for a day or two...rode it for years and years ultimately 'converting' it somewhat to 'bmx'. We always jumped our bikes back then on the sidewalk and in the dirt whether they were 'real' bmx or not..I miss that bike.

My first ten speed was a beautiful used Flandria received as a Christmas present from my parents. It was a lugged 'club racer' with toe clips. It was on...