Did someone mentor you into riding C&V?
 

When I was ten, in 1974, it seemed everyone in my small town was on a 10 speed bicycle. But at that age, all of the frames were too big for me yet, though I desperately wanted to graduate from my knockoff stingray bike to a "real racing bike". Just a few years later, when I turned into a teenager, and could ride my sister's then abandoned Western Auto ten speed, the fad was over, and none of my friends were remotely interested in bikes. In a small Kansas town, when kids on farms could get a drivers permit at age 14, all my buddies were already salivating over their first car. Our only bicycling adventure together consisted of a ride to a small neighboring town, a mere five miles away. And on that ride, my buddies abandoned me halfway way there and I ended up finishing alone. It wasn't till college, and then just barely then, did I find individuals who were interested in bicycling. I hung out with a lot of people who were on the college crew team, and as a form of exercise when not on the river, they turned to bicycling. But, even then, the rides with companions were far between and few. So, I've road alone for most of my riding my entire life. To this day, I haven't fully examined why I have chosen to ride a bicycle through my lifetime. I know a bicycle was one of the earliest things that I yearned to possess. And maybe it was a sporting activity I could reconcile with my inner being that I was good at, seeing as I had no way to know, no competition to measure myself by. I guess I've always enjoyed the extra thrill and speed it provided over just running (which I've also done in my life, but know by measuring against others that I'm only marginally acceptable at). I would like to hear stories of your mentors, so I can be jealous of you. :rolleyes:

No. I just kept riding my bikes and they became vintage.

+1 they were not "vintage" when I Bought them, they were New.

I was 10 in 1957.

I rode all kinds of single speed coaster brake bikes as a kid. My first bike was my sister's 26" that I retrieved from the chicken house feed room and fixed myself. I gave up bikes in high school, and didn't have another until college, when I bought a used Sears/Steyr 3-speed. I sold that and bought 2 Fujis (S-10-S) for me and my wife the first year they were available in the US. After that I was an occasional recreational rider for many years. Around 6 years ago, my nephew gave me an old Huffy single speed lightwieght that he had rescued from the landfill. I fixed it up, gave it away, and bought another old bike at a yard sale. I haven't looked back since. I think that I have 22 bikes now (not counting a couple of frames), all older and two are aluminum. I've probably sold as many as I now own; and I have given away nearly that many. None of my bikes are really valuable. They are lower to middle range road, mountain, and hybrid bikes.

I learned to work on bikes out of necessity, but now I do it because I like it. That's why I am on this forum - and BTW....MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just about everyone on this forum. No one rides where I live, so this is the only place I get to discuss bikes with anyone. I was riding a madone when I found this site. Now that I think about it, I blame everyone here for my empty bank account.

When I was a kid (born in '67) all the kids rode bikes. We rode them to elementary school everyday. Remember when all the kids would be playing outside after school and on weekends? Those days are gone. My first "real" bike was some kind of muscle bike with a shifter. Then I got a new yellow '77 Schwinn Scrambler. My and my buds had trails and jumps in the woods before anyone ever heard of mountain biking. We would jump over each other. Then I got a bad azz '79 Mongoose with motomags. Modded it out with a Tuf Neck, JT Racing plate and pads and a bunch of stickers. I was addicted to it. My parents almost bought me some kind of junior road bike during that time but never did. After I got my drivers license I only cared about hot rods an drag racing. Then in '87 my rich uncle had gotten into road cycling and let me ride one of his PX-10's around White Rock Lake in Dallas. Then he gave me the bike. That day I became a roadie and have been one ever since. Can't say anyone mentored me into C&V.

My interests pre-dated the bicycle popularity of the early 70's. I had a well known childhood passion for 2-seater sports cars and a love of speed. So, I was approached and offered a "deal" on a one year old never ridden 1963 Schwinn Varsity (it was coppertone). In a tiny Midwestern town that wasn't odd... but it was rare. I was barely a teenager and immediately realized that... on that bike... I could be the fastest kid in town. And I was!

Even today I often recreate the same feeling of flying down a street at traffic speed. Even a half-century later not only does the experience feel the same... I feel the same.. when doing it.

Although today I more often ride on a modern bike. There is something to be said for the feeling of a fine steel bicycle (or even an old Varsity).

In terms of cycling, my story is probably very common. Dropped off after getting a drivers license. Went to nothing in college. Job/marriage/kids got in the way and let myself slide. Thought to myself, I really liked cycling when I was a kid, I'll try that. Bought a used bike to dip my toe in the sport again. And it stuck for the last dozen+ years. :thumb:

Before I bought the used bike, I went to the LBS and had my eyes opened. Really light bikes from what I remembered. "Fancy" shifting. Cool stuff.

But learning the depth of cycling came from,

1. Sheldon Brown
2. Bike Forums
3. Classic Rendezvous
4. A large variety of blogs where I have had the pleasure of building personal relationships with the authors

I have to say no to the OP's question.

I've just always liked them. The internet made it possible to partake.

Thank you, thank you very much....

Our next door neighbor raced on the board tracks pre-WWII.
We overhauled his old race bike in the basement when I was (barely) tall enough to pedal it.
My 1st "race bike" ride was on the real thing: wooden rims, fixed gear and no brakes. I was hooked.
> 50 years on I wonder what became of that bike w/ his name on the top tube......a great guy. :thumb:

-Bandera

The only new bikes I have ever had were a 1962 low-end Bianchi road bike and a 1971 Nishiki Competition. Road bikes of the 1960s and 1970s just look right, right right, and feel right to me, so that's what I still ride today. Because of physical coordination/development problems, I got a late start -- age 12 -- at cycling, but it has been my one preferred sport for more than a half century now. My wife and I got our first car when we were 26 years old, and we did not become a two-car family until we were 30 years old, so bicycling has always filled part of my need for transportation.

Your the biggest one to blame Rob!

My oversight by not giving credit to the late Sheldon Brown. I thought I knew something about bikes, until I didn't, and then I found Sheldon's site. OK, now knowing my ignorance, I began to attempt to redress that - so here I am.

That's about as KA of "how I got into cycling" story as I've ever heard. It would have been so sweet to be there and hear his stories...

Like a lot of men I grew up knowing "back when" he was taciturn and very matter of fact.
Not a lot of stories just a lot of "Here's how this works, why it does and what you need to do."

He considered Road Racing a somewhat silly promenade with the inevitable Sprint to settle the issue. (Real racing was on the track.)
The best advice that I ever had from a coach was before the start of my 1st Criterium race when he said: "Be there at the end." :thumb:
Pretty well summed that up for the next several decades.......

-Bandera

No mentors. Just got into liking lightweight bikes in 72 or so, and have liked them ever since. The same ones.

Self taught. I got better and bikes became classic and vintage.Bought a Moto in '73 and have had a love for the open road ever since.

Nope, just found a good deal on a nice condition vintage bike. Used it as a learning tool for building and restoration. It turned out to be both fun and useful.

I got into bikes as a kid in the early 70's. There were no local mentors, so I checked the book The Complete Book of Bicycling by Eugene Sloan out of the library. In fact, I think I checked it out of the library at least a dozen times. :)
Eventually I did stumble across a copy of Bicycling magazine, which led me to other sources such as Gene Portusi's Cyclo-Pedia catalog with all of its tutorials. Very informative! By 9th grade, I was building my own wheels.

After high school, I spent a tour in the Marines. A couple of buddies that used to race taught me about pace lines, track stands, and proper riding techniques. We had a lot of fun!

Then it was off to college, where engineering classes kept me too busy to do much more than ride to classes and ride rollers in the dorm. I've kept riding ever since, and really started doing more miles once I finished up my masters degree. I've been busy with the local club, riding with friends and leading a weekly ride. Lots of fun! Now I get to teach people about old bikes. :)
I tell people that I'm not a guy who rides old bikes.. I'm a "historical re-enactor"! :)

You mean other than you old farts?

As the year draws to it's inevitable close, I just want to thank all the members of the C&V forum and a special thanks to the forum monitors. As is common with a lot of posters, my history of cycling has been a mostly lone wolf endeavor, and I mostly live on a island-of-one when it comes to my enjoyment of classic bikes. The enjoyment and fellowship that I find here spurs me to continue. I have laughed, I've learned, and I've fumed. But I wouldn't enjoy the sport, the recreation, or the pursuit nearly as much without all of you. Seriously; thanks.

Well, I guess I'm one of the young-uns on this forum (I'm 22), though I'm more of a lurker than a poster. My bike is older than me, it's a Schwinn Premis (all stock but for tires and tape). I started commuting a bit on a mountain bike to classes at community college and wanted to do more fun/fast/fitness type riding. I bought a late 70s too-small-for-me Schwinn Le Tour III at a yard sale and rode it a bit. That bike got me hooked on road biking and classic bikes. I had started lurking around on here by then, but I didn't know enough about bike fit prior to buying the Le Tour; though after riding it a while I did. Started at university and didn't ride the Le Tour much at all during the school year, but did more learning about bikes. That summer (summer before last) I saw the Premis in my size (I must have a thing for Schwinns or something), picked it up and have been riding it lots and lots since. Got my brother, dad, and mom riding classic and vintage road bikes, we make for quite the C&V group riders (about the only C&V'ers I've seen out on rides). My dad rode road bikes between college and kids but, other than mountain bikes as kids, didn't get my brother and I into riding. I'm pretty proud of my mom, she's really getting into it and picked up indexed down tube shifters after the first ride. We're planning a 50 miler family ride for Christmas Day. :D

There aren't too many people at my school that I see doing any serious road bike riding (all Carbon something-or-others). I only know one road biker personally. He's in my program (Electrical Engineering) and had been commuting on a newer KHS commuter road bike for a while. Now he rides with my brother and I on much longer rides than his commute. I keep telling him to get some classic steel and he keeps telling me I need brifters. :lol:

Oh, so no, not mentored in person, but through this forum and Sheldon Brown's website I learned a LOT. I've done all the wrenching on the family bikes. I'm so thankful that I found this forum because it spurred a great passion for riding classic and vintage bikes and doing wrenching.

No one mentored me about bikes or riding. But I've learned much from BF. My bikes weren't vintage when I started. The only one I bought new was the UO8, and back then it was just a bike.

What I find interesting is how many users are "online" at any given moment (based on the circle beside everyone's username being green). I think the ratio of users being online to overall active users, is highest among any forum I've ever been on.