pferreira

Once upon a time when we were young!
How old were you when you got your first bicycle?

I was about 6 when my grandfather bought me my first bike. A folding Bianchi!

scan0023.jpgna bicicleta.jpg

JohnDThompson 

A red and white Columbia coaster brake bike, with the curvy tubes and fake gas tank under the top tube. Probably weighed as much as 3 of my current bikes.

jayfromqns

A green Ross single speed with a sissy bar and banana seat. I remember having a big fat slick on the back, great for skids.

BarracksSi

At 7 years old, a red AMF Roadmaster with a flame banana seat, fenders, and apehangers. After a couple years -- if that long -- I swapped out the seat, bars, and pedals to come up with this. I corded a LOT of rear tires by doing skids at the end of the sidewalk:

Condorita

J C Higgins. With a wire basket on the front, of course.

And the word is mystery, not mistery.

gypz

Lots of 20 inch bikes in the 60's, but the first one i can remeber vividly was the 26 inch Schwinn hd f/s paperboy special, with a heavy duty rear rack, and a huge wire basket in front. It was probably a 1974 model.

Rumpled

My first bike was a Sears model with solid tires. Red, probably a 20 inch; with lots of chrome. The top tube unbolted to make a girl's bike ( or like in my case - to fit the little munchikin I was. I was so happy when I could put that tube back on. ) It had training wheels of course. I got it when I was six, but it wasn't until about three months later that I could reach the pedals. My dad didn't think to put blocks on the pedals like he did for my sister later with the same bike sans bar. That's when I got my first Murray. red and yellow.
I don't have any pics of that tank.

mechBgon

I vaguely recall it being a little blue bike with hard plastic tires and a cruiser-style handlebar. I don't have any photos of me and it, and don't remember anything else about it. I was probably about 4 years old.

wahoonc

Around 5-6 years old. First bike was a "curb special" that my dad overhauled and repainted. It was a 20" wheeled bike, white with gold accents. Learned to ride by coasting down the hill between the garage and the house and crashing into the neighbors carport.

First "real" bike was a Western Flyer in Red, had a couple of those, then had a few oddball beater bikes after that. By age 13 I was saving money and buying my own bikes, Schwinn's then, Motobecanes, Colnaglos, Fuji, Bob Jackson, Teledyne Titan....Raleighs, Giants...

Aaron

arej00dazed

Dont know the model, just know it was an adult sized bike with training wheels. I was prob bout 5 when I got it. My parents got rid of it shortly after when one of the training wheels broke off and I was too scared to turn that direction. what do you expect, I couldnt even get on the damn thing! then a few years later my grandpa bought me a red bmx1000. I miss that bike and all the crazy shtuff I done on it.

dynodonn 

My parents bought a small red and white bike for my sister and I when I was 4 years old, and that was my first and last "fixie". We both thought is was cool back then to watch the pedals spin like mad while going down the steep hill along side our house at the time, plus, other than our feet, the bike did not come with any brakes.

bobn

My first bike, the bike I learned on was a 20" Schwinn Henderson. This bike was passed along from family siblings and all the cousins. By the time I got it she was pretty well beat, but I learned and passed it on. I can remember my father running behind me until I got the knack. No training wheels back then.

My first real brand new bike was an early 50's 26" black Hercules 3 speed with the Hercumatic shifter and hub. Got her for Christmas and she stayed with me until I got my junior drivers license. Wish I had her now.

Booger1

Schwinn Stingray in the early 60's,I was about 6 or so..My mom and I laugh about it every Christmas.Instead of going out and riding it,I went out to the garage and used my dad's tools to take it apart and put it back together.Mom paid $5.00 to have the bike shop assemble it and we laugh that I would have been happier to receive it the box and put it together myself.

AndrewP

My first bike was a hand-down from my older brother, made in the 1930s. I was 6 and couldnt reach the ground so had to stop next to the curb. It was a black Hercules. It had stirrup brakes pullling against the inside of the rims and operated by rods and bell-cranks like the chinese Flying Pidgeons.

My mother had a step through bike and I can remember being carried on a wooden seat facing backwards on the back of that bike when I was 3, while my older brother and sister were running behind.

cyclezealot

My Dad bought me a Schwinn . Sort of like Pee Wee Herman has.. With streamers on the handlebars.. Pretty Fred.. But, we have to start somewhere... Next bike. Couple years later. I graduated to a bigger kids bike.. First bike of my choosing was a Three speed English Racer..

DieselDan

I had a Western Auto Stingray knockoff that I got when I was 6.

San Rensho 

I was probably 5 yrs old when I got a bike, can't remember the brand. First ride without training wheels my dad launched me down a sidewalk that was at a slight incline. I couldn't stop and went into a low wall made of stacked stones. Got two stitches and the doctor didn't use any local anaesthetic! Stitched up like a hockey player.

Tundra_Man 

I actually wrote a piece on my first bike a couple of months ago: https://www.tundraman.com/Other/Bicycles/FirstBike.cfm

I'm trying to write a story about each bike I've owned, but so far only have the first three done.

DX-MAN

I had to have been about 4 when I got this 2nd-hand cruiser, 16" wheels, full fenders, brush-painted light blue, and about a million stickers on the fenders. Didn't have training wheels; I promptly crashed, cried, and wanted nothing to with it, not even after seeing my dad ride it perfectly straight down gramma's sidewalk. But with training wheels, I was on it.

Once, a training wheel collapsed, and I wiped out. Cried again.

I don't remember if I ever rode that bike without the training wheels; I must have, though, because my next bike -- 20" Schwinn Stingray -- was training-wheel-free, and I never had a bit of trouble with it.

That was so long ago -- before the family got its first color tv -- that my MEMORY is largely black-and-white (except for the blue paint, of course).

slyrx7

MY first was a smaller bmx style bike that my older cousins would shot me down the street on. There's lots to hit on inner city streets. Definately learned fast with no training wheels. Makes you feerless later

pferreira

Look at that... I bet I took a few of you down memory lane! Good times...

nivekdodge

What a geek, Note the bend on the rear fender from wheely-ing

KDC1956

Not sure when I got my first bicycle but I do remember my dad got me a nice sliver 10 speed bicycle I wish I still had this bicycle.I remember going down a hill on w7th st. I had a speedometer on it it went up to 60 and I got to take it to the max going down that hill it scare the sh*t out of me too.If only we could go back in time I would have taking better care of that bicycle and I would still have it.I often think about that one bicycle a lot.I'm not sure how old I was at that time but I do remember I had a lot of fun on that 10 speed bicycle.

Bob Nichols

I was 6 years old and my dad bought me a 26" Schwinn for $7.00 (used). I painted it with some left over maroon house paint. My legs wouldn't reach the ground, but I did learn to ride it on the 3rd try. When I was 13 I got a new Schwinn Corvette 3-speed for Christmas and though I was really uptown. Used that bike on my paper route.

Velo Dog

Pink metallic Raleigh "lightweight," of which no pictures survive. Would have been about 1955, an era of balloon-tired cruisers and the occasional three-speeds. My dad came home with a "24-inch" (wheel size) single-speed bike that looked like a racer--spindly frame, no fenders or tank, blackwall tires instead of trendy whitewalls. I would have preferred something more like my friends had, but once I got those skinny tires pumped up to 5 psi above the recommended 65, it ran like a rocket.
It got stolen a couple of years later in a weird way: I was sitting in a restaurant with some friends, drinking a Coke, when a station wagon pulled up next to the bike rack outside. While we watched, a kid got out, his dad opened the back, they threw in my bike and drove away. By the time we could get outside they were gone. I was 11 or 12, and I couldn't imagine my father helping me steal a bike.