I've been doing a lot of research for buying a new bike (hybird), when I thought to try and find a picture of my first bike.

Proof that once again, everything truly is on Google.

Brown Raleigh 20 with broken coaster brakes. We lived at the top of steep hill. I wore out a lot shoes stopping.

Not sure at all of the brand or style, but I remember what it looked like! It was my brother's old bike that he had outgrown, so the top tube (I think it's called) was straight, not angled like a girl's bike. But I didn't mind. I was given a choice of new colors that my brother would spray paint on and I chose pink with purple speckles!

Pink Raleigh "racer" (but only by comparison to the big tank cruisers my friends rode)--looked like what we all called "10-speeds" but was a singlespeed, 24-inch wheels, leather saddle (Ideale brand, I think) and a little leather seat bag with a crappy flat wrench in it to round off the nuts. In the mid-50s; I was 9 or 10 years old, and it was pink because pink didn't sell in boys' bikes and my dad got it for $39.95, I think it was, instead of $44.95. It was still around when I went to Vietnam in 1967 but gone when I got home.

Never had to check the tire pressure on my first bike. Solid tires baby!

My first bike was similar to this...



...but was orange.

Thought I was the coolest kid on the block. Come to think of it, I was. LOL!!

At the time we lived at the top of a steep hill as well, except my first bike was a fixie,with feet and legs stretched out to the side, and letting the pedals spin like mad if I wanted to go fast. My shoe soles also had a short life expectancy as well, and a few calf bruises from getting to close to a spinning pedal.

Mine was green - and my banana seat was yellow.
It's kind of amazing the amount of trail riding we used to do with those crazy ape hangers.

But my first "real bike" was a 1980 Fuji Royale (saved up 2 years of paper route money) - with the then unheard of TWELVE speeds.

Me and my first bike in 1979, a birthday gift from my grandfather... it had the solid wheels that couldn't get flat.

^ Nice Horn!

I still got it and have it on my mountain bike...
Works great for when I want to pass unsuspecting people on MUT's.

Excellent.

My first "adult bike" sans the engine option, 1950 Indian 3 speed, oh how I wish I had that option on some of those hills around town.

...

My first was a Schwinn Stingray, then I had a Western Flyer. I don't remember the make of my first 10 speed. It was purchased from Ace Hardware.
My first real bike was a Trek 310. After that I started buying frames, starting with a Cannondale 3.0, and building my own wheels.
Currently my stable has a Salsa La Raza, a Voodoo Wanga, a Biria, and two bamboo frames I built.

First bike I remember was a purple Stringray knock-off,I think it said Charger......first bike I purchased was a Huffy 3-speed on the grip....about $59...used it for my paper route

I'm on the left.



Actually, MY first bike was a yellow 16" ross bmx with training wheels and plastic (no air!) tires from montgomery ward or something. Plastic tires made it tough to love.

My first bike was a yellow Murray 20" with road tires. Had that for years. THe first bike I bought with my own money was a Huffy 26" 12 speed mountain bike that was decked out to look vaguely like a motocross motorcycle. Thing weighed a ton but lasted for many years of heavy use, on and off the road. Sometimes not even on a trail, just where ever I could pedal that bike. My second bike that I paid for was a 1990 ( I think) GT Karakoram K2. Spent another $600 tricking it out with new shifters, brakes, tires, and bunch of other stuff I cant even remember. That bike was my pride and joy and in alot of cases, my ride to work. Lost it years ago in a storage unit fire and spent the next 14 years looking for another one.

Hand me down 20" Schwinn Henderson. Probably 1930's--40's.

A used rental Stingray. Prettiest blue ever applied to a bike. That bike went from training 6 year old Merkel how to ride to finally breaking under the stress of BMX in high school. Everything part was trashed. The frame was broken in two places. Wish I'd at least kept the rear hub- loved the red band Bendix coaster brake.

Have to go through my parent's photo stash, I have no pics of it.

A little more digging and I found someone who has a photo of a bike that is exactly what I bought in 1985. A Western Flyer 10 speed, which was the first bike I bought with my own money as a 10th grader. Paint scheme and everything exactly the same as this photo.

Our first bike was a Columbia bought from my uncle Ray in about 1958 after my cousins outgrew it.

I also had a Schwinn Stingray, mine was red. I won my first and only race in my division in 1980 on it. Then again, how many 4 year olds race in a town of 60 people? Hey, I was 4, I was on top of the world with my trophy radio that looked like a Pepsi bottle!

I remember my first bike well. In fact, I wrote a story about it on my website: https://tundraman.com/Other/Bicycles/FirstBike.php Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge no photos exist of it.