Your Very First Bike

[Aggie_Ama]

Mid-80's garage sale find when I was 5. Maybe my parents got it from a friend? Mine had a banana seat and was Strawberry Shortcake themed!! I didn't learn to ride until I was 8 though, so the bike mainly had training wheels and sat unused. The bike was replaced for me by my grandparents when I finally learned to ride.


The best though was my Huffy Color Wave 10 speed I had. It got stolen and I am still saddened. It was an aqua color, I wish I could find a photo!

[SouthernBelle]

I got mine for Christmas when I was 4. It was red and blue and had training wheels. Don't remember the brand, but I bet it was from Western Auto way back then.

[Cyclo Kitty]

Mine was a blue metallic single-speed Raleigh with a coaster brake. Might have been the Space Rider or the Colt. I rode it with my Dad all over Chicago, until I finally wore out the coaster brake! Coming down the hill from the Rookery behind the greenhouse in Lincoln Park, I shot across the street and into the park....Dad yelling at me about safety. He refused to believe the bake had failed until it tried it himself (by hand, he's 6'-2" and if it had gotten small for me at age 8, well, it was beyond him to squeeze onto it!).

I loved that bike, and I remember the shop where we bought it, and the next one, and Dad's bike so well. One reason I like my LBS here so much is that it smells just like Turin did in the 1970s and the guys are pretty similar too, but there are women mechanics and sales people.

[IFjane]

Mine was a blue huffy. I learned to ride without training wheels when I was five. My elementary school was exactly 1 mile from my house and EVERYONE either walked or rode bikes to school. There were two huge bike racks out by the cafeteria and that's where we all parked our bikes. In those days, the kids who lived real close even went home for lunch & came back. I didn't because I was just a little too far away. But - I rode my bike to school every day (unless it was raining) from kindergarten through 6th grade. At some point I "graduated" to a larger bike, but I don't remember when.

Memories: I had a basket on the front, and my dad fashioned a primitive bungee with wire and a piece of cut innertube so I could tie down my books and papers.

I took piano lessons and rode my bike to those, too. The lessons cost $1.50. My mom would fold two quarters up into a dollar bill & I would hold that in my hand as I pedaled to my lessons.

I hated the month of March. It was so windy and the wind would blow up my skirt & I couldn't keep it down....then the boys would laugh. This was "back in the day" before girls could wear pants to school.

In winter Mom had me wear wool leggings under my skirts. I hated the leggings but they did keep me warm.

[GLC1968]

My first bike (that belonged to me specifically) was a banana seat bike similar to the one that singletrackmind posted. I think it was either blue or purple. I honestly don't remember much about it except that the pedals were really close to the ground, so I had to be careful not to make a sharp right turn with the right pedal in the down position. I did once (luckily in an empty parking lot) and got one of those handlebars hard in the ribs. I had a nasty moon-shaped bruise on my torso for months and it was the first time I ever knocked the wind out of my lungs. It was scary! Now, 30+ years later, I still keep the inside pedal up when I make a turn.

The first bike I truly remember was a white 12-speed Huffy that I got when I was in 4th grade. It had foam covered drop handlebars and I rode it EVERYWHERE for years (literally, through junior high). I LOVED that bike. Funny thing is, I have no idea what happened to it!

[mimitabby]

my very first bicycle was a pink pin striped t hing with training wheels. After being terrorized by grown men pushing it down the street with me on it, i gave up on riding and that bike was probably left in a basement somewhere.

When I was 9, my father surprised me with a beautiful new bike.
It was a dark blue, and had only two wheels. He got on it, and rode it
in a circle; then he handed it to me; and I got on it and rode it.. like magic.
This is not my bike, but one like it.

[Meg McKilty]

I think I was 6 or 7, but it looked a lot like this with some bursts of stars and such. Pink Huffy with a white banana seat the neighbors dog chewed a bit after a while. I think I still have it somewhere...

[Crankin]

I was so little that when I was 6 or 7 my parents bought me a teeny teeny blue bike from Germany because they could not find one that fit me. I'm pretty sure it had cool stuff on it, but all of the boys in my neighborhood made fun of me because of the size. I only rode it with training wheels, though, because I just could not learn to ride. Finally, when i was 9, almost 10 my mom rented me a purple Schwinn when we were down the Cape and she patiently taught me to ride. I remember having absolutely no control and just veering across the road into parked cars (this was in a cottage colony, no real traffic). Anyway, i did learn and when we got home I got a turquoise Schwinn with the metal backseat on it , with a white stripe. It had coaster brakes and a white seat. I rode that for a year and in 6th grade I got a 3 speed black Raleigh with a Brooks saddle. I rode tons between 6th and 8th grade, and there were big hills where I lived. I think I got a slightly bigger Raleigh in high school, but after moving to Florida I rarely rode. Everyone drove.
I had a boyfriend who bought me a 5 speed race bike in the late seventies. I rode it to grad school classes at ASU, about a mile from my apartment and I distinctly remember riding wearing a sundress and no helmet... we traded this in for ten speeds in the eighties and I had that bike until about 1997. I rode it a bit in Tempe (going the wrong way against traffic, in the bike lane ) and a little when I moved back to MA, but never more than 5 or 6 miles.

[missymaya]

Mine was a winky dinky walmart bike that matched my sister's (twin girls must have everything matching according to some parents, including bikes) for our 5th birthday. We moved a month later to a sandy dirt road and they were used very rarely and then one day mine just disappeared. Years later, I canoed down the St John's river that runs behind my parents house and 4 or 5 miles down stream I get out and go for a hike and I see this pink bike, rusty, front wheel bent, chain broken and notice that it's MY BIKE!! Hey, how'd that get there! One person came to mind: my brother!! Mean boy took it across river and left the poor thing there . Come to think of it now, he should owe me a new bike

[wavedancer]

My first bike was a hand-me-down from my brother. My father cut the top tube and re-welded it to make a step-through "girls" bike. He painted it a beautiful aqua blue and taught me how to ride without training wheels. He would run along with me, holding the seat, and the first time he let go I crashed and "swallowed the handle bar!" I had a gash on the inside of my lip and I still have a scar on my chin, 50 years later! Now it has an attractive little hair that grows out of it

[coyote]

Mine was a little blue bike my parents bought 2nd hand. The older kids in the neighborhood taught me to ride. I out grew it quickly. We kept it around. I used it to teach the younger kids in my neighborhood to ride. It was metal and took a real beating. A good bike to learn on.

[rapid cycler]

It was a Sears girl's bike, bright yellow, with a white flowered banana seat and a white flowered basket. Oh, and rainbow-colored tassles on the handlebar grips. These details were explicitly requested by my 5-year-old self. By the time I was 9 or 10, and a confirmed tomboy, the basket had been ditched and both the handlebars and seat had been swapped out for BMX-style equipment. It was a very strange looking bike, especially given that it still had a girl's step-through frame! At a certain point, maybe out of his own embarrassment, my brother handed down to me his red Schwinn Stingray.

[Ninabike]

I was 5 and my parents got me a red "kid-sized" bike. I remember secretly wanting a "big" bike, not that I could have ridden it. When I finally did get a "big" bike - Schwin 3-speed - I was 8 and I used to ride around with my cat in the basket.

[nancielle]

Got mine when I was about 5. Don't know the manufacturer but it was blue and white and, best of all, I didn't have to share it with my younger sister It did get handed down to the younger siblings eventually and I moved up to a green three-speed something or other until I was in high school when I got a yellow 10 speed.

[divingbiker]

My first bike was a second or third or fourth hand, heavy, fat-tired bike that had been repainted an awful turquoise color. It was much too big for me, and I am ashamed to admit that I pitched a fit when I got it and never rode it. I'm sure my parents thought me a terribly ungrateful child, since it was all they could afford and they did their best, but that wasn't good enough for me. I have a very clear mental picture of that bike leaning against the back wall of the garage, never being ridden by anyone.

I rode my sister's Schwinn instead, which was also too big for me, but it wasn't as heavy and I could manage it--had to stand up to ride it and the seat was always stabbing me in the back, as someone else mentioned.

I got a newspaper route when I was about 11 or 12, and saved my money to buy a candy apple red girls stingray, which I loved. I guess my fascination with red bikes has been with me for almost 40 years.