Your Very First Bike

[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.

[Skierchickie]

My first few were all hand-me-downs from my sister - man, did I want a brand new bike of my own! I started with "Mumpy", the little tricycle (boy, did we laugh when Dad got on it and pedaled around the yard!), then something red with training wheels. Anybody ever learn to ride on a gravel driveway? I remember my grandpa holding me up on the hill by the barn, and running down next to me. Scarey. Then a green banana-seat bike, an aqua-blue 3-speed, and finally, MY VERY OWN green Ross Gran Tour 10-speed. That was jr high or high school, and my first real "go for a ride by myself" bike. When I was in high school, in the summer I'd go for a 15-20 mile ride after swim practice. In college one of my male friends was a biker, and he kinda gave me a hard time about the Ross (I believe he called it a tank. He is also the one who said he wouldn't ride with me unless I wore a helmet - a true friend!). So in 1987 I saved up my overtime money from my summer job, and got an aqua Trek 560. It's been all Trek ever since! A 1989 970 mtb, a 1992 2300, a 2001 8000 mtb, and now I ride a 2003 5200 , and a 2006 Fuel Ex 9. Biking is so wonderful - you can start as a little kid, and the whole thing just evolves over time. How many things do you do today that you did when you were 5? Just for fun? And how many people who loved their bikes when they were kids just don't realize they could still love them today?

[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.

[RolliePollie]

Before I had a two-wheeler, I had a Big Wheel. Does anyone else remember those? I LOVED that thing! Me and the neighborhood kids would race around like maniacs on our Big Wheels, crashing into each other like bumper cars as I recall. We had a cement driveway which was really good for drawing on with chalk, so we used to draw roads, freeways, gas stations and all sorts of stuff out there for our Big Wheels.

I love this thread! It's so fun to think back on all those great childhood memories! I just wish my parents had taken some pictures of me and my bicycles. I can remember them vividly, but alas, no pictures!

[rachelroo]

I had a lavender bike with a banana seat that had flowers on it. I remember somwhere on the bike it said puppy love, which is funny because I was deathly afraid of puppys and dogs as a child. I lived near a lake in Minnesota and rode around it most every day in the summer time. Maybe I was in puppy love with my lavender bike.

[ShubieGA]

I got a JC Higgins (Sears) blue girls bike when I was 4. Since my b-day is in the winter (in Chicago at the time), I rode it in the basement until there were some warm enough days to ride outside. 1st multi-speed was a Schwinn Varsity (70's green) in junior high - it weighed a ton, but I would ride it everywhere!

[Python]

I got my first bike for my Christmas when I was six years old. It was a Tri-Ang. It had a red frame and yellow mudguards. It had a wicker basket on the front. Curiously it only had a front brake. It also had solid tyres but I loved that bike. Sadly six months later I had an accident with it and my parents being overprotective (to which I rebelled in later years) threw it up in the attic and forbade me to ever go near it again

40 odd years later I'm back enjoying cycling even more than I did the first time

I've got an old photo of me on that bike somewhere. I'll have to dig it out and scan it sometime.

[wolfak]

I really wanted to share!

One Christmas, I got a trike, red, it was awesome and I loved it much. I recently found a picture of me unwrapping it, and now I know it was a second- or third- or eighth-hand trike. But I loved it.

Then there was the red kid's bike that my brother had, with white molded plastic seat.

Later on, the Huffy Street Dance girl's bike

Then the Huffy Mt. Storm that I saved forever for and purchased at my nearest Wal-Mart which in the day was an hour away. A week later, we had a terrible crash, which you could read about if you search my previous posts. I had that from '92 to '02. (6th grade to college! It didn't get ridden much and it started getting more crappy and was eventually impounded.

Now I have an '03 Diamondback Wildwood Deluxe, extremely pimped out for commuting, and a '07 Trek 1600 WSD, which is my weekend exercise.

I also just acquired a '76 Schwinn Varsity of original components and questionable shape. The top tube has a gentle curve, and none of the Schwinn literature shows that. The curve looks natural, but I need to give it more inspection. I'm trying to decide the best way to overhaul it.