Let's hear about your first bike.....

[Kristi]

My very first bike I've ever owned I got two years ago. It's my Giant Trance 3. I think she's beautiful. We didn't get along at first. I didn't take her out at all for almost a year after a big argument last spring that left me pretty bloody.

I rode lots of bikes as a kid, but never had one of my own. I treasure this bike. I can't imagine feeling the need to get a new one. I might replace pieces and parts, but I love the frame.

I've been back riding this spring and have ridden at least once a week for the past 2 months. It feels great!

[bmccasland]

bicycle = 2 wheels. It was blue, single speed, bought at the hardware store, or maybe a toy store in downtown - back when small towns had functional downtowns. I can't remember the brand name. BUT my stinking brother got to ride it home, as I was deamed "too little".

2nd bike, orange Schwinn 10-speed. Was my trusty steed for several years. Was stolen, along with 300 other bikes, from the bike racks in front of my college dorm one night. You'd think SOMEONE would have noticed a small moving truck loading up a whole bunch of bikes!

but I was dating a cyclist at the time, and he found me another, better 10-speed from the LBS, steel frame as I recall. Bike suffered several years of neglect when I didn't ride very much, but couldn't live with the thought of no bike. A bike mechanic friend took sympathy on it and did a lovely cleaning job, new saddle, new tires, and bike forgave me. I rode it on my first MS tour 4 years ago. And it's currently being ridden by a friend when I deemed her bike unsafe. So the bike has done 2 MS tours.

[Aggie_Ama]

I was thinking about those old bikes this weekend, all of my childhood ones were bought by my Pawpaw. He died May 4, 2003.

Anyway after the Strawberry Shortcake I had a purple and white Huffy BMX style. Then the coolest bike ever for a 9 year old, a Huffy Colorwave 10 speed. It was aqua and pale blue with a special saddle to match. They advertised the heck out of it on the afternoon shows and that was all I asked for for Christmas in 4th grade. It was stolen out of my drivewave right before Christmas the next year. My Pawpaw bought me a new mountain bike style purple but it was never the same as my Colorwaves. I had to wait a month for the new bike to learn my lesson by walking to school.

In college I had a Walmart Mountain bike before DH bought my Fuji in 2004. And now I have my Cannondale and a Scott Hardtail.

[pll]

My first bike was a vintage one (now I realize it), an old bottle green Monark I was given by one of my uncles. I rode that bike for at least 5 years to school -- when I started college, my brother started using and crashed it one too many times. I was able to find a picture of what the modern version (made in Peru) looks like:

http://www.monarkperu.com/images/productos/big/3.jpg

My bike also had the grey tires (faithfully replaced), but no front basket, was already very old when I got it in the late 1970s, and was not made in Peru (I thought it was Denmark, but I find a very similar logo in a Swedish company: http://www.monarkexercise.se/). It looked more like the one here:

http://www.bikespecialties.com/site/...1945monark.jpg

[TxDoc]

First bike, wow, the memories... of course the classic tricycle as a little girl (it was yellow though, not red). My first real bicycle was my sister's used Bianchi that she had outgrown.

[Zen]

I'm so old



.

[Spec&TrekGirl]

My first bike was a pile of rust that had been sitting in a neighbor's backyard for several years, left by whomever the previous renter of their house was. They gave it to us when I was 4 and I learned to ride it by 4 1/2.

I remember helping sand the rust off of much of the bike except for the handlebars which I was happy my parents replaced with the cool tall ones that went with the banana seat we got for it. The original seat was metal with a paper-thin amount of cotton covered with vinyl. The top tube was in two pieces that could be unscrewed and attached as a "girls" step-through.

I have no idea of the brand. But I remember all the work that went into getting it in working order and can still picture the fenders hanging from wires in the basement where my dad was spray painting them blue.