this has been bugging me since i first saw the post. i am almost certain i was 7. i got the bike for Christmas and taught myself. had no training wheels. no one was around to teach me. then i lost it because it had not been assembled properly and started falling apart a few miles from home. i walked home. i think i got another bike was i was 12 but no one knew how to take care of a bike or show me stuff like inflating tires. then got a bike when i was 22 and have had one ever since.