What was your first proper bike?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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simonineaston
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by simonineaston »

An Elswick "5 speed racer".
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Dingdong
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by Dingdong »

After that it was a Puch Ten Speed. I was cock a hoop with it!
Jamesh
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by Jamesh »

Brown walvale 531 road bike. 22"

If I see it I would buy it back in an instant!

Like this..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224162488127 ... media=COPY
foxychick
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by foxychick »

Manc33 wrote: 5 May 2022, 3:10am We all had BMX bikes as kids, we can't remember the name of now, but those are kids bikes - they aren't proper bikes with gears and everything.

What was the first proper bike you can remember owning?

Mine was called a "Townsend" MTB, pale green frame, Reynolds tubing (and it was aluminium) with 15 gears and it was quite cheap, but it was light for the price, bought from a bike shop that was (I think) inside a mill, in Stockport, for my 15th birthday. That would have made it the Christmas of 1991. I went on many rides with it and always remember how badly my hands got vibrated on bridleways... it had a rigid fork and no rear suspension. No bikes (in that price bracket, or for kids) had any sort of suspension back then. I still remember the curved Shimano thumb shifters it had. Still got the frame in the loft... and I'd never throw it out or sell it. :D

What was your first proper bike?
That would have been Thorpes Cycles near the viaduct, your frame would not have been Aluminium as Reynolds never built in Aluminium but steel.
Jdsk
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by Jdsk »

foxychick wrote: 5 May 2022, 3:39pm... your frame would not have been Aluminium as Reynolds never built in Aluminium but steel.
I don't understand this. Is it a distinction between frames and tubing? Thanks.

Reynolds: Aluminium:
https://www.reynoldstechnology.biz/mate ... um/a-7005/

Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_ ... #Aluminium

Jonathan
Pendodave
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by Pendodave »

A rather fetching lilac Carlton Continental for my (approx) 14th birthday. Circa 1980.
Used it for a multitude of purposes, including a daily trip to school.
I have no recollection of ever doing a single bit of maintenance on it, beyond a bit of 3in1 toothbrushed onto the chain.
saudidave
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by saudidave »

The first was one my Dad got off the tip and rebuilt when I was about 4. It was proper sit up and beg with rod operated brakes. After that was a "Phillps Fiesta" a 3 speed bike with 24" wheels when I was about 8. That was followed by a "Falcon Black Diamond" with 5 Huret derailleur gears when I was 11. It must have been a bit upmarket and was £25 19s & 6d as it had a Brooks B17 saddle and alloy wheels.We got it from Smiths cycles on Regent Road in Salford. I can remember at the time (1964) that Kerry 5 speeds, real basic, were around £18.00, Falcon & Viking 5 speeds were slightly better spec around the £22-24.00 mark. Happy days!
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Mick F
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by Mick F »

Dingdong wrote: 5 May 2022, 8:31am But I really wanted a Chopper, my mum said they were "too dangerous"!
Don't talk to me about Raleigh Choppers! :D

I was the first and more than likely, the only person to ride JOGLE on a Raleigh Chopper.
:D
http://jogleonachopper.blogspot.com
Mick F. Cornwall
axel_knutt
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by axel_knutt »

What's a 'proper' bike?

My first adult size bike with 27" wheels was a second hand racer of anonymous make, with 5 speed Huret gears. I remember riding it to primary school, so I must have been about 10.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
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simonhill
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by simonhill »

Dawes Chic Alors. 26" wheels, 5 speed, beautifully engraved handlebars. c1965

Triumph 200cc Tiger Cub in 1969

Maybe my first proper bike was a nearly new handbuilt 531 Saracen Kili Flyer c1986 that got me into off road cycling and that led onto expedition touring.
Nearholmer
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by Nearholmer »

What's a 'proper' bike?
Yes, I’d assumed it meant “grown up” or similar.

If it includes childhood, then I’m another who had a deeply secondhand “junior roadster” with rod brakes. My father sourced three of these, probably from small ads in the paper, each in the appropriate size for we three brothers, refurbished them, and painted them our favourite colours, mine being “British racing green” (aka Woolworths Forest Green or similar).

I got on well with mine, as did youngest bro, but middle bro struggled to get the hang of it all, and spent a long period where “a bike ride” involved him pushing it to the top of the hill and freewheeling down at break-neck speed, using our front hedge as a combination of brake and safety net.
millimole
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by millimole »

I've a vague recollection of a sit up & beg roadster, but I'll nominate the no-name frame given to me by my father's slightly dodgy pal which I built up with bits from various Tottenham bike shops.
It was on this that I discovered CTC Sunday rides and Youth Hostels.

That was stolen from school when I was 16 (1971) - my father's workmate - him of one hand - sold me his Hetchins for £5 (I've still got it!)

No looking back from there.
Leicester; Riding my Hetchins since 1971; Day rides on my Dawes; Going to the shops on a Decathlon Hoprider
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al_yrpal
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by al_yrpal »

Mick F wrote: 5 May 2022, 4:26pm
Dingdong wrote: 5 May 2022, 8:31am But I really wanted a Chopper, my mum said they were "too dangerous"!
Don't talk to me about Raleigh Choppers! :D

I was the first and more than likely, the only person to ride JOGLE on a Raleigh Chopper.
:D
http://jogleonachopper.blogspot.com
I temember someone from South Oxfordshire doing lejog on a chopper about 10 years ago

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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TrevA
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by TrevA »

Mine was a Carlton Ten, bought for me by my dad, at the age of 14 in 1974. It had a 531 Frame, Brooks saddle, but terrible chrome wheels which didn’t stop in the wet. These were soon replaced by alloy wheels. Weinmann brakes and Huret gears, again quickly replaced with an early Shimano Titlist rear mech.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
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CyberKnight
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Re: What was your first proper bike?

Post by CyberKnight »

Dingdong wrote: 5 May 2022, 8:29amLike this!
I had the same one in that exact colour ! hub gear cable snapped so i was in top gear permanently
John Wayne: "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on... I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
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