your first bicycle

Thu, 26 Feb 2004 23:20:39 -0500,
<[email hidden]>, Luigi de Guzman

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I had bikes in storage for fourteen years, knowing that I was going to _someday_ start riding
again. Glad that I did when I did or I don't know what I'd be doin' now.

crapping in peoples' yards, presumably?

Maybe, but I'd been enjoying a car-free life for about three years before getting back on a bicycle.
--
zk

"Zoot Katz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've always figured a collection of "first bike" stories would be cool to read. I save them when
they appear here.

There was a brief "bikes we broke because they were treated like a bmx, but werent" thread
somewhere.

Zoot Katz <[email hidden]> wrote in news:4062c2cb.36601523
@news.individual.net:

Quoted message said:

Then it was a red Volvo 544 before giving up on cars and trading it for a hardtail BSA.

Yeah I had one too as my first car and raced it at Mt Tremblant and rolled it. It was black and
after going over 1 1/2 times had so many dents it looked like a prune. After fixing it and putting
45,000 more miles on it I sold it to my brother who put 100,000+, and the only engine work it ever
had was what I did to get into racing form.

Mark Lee <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<MPG.1aa961512000aa98989697@news-server>...

Quoted message said:

Just checking through your homepage and it seems a lot of your bike worries are due to lack of
mechanical knowledge. I wouldn't trust my bike to someone in a shop. They don't have to ride it.
Buy a book and some tools so you can do the simpler repairs/maintenance yourself straight away. It
makes life easier.

Hi Mark, I know they don't have to ride it but I'm usually presuming since they are making these
kind of repairs every day they are much more likely to do it right 🙂 Any suggestions for a good
book that is easy enough to understand by someone without a lot of mechanical knowledge? And defines
all the terminology it uses. Basically the kind of repairs I do myself right now are limited to
really simply stuff like changing a tube or tightening something with an Allen key.

Tanya

Zoot Katz said:

I had bikes in storage for fourteen years, knowing that I was going to _someday_ start riding
again. Glad that I did when I did or I don't know what I'd be doin' now.

You'd probably be hanging around a newsfroup discussing stuff.

Oh.
--
Rick Onanian

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:16:48 GMT,
<[email hidden]>, Mike Latondresse

mikelat@no_spamshaw.ca said:

Zoot Katz <[email hidden]> wrote in news:4062c2cb.36601523 @news.individual.net:

Quoted message said:

Then it was a red Volvo 544 before giving up on cars and trading it for a hardtail BSA.

Yeah I had one too as my first car and raced it at Mt Tremblant and rolled it. It was black and
after going over 1 1/2 times had so many dents it looked like a prune. After fixing it and putting
45,000 more miles on it I sold it to my brother who put 100,000+, and the only engine work it ever
had was what I did to get into racing form.

Those things were built like fire hydrants. Five main bearings in a four cylinder engine. There's
still a few of 'em around town. I believe it's the car every beetle owner really wanted.
--
zk

[email hidden] (Tanya) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi, Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood bicycle are. I remember
mine was shiny and red, and braking was by pedalling backwards. It screwed me up when I got a
later bike with handbrakes. I have a pic of it on my blog at crazybikerchick.blogspot.comcrazybikerchick.blogspot.comOpen ↗

My first was a Schwinn, I remember it (barely) as blue with blue fenders and white pinstriping (I
think), normal "bike" shape and coaster brake (I bumped into the neightbors' Impala while seeing how
long a skidmark I could leave on their driveway. Good thing it was parked at the time and I did no
serious damage, either to it or to myself! Saddle was blue and white with the Schwinn "S" on it. But
that's not the first bike I think of when I think back...

My true first--the ones that made a strong impression--was a brand-new
c. 1970(?) Columbia Playbike, gold with a silver and white bannana seat, five-speed stick, and
chrome fenders. By the time I was done, it had a high sissy bar, a goldish-orange saddle, grips
to match the saddle, and more scrapes and scatches than...well, it was transportation. And it
was COOL. OK, so I really lusted after the Orange Krate, with its suspension, slick rear tire,
and front drum brake. But there was no way I or may parents were EVER going to be able to afford
THAT ride...

Well, that depends on what you qualify as my "first bicycle" I had a great red trike as a tyke...

As for two-wheelers, mine was a Sears Spyder 5 Sp. (a Sch, StingRay knock-off) complete with top
tube stick shift. This never got much use except for riding around the driveway with my dad's
stereo playing.

My first "ten-speed" was (natch!) a forest green Schwinn "Varsity" which freed me from the slings
and arrows of having to ride the bus to school. I also credit this bike for turning me into a REAL
cyclist (I put over 1500 miles on that thing by the end of that school year).

"May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

From: [email hidden] (Stephen=A0Harding) :

Quoted message said:

Got no pic but it was a swell bike!

Black and white, fixed gearing (I was ahead of my time at age 6) with no coasting, no brakes AFAIR,
hard rubber tires (no tubes), and fringed saddle bags and *rife case*. Slid a Winchester '98 cap
rifle in there. As macho as a bike could possibly get!

Motorists gave me a wide berth.

SMH

Now THAT'S what I needed for Wilshire Blvd at 6 am! ROTFL!!!!

"May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

Tanya said:

Hi, Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood bicycle are. I remember
mine was shiny and red, and braking was by pedalling backwards. It screwed me up when I got a
later bike with handbrakes. I have a pic of it on my blog at crazybikerchick.blogspot.comcrazybikerchick.blogspot.comOpen ↗

Tanya

My first bike--there's a memory from the distant past. Shiny and red and I wanted it so much. I
sneaked out of my bedroom in the early hours of Christmas and went looking to see if I had gotten
it. There it was, tucked in a corner where it wasn't immediately visible. My father was really angry
when we all got up later and went out to the tree and I went right to the hidden bike!

I spent many happy hours on that bike. Yes, braking was by pedalling backwards. We also used to
attach playing cards to the stays with clothes pins so they would hit the spokes as they rotated.
Made a neat clacking sound.

-=Dave=-

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Tanya) said:

Hi, Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood bicycle are. I remember
mine was shiny and red, and braking was by pedalling backwards. It screwed me up when I got a
later bike with handbrakes. I have a pic of it on my blog at crazybikerchick.blogspot.comcrazybikerchick.blogspot.comOpen ↗

An interestingly recurring theme in these accounts is that it's not necessarily the /first/ bike
that is the most notable or beloved -- that first one was just for learning on.

It's the second, or another subsequent bike that's often the most memorable.

The transition with being promoted to the "next" bike appears to figure perhaps even more
prominently than the bike itself.

I just find that interesting.

cheers, Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn
[point] bc [point] ca

Quoted message said:

Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood bicycle are.

All I can remember is that it was all-black. I can't remember being unable to ride a bike, and I'll
always be glad that it occurred to me some years ago to ask my father how I learned. He was
surprised that I couldn't remember, and told me that at age five I had asked him for a bike. He
bought me a cheap little used bike with trainer-wheels, which I asked him to remove after about a
week, exhibiting remarkable speed and skill for such a young lad, he said. With obvious pride and
satisfaction he told me, "You were the envy of the neighbourhood!"

I've been on a bicycle ever since.

Tanya said:

I know they don't have to ride it but I'm usually presuming since they are making these kind of
repairs every day they are much more likely to do it right 🙂 Any suggestions for a good book that
is easy enough to understand by someone without a lot of mechanical knowledge? And defines all the
terminology it uses. Basically the kind of repairs I do myself right now are limited to really
simply stuff like changing a tube or tightening something with an Allen key.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike maintenance isn't bad. It's inexpensive, has excellent drawings,
mostly good advice (though in one or two places it is questionable). It was a good starter book for
me, and I still use it as a reference, since I don't wish to drag my monitor to the workbench when I
have it on Sheldon, Park, or a Barnett pdf.

Of course, you'll want the book for Mountain Bikes if you happen to walk on that side of the dirt
trail. Called, obscurely enough, Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates R'chmd
wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Tanya
Hi,
Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood
bicycle are. I remember mine was shiny and red, and braking was by
pedalling backwards. It screwed me up when I got a later bike with
handbrakes. I have a pic of it on my blog at
crazybikerchick.blogspot.comcrazybikerchick.blogspot.comOpen ↗

Tanya

Oh wow, I stumbled on this thread only to see that the first message from you, Tanya, is exactly the same as mine! As a little girl I had a red, back pedalling break bicycle too! It was so cool and when we came to the U.K all the local kids begged to ride it as hadn't seen anything like it before! I still hold a deep scar on my left knee thanks to that beauty and when it catches my eye it makes me smile to this day! 🙂

I spent many happy hours on that bike. Yes, braking was by pedalling backwards. We also used to
attach playing cards to the stays with clothes pins so they would hit the spokes as they rotated.
Made a neat clacking sound.

-=Dave=- [/B][/QUOTE]

We used to attach these small plastic clips in a whole variety of colours that were used then for keeping the seal tight around loaves of bread! The more colours let alone quantities elected you to a particular status, too funny thinking back!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood bicycle are.

The "John Paul". Awful, awful bike.

It was some sort of gaspipe monstrosity with solid tires, a crude frame with sheet metal made to
look sort of like a gas tank, and painted orange (badly) with JOHN PAUL stenciled in black on the
tank part.

I hated how heavy that bike was. I could ride it down our moderately steep street, but not up.
Getting a coaster-braked BMX-style bike was a very happy day. I think after I stupidly let that bike
get stolen I rode a girl's bike which my father had cleverly painted matt black and added a "boy
bar" made out of a broomstick, also painted.

My next bike was another singlespeed kid's bike, one which my brothers found. They abused it so
badly by ghost-riding that it was given to me as punishment, and because I had no decent bike.

My first really good bike was my Nishiki Rockhound, acquired in high school when MTBs were hot
stuff, and ridden fairly regularly for many a year.

I then discovered motorcycles, and mostly tucked away the Rockhound until I took up riding bikes
again a few years ago. The Rockhound was really too small, but was otherwise a decent enough
commuter machine. Now it's my wife's bike, and I have a stupid number of bicycles.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

On Tue, 02 Mar 2004 19:39:08 -0800, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Now it's my wife's bike, and I have a stupid number of bicycles.

The only "stupid" amount of bicycles to have is less than one.
--
Rick Onanian

Have a look at the old bicycles in our Vintage Bicycle Picture Database. You can query the database
by year, make, etc. and probably find a picture of the kind of bike you had.

In 1965 I was riding the Schwinn Sting-Ray I purchased with my paper route money.

Vin - Menotomy Vintage Bicycles, Inc. oldroads.comoldroads.comOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

What almost all the kids rode back then. I was eight, it was 1965, and it was what they would
probably now call a cruiser bike. Red, coaster brakes, wide tires.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Rick Onanian said:

Ryan Cousineau said:

Now it's my wife's bike, and I have a stupid number of bicycles.

The only "stupid" amount of bicycles to have is less than one.
--
Rick Onanian

I'm at the point where I now have at least one perfectly functional bike (the fixie) that hasn't
been ridden for a couple of months. I also have two frames in search of people that fit them.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

[email hidden] (Tanya) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi, Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood bicycle are. I remember
mine was shiny and red, and braking was by pedalling backwards. It screwed me up when I got a
later bike with handbrakes. I have a pic of it on my blog at crazybikerchick.blogspot.comcrazybikerchick.blogspot.comOpen ↗

Tanya

My first bike was a small cruiser, coaster brake, probabaly 24" tires. All I remember about the bike
(I was 4 or 5) was that sometime after my parents took the training wheels off my mom painted it one
afternoon. She painted it red with little white decals. I remember she painted parts of it white and
then used freezer tape to mask off areas when she put the red paint on. I think she put white
stripes down the fork and I know there was a white diamond shape on the top tube. I grew up in a
small town where no one locked their doors. I remember my older brothers friends coming up to me and
saying "Where did you get the new bike, Tom".

A few years later I got a Sting Ray, like every other kid at the time and forgot about the bike my
mom painted for me.

Tom