I don't remember the name or the type of my first bicycle but I remember I had begged and begged for one for Christmas when I was around 8. It was my favorite color at the time, blue. It had tassels on the end of the handlebars, a bell, and of course, the basket in the front. I remember riding it on Christmas morning down our road back and forth for hours. It was an amazing experience.
My first bike was a used bike, that I got for Christmas. I remember trying to balance, and the pedals scuffing up my ankles, as I would jump off, instead of using the brakes. Took some time, but I finally could ride it, and use the brakes properly.
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
My first bike was given to me by my parents on Christmas morning when I was 5 years old. It was a pink Schwinn Sting-Ray that my dad had assembled overnight in the garage. I had that bike for years, going from training wheels to riding on home-built ramps competing with friends to see who could ride over the ramp and jump the farthest. I can still picture that beautiful bike like it was yesterday!
Location: Shakopee, Minnesota
I don’t rightly remember what brand.
I just remember the banana seat. Lol
After we moved to the suburbs I would bike ten miles one way to visit my friends and hangout. I was a teenager so had lota of energy!
First two-wheeled bike was a red Schwinn one-speed that was sturdier across hill and dale than a $2000 dollar mountain bike of today. Of course, it weighed in at about 30 lbs.
Besides my tricycle (that also served as "first" bike for 2 younger brothers and my baby sister...they don't make 'em like that anymore) my first bicycle was a Schwinn 3-speed. In grade school and jr. high it got me up and down the road and to school and back. In high school it got me to my girlfriend's house and back (sometimes quite late in the evening...don't tell my Mom). Somewhere during high school years I retired the Schwinn and got my first 10-speed, a Gitane. I was living like Larry! But the downside...my girlfriend could no longer ride on the handle bars. It was OK though, because her Dad had bought her a used Plymouth Fury II...cool! Eventually the girlfriend moved on and so did the Gitane. I was now riding a Peugeot PX-10...oh those were the days. The Peugot was eventually stolen (by a "friend", I think) and I didn't own another bike for 23 years. Then, I was riding a balloon-tire bomber with a basket in front and a child seat on the back. I was riding the streets of Shanghai (yeah China), Monday thru Friday to work and back, and on the weekends to the plant and bird market or wet market with one of the kids in the child seat...those were good times. Now I'm back in the States, the kids are off to college, and I started riding again. This time it's a Trinx Tempo 1.0 purchased online during the pandemic. There's a cool, paved bike trail that I can jump on right outside my house most days after work, and my wife joins me on weekends on a hand-me-down Schwinn Clear Creek mountain bike.
Sorry for the ramble, but I enjoyed re-living it. And, I think I came to the realization that each bike was a "first" bike...a new time-frame, a new environment, a new relationship, an new ride.
I was a small green bike with a white banana seat and long chopper handle bars. Go 70's!
My first bike was an old banana seat bike that I got from my grandmother. I can still remember being 5 or 6 years old and my brother and I removed the training wheels from the bike and taught ourselves to ride upright on two wheels. In hindsight our parents probably wanted to teach us that, but we taught ourselves.
Hello Everyone 🙂
Granny NeeNa here and let me tell you that back in the day we had some bikes.
Didn't have much, but my brother's and I was handed down some really ran down bikes.
Don't have pictures but I can tell you we enjoyed them very much.
Banana Seat bikes we popped alot "Wheelies" and unicycles was rough to ride.
Put junkers together to make a good one. Taught my little brothers to ride a bike too.
Thems was the Good Ole Days!
I was 5 years old. It was pink with tassels on the handles. It also had a white basket. Before that, I had a little red tricycle and I would take my stuffed animal dog, put it on the back of it and pretend that I was taking it to school while riding it.
I never really had a "first bicycle" -- I learned to ride on my brother's bike which I'm pretty sure we got used from a neighbor.
The one thing I remember most about my first bike was that I always got in trouble riding it. My parents would tell me how far I was allowed to ride up and down the block where we lived, and pretty soon they'd catch me way outside whatever limit they had set. So I'd get grounded for a while. Then next I was allowed to ride it would happen again.... And again.... And again. Dad was pretty cool about it but mom was always worried about everything.
The first bike that sticks in my mind wasn't my first. It was probably my third or fourth - it was my first 'real' bicycle, not a kid's bike. I had gone with my dad to a meeting in another city about 60-70 miles from where we live. After the meeting we stopped at a shopping center. I don't recall which store we were in, maybe a Walmart or a Sears, but it had bicycles and I found a 26" 10-speed that I showed to dad as an example of what I wanted. I was surprised when he bought it on the spot -- then I was a lot more surprised while we were walking to the car when he told me that if it didn't fit in the car I was going to have to ride it home. We were at least an hour from home by car on the interstate and I had absolutely no idea how I would get home if I had to ride the bike. Fortunately the bike fit in the trunk and dad had a strap to hold down the trunk lid. I don't think he would have really made me ride home by myself, but I've never been 100% sure, especially after some of his stories about riding bikes in New York City and in Germany.
My first serious bike was a black Raleigh 3 speed "English Racer" back about 1960. It was my first bike with hand brakes. Mom was surprised that dad bought me such a fancy bike but then she was absolutely beside herself when she realized that I was going to be riding it home by myself -- we lived in Brooklyn and had just bought the bike at a department store in Queens. Back then bikes were not allowed on the New York subways so the only way to get the bike home was either to walk it or ride it. I was about 12 or 13 at the time. I kept telling mom and dad that it was no problem, I'd just ride the bike and meet them at home. I didn't mention that I had no idea where we were or how to get home from there. I just followed the elevated subway tracks most of the way back, and that got me close enough that I knew my way the rest of the way home.
Thinking back, mom was probably right that I had no business riding the bike home in city traffic -- at least she didn't realize that the hand brakes were totally new to me or she probably would have put her foot down about me riding it home.
Sadly I have forgotten my first bike. But I do remember my favorite. It was a mens ten-speed. Classic style with the turned down handlebars. We lived in a small town so I was able to ride everywhere all day long. My hair flying in the wind, no hands on the handlebars. I loved riding.
My first bike was a little blue Schwinn with training wheels. I only rode it a few days before demanding my parents remove the training wheels. I vividly remember hopping on it and taking off. My parents told me to stay in the driveway, so the first thing I did was head straight out onto the road. It was the first day of a whole childhood exploring the world around me on my bike
I'm 75 years old and have had many bikes over the years. Quite frankly i don't recall what my first bike even was.
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