# Reminiscing (You're favourite old bike)



## ramses (15 Mar 2011)

Hi all,

I was just reading through some other topics, and noticed a comment about Raleigh bikes having lost their reputation in recent years.

Got me thinking about my old Raleigh bikes: Grifter, Mustang.

I remember my Grifter fondly, it was a hand-me-down from my brother, and when I first got it, it was to say the least a bit large, but that did not deter me!

I remember bombing down hills! it was hard not to when your bike weighed as much as your dads car!

We'd head for the ramps, where the BMX's were flying in the air, hit the ramp on your Grifter and if you didn't wipe the ramp out, you'd just plump off, back on to the floor, having gained about 2ft of height and flight!






We used to tuck cards into the back spokes so that it sounded like a scrambler, well let's face it, it looked like one too!

Those were the days!! 

This was what my Grifter used to look like:


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## HLaB (15 Mar 2011)

It'd be hard to say what was my favourite Old Bike; it might be the Raleigh Chipper as that was my first bike or it could be the first bike I bought when I got back into cycling a make I'd never heard of an Atalanta Blackdiamond bought in a Dublin bike shop. TBH the Atalanta was a bit of a BSO (cost £180punts) , weighed a ton, grip shifters, etc but it was built well and was fitted with custom alu mudguards and a rack, it was the perfect commuter for me at the time. Despite it weighing a ton it was pretty easy to carry up to my flat also, the frame had no bosses and all cables ran along the top of the top tube making it pretty friendly to pick up.


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## Randochap (16 Mar 2011)

I guess everyone's favourite bike is the first one that gave them the feeling of excitement and freedom.

In my case it was my Sun--the first bike I raced on (pictured on the front page of VeloWeb) and that I had to leave behind in the UK when we moved to Canada.

Although I have several bikes now, I have a soft spot for my 35 y/o Nishiki Landau, which I take out on a date occasionally.


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## asterix (16 Mar 2011)

Randochap said:


> I guess everyone's favourite bike is the first one that gave them the feeling of excitement and freedom.
> 
> In my case it was my Sun--the first bike I raced on (pictured on the front page of VeloWeb) and that I had to leave behind in the UK when we moved to Canada.
> 
> Although I have several bikes now, I have a soft spot for my 35 y/o Nishiki Landau, which I take out on a date occasionally.



My bike was a Sun! In fact it was my brother's bike but he had no interest in it or cycling even, so I borrowed it rather a lot before buying my own. It had an excellent leather saddle (Wrights?), was blue and very light.


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## Woz! (16 Mar 2011)

I had a s/h Sun GT10! The pedal fell off unless you rode it in a certain way and it would constantly get nicked on my paper round. The police knew me and would bring it back to the papershop with the seperate pedal! Last time it was stolen it was run over by a lorry 

But my favorite old bike would have to be my yellow Raleigh Chopper. An awful, but fun, bike. Riding over dirt jumps on it was deadly.


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## tyred (16 Mar 2011)

I would say my 1971 Dublin built Raleigh Twenty folding bike. A hand me down from my sister (originally owned by an aunt so actually in the family from new), I went virtually everywhere on that between the ages of about 9 and 15, treated it like a BMX or an MTB at times, and it refused to die. A long time lying rusting in the garage until I refurbished it a few years ago, it probably still covers 200 miles a year, including a 38 mile ride along the North Antrim Causeway coast a few weeks a go.


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## uphillstruggler (16 Mar 2011)

ramses said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I was just reading through some other topics, and noticed a comment about Raleigh bikes having lost their reputation in recent years.
> 
> ...



strange, i had one but i am sure mine looked more like a motor bike when i was 9!


my Grifter had twist grip shifters - 3 speed as i remember and was in the gun metal grey until my crazy sister painted it with white gloss!!

i had a chipper to start with though, i am sure that had solid wheels - blimey, dont think health and safety would allow that sort of thing now.


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## mickle (16 Mar 2011)

tyred said:


> I would say my 1971 Dublin built Raleigh Twenty folding bike. A hand me down from my sister (originally owned by an aunt so actually in the family from new), I went virtually everywhere on that between the ages of about 9 and 15, treated it like a BMX or an MTB at times, and it refused to die. A long time lying rusting in the garage until I refurbished it a few years ago, it probably still covers 200 miles a year, including a 38 mile ride along the North Antrim Causeway coast a few weeks a go.



Very cool. My mum had a Twenty, I took the mudguards off it one summer and used to ride out to country pubs with my mates. On one particularly long hill - tucked down to minimise wind resistance - I was tailed by a guy in a Ford Escort, I was thinking 'why don't you just overtake ffs?'

We got to the bottom and he pulled into the pub car park behind us, wound his window down and shouted: '34 miles an ahour mate!' with a big grin and thumbs up.


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## gbb (16 Mar 2011)

Bugger, i led a deprived childhood (i said deprived...not depraved). Never had a new bike as a kid. On the plus side, we were stripping bikes and building oddballs at 12 and 13 years old (because we had to) . 
Stripping freewheels, hubs, putting short forks on big bikes to make 'choppers'  ...we done it all....shame i can't remember what they were  

Carlton Continental, 531 framed IIRC was my first memorable bike.


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## beastie (16 Mar 2011)

Raleigh Scorpio that I 'borrowed' from the old man. Not the fastest but still the most comfortable and best balanced bike I have ever owned. It got run over.


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## Cubist (16 Mar 2011)

First bike I remember really fondly was a Raleigh Olympus. Mine was a blue one, 'cos the red ones looked naff to me! I expect I was about 11. Five speed, drop bars, totally cool!It had inch and a half tyres and a leather saddle. Cost 50 quid in 1975. 

I rode it for years and eventually resprayed it metallic blue, changed the drops for cowhorns and had me a "track bike!" That lasted one summer, then I took it to school, lent it to Colin F*cking Raz and he left it outside without chaining it up. Tosser. 

The insurance payout bought me a beautiful black shiny Crown Comet, a hand-built tenspeed tourer which lasted me until I stood up to ride it up to Totley from Woodseats in Sheffield. The rear dropout failed, bent and twisted and I never managed to get the wheel straight in the frame again. Bike was last seen rusting in a shed on Woodseats Road in about 1986


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## mark barker (16 Mar 2011)

I have fond memories of my Velo Schauff (although mine looked the same as the link, including the cool wheels and hub brakes, I had a single speed version). That thing weighed a ton and always stood out in a crowd!


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## Beardie (17 Mar 2011)

I remember a red bike owned by my sister which had a rather odd arrangement of cable-operated rod brakes. It also had a built-in rear carrier. I used to sit on this to pedal, which was much more fun than the actual saddle. As I was eight at the time, I didn't understand the references my parents made to 'Easy Rider'. I had my own bike of course, a standard diamond-frame, but hers was much more cool to ride round the garden. It also annoyed my sister, as her legs were too short for her to do this. Her revenge was to be able to climb a rope ladder up the apple tree, which I never managed. Happy days...


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## Garz (17 Mar 2011)

At the time I disliked it but when my dad bought me a 3-speed sturmey archer geared grandad bike it was actually a beast thinking back. It had shiny full mudguards and a good paint combo which is why my friends named it the 'bentley'.


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## Smokin Joe (17 Mar 2011)

I've had more bikes than I can remember, but the one that made me happiest was a Woodrup race frame I had specially made circa 1971, Columbus tubing (SLX if I remember correctly) in cherry red with white panels and half chromed forks and stays, Super Champion sprints on Milremo hubs, Barum tubs, Universal chainset and brakes, Simplex Prestige rear mech with some cool bar end shifters (or gear levers as we then called them). An apprentice's wage wouldn't run to Campag back then.

I wish I'd kept it just to hang on the wall.


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## Hilldodger (18 Mar 2011)

I've just bought an identical Hercules Hunter to the one I had as a nipper off ebay for £10.50. 

It's basically a sportier version of the Raleigh Shopper/Twenty.


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## R600 (18 Mar 2011)

BSA star rider single speed upgraded to cow horn handlebars. first race bike was a hand me down BSA tour of britain, covered many a mile on that one


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## tyred (18 Mar 2011)

Hilldodger said:


> I've just bought an identical Hercules Hunter to the one I had as a nipper off ebay for £10.50.
> 
> It's basically a sportier version of the Raleigh Shopper/Twenty.






I knew about the Triumph and BSA but wasn't aware of a Hercules version.


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## BirdOnnaBike (2 May 2011)

tyred said:


> I knew about the Triumph and BSA but wasn't aware of a Hercules version.



I had a blue Hercules Hunter in the early 70s. When I got to uni in the 80s, my best mate brought her bike along from home - also a blue Hercules Hunter!

My own favourite old bike was my 1980s white touring one built for me by Scott's in Birmingham, who have the most uninformative website in the universe, possibly:

http://www.scotts-cycles.co.uk/

Looks like they don't build bikes any more? My worser half totalled it by borrowing it to ride to work when his Claud Butler was out of action, and smashing it into an iron farm gate.


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## Piemaster (2 May 2011)

Another Sun fondly remembered here too. My first, and up to last year, only drop barred bike


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## cyberknight (2 May 2011)

uphillstruggler said:


> strange, i had one but i am sure mine looked more like a motor bike when i was 9!
> 
> 
> my Grifter had twist grip shifters - 3 speed as i remember and was in the gun metal grey until my crazy sister painted it with white gloss!!
> ...



heeh the grifter !!

Mine was blue with the same twist shifter , the hub cable pull snapped on mine so i had to ride everywhere in top gear , i certainly knew about it .

My favourite bike was a raliegh dynatech which i stupidly sold when i did not get time to cycle .


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## dave r (2 May 2011)

Three of my favourites


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## david k (2 May 2011)

as a kid i had a viscount 'kp crisps' white racer as we called em


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## Cyclopathic (2 May 2011)

The bike I remember with most fondness was my first ten speed racer. We definitely called them racers back in those days as many other sorts of bike had not been invented so there wasn't the need for so much differentiation. I suppose some people might have been calling them road bikes back in the 80s but nobody I knew was.

It was the cheapest in the range of Raleigh team colour bikes and included what were advertised as some quite special new innovations. It had the flattened out tubing on downtube and seat tube, although being the very cheapest in the range it was virtually just flattened ot iron, but still.

The other fantastic new innovation it had was the duo-pace oval shaped chainrings, designed so they claimed to give you more power on the part of the stroke where it would be most beneficial. At the time I was impressed but thinking about it I'm not sure exactly how much difference it made. I suppose the answer lies in the fact that I haven't seen them around for about 20 years. Are they still used I wonder? Do they make the slightest difference?

It was also the first bike that I ever completely stripped down and managed to get back together without too many parts lewft over. It had gotten somewhat old and tatty and the decals were all scrappy so I decided to get it resprayed and to get the cost down as much as possible I stripped it down myself.

When I got it back it was metalic black with a gloss finish. I had paid extra for the metalic paint and I thought it looked the absolute nuts. They had removed the Raleigh badge from the front which I thought made it look even cooler for some reason. I think perhaps Raleigh might not have been fasionable in the school yard at the time or some such.

Point was though it really felt like my bike and despite its poor heretage I had looked after it and kept it working as well as it could. I think it might have even just had a sachs hurret rear mec but it still worked ok. Which reminds me of another fab invation that it had which was the supposedly ergonomicaly curved black plastic changers on the down tube. If not an innovation then they were certainly used as a selling point. To be honest they might have had to scarbble around a bit for selling points.

I loved that bike and I'd have another one in a second. I'd have any old racer from that era of raleigh racers in fact. There was the Record sprint which was the one I really fancied at the time and may have had something to do with my choice of black when respraying mine, or one of the Equipes which were also nice.

Anyway, time to stop playing with the traffic down memory lane. Enjoyin readin about other peoples old faves.


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## Cyclopathic (2 May 2011)

Cubist said:


> First bike I remember really fondly was a Raleigh Olympus. Mine was a blue one, 'cos the red ones looked naff to me! I expect I was about 11. Five speed, drop bars, totally cool!It had inch and a half tyres and a leather saddle. Cost 50 quid in 1975.
> 
> I rode it for years and eventually resprayed it metallic blue, changed the drops for cowhorns and had me a "track bike!" That lasted one summer, then I took it to school, lent it to Colin F*cking Raz and he left it outside without chaining it up. Tosser.
> 
> The insurance payout bought me a beautiful black shiny Crown Comet, a hand-built tenspeed tourer which lasted me until I stood up to ride it up to Totley from Woodseats in Sheffield. The rear dropout failed, bent and twisted and I never managed to get the wheel straight in the frame again. Bike was last seen rusting in a shed on Woodseats Road in about 1986




Two heartbreaking stories there. At least the comet went out in action. If I were you I would also still be very upset with Mr. Raz though.


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## al-fresco (2 May 2011)

My favourite was a ten-speed Peugeot bought from Graham Bufton Cycles in Dawley. Reynolds 501 single butted tubing I think. It was a horrible peach colour but it flew for mile after effortless mile.


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## the snail (3 May 2011)

I had a red BSA like this one in the early 80s, loved it to bits. I hope the scumbag who stole it died a long and painful death


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## subaqua (3 May 2011)

I always remember my Trak trail bike, had Front spring suspension and was like a BMX but 10 times heavier. its the bike i learnt most of my bike fixing skills on. I snapped the bottom bracket off and re welded it on stripped the whole bike down to frame and resprayed it. my fiorst decent bike was a Raleigh Phantom 10 speed. I didn't like the colours on the stripes so peeled the decals off. was a pale almost powder blue colour. its buried behind several bikes in the back garden i hope.


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## Thelma (3 May 2011)

I loved my bikes when I was a kid. My dad always built them from salvaged bits and bobs, buying as little as necessary, I think.

I had a Raleigh... ummm... 14 and before that.... a 9 I think. It was small and red with little wheels and I was about 6 years old. Happy days!


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## Mac66 (3 May 2011)

Oooh. Was a big fan of the Peugeot Pro team in the 80s so went to Halfords  and got myself a 10 speed Peugeot Equipe road bike. I must have been quick on it, because it was red.


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## exbfb (3 May 2011)

I had a grand total of two bicycles when I was young.

First one was bought out of the local paper maybe about 1974-75.

The local paper had an "under a tenner" adverts section and my granny saw a bike avertised.
It was a no name thing with 3 speed derailleur and flat bars. 
I absolutely loved it.

Then when I was about 13, I got a Raleigh Grifter for Cnristmas one year.
Metallic Blue of course.
I discovered that you could tuck the floppy end to the mudguard into the tyre and it made a motorbike type noise until it wore out.

And errr, that's it.

Until about 2 years ago there was nothing in between when my brother gave me the Diamondback Lakeside which I have now, and of course the Trek 1.1 which I got recently.
I'm catching up on lost time.


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## Peter88 (3 May 2011)

The 1st bike I remember was a Raleigh Striker ( i wasn't big enough for a Grifter :-( ). But the one I remember best was a BSA Firebird bought at a jumble sale for £3 and rebuilt to have cowhorn handlebars and stubby mudguards that were useless but looked good, It was the 1st bike I had that was geared ( a Sturmy Archer 3 speed drum)


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## Dewi (3 May 2011)

I had a Raleigh Commando in the 70's when everyone else had Choppers and Grifters - I felt 'special' for being different 

Next came the BSA Javelin racer - did lots of tinkering with that one as well as lots of miles, done all my own work on bikes since.

Mid teens it was a Coventry Eagle racer, lots more miles but it died in a crash which mangled the rear drop out (don't remember the details but it must have been good).

Late teens, Peugot Carbolite racer, serious miles, bunking off 6th form to go riding when the sun was shining 

Then pass driving test, wife, kids, 20 years goes by. Various BSO since as I try to get back into the habit but none generate the same passion as the old bikes though...


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## Goldie (4 May 2011)

Dewi - I can't recommend scouring the internet and free ads for a bike the same as your old one highly enough. I had a couple of five speed racers from Viscount and Viking when I was growing up. About a year ago I realised that my Raleigh Tundra MTB was a BSO and that I was never going to fall in love with it, and after a bit of pondering, I just started looking for the grown up version of what I had when I was young.

I scored a mint condition 1979 Viking Superstar 12 that had spent the last 30 years slumbering in a shed in Blackburn, and I literally couldn't be happier. It has all of the lovely details that I remember from my youth - the engraved Viking ship on the handlebars, the list of racing victories on the seat tube - and best of all, it's still a completely practical proposition as far as riding goes. Here's the old girl basking in the sunshine last year - I've replaced the bar tape since then:







Unlike the Raleigh, this is a bike that I actually look forward to riding - and part of that is the nostalgia. It makes it so much easier to get out for rides. 

I still see nice condition Carbolite famed Pegeuots quite often, and I even had a BSA Javelin briefly last year. 




Lovely...


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## Wardy (4 May 2011)

My favourite old bike was this Viking. Wish I still had it.


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## abo (5 May 2011)

My parents bought a used bike for me to learn on when I was tiny. They resprayed it with metallic blue car paint as it was a pink girls bike

Then I got a Comanche. Was it by Raleigh? I can't find anything on the internet about it but it was a bit like a small chopper with no gears (not a Tomahawk, it was similar so maybe not Raleigh).

Then I had a Grifter. No ordinary Grifter but a Grifter XL  All lasery graphics and bloody heavy.

Then I started using my dad's old BSA racer

They lounged at the back of the shed for about 5 years after I learned to drive, then one day when my car was broke my mate conviced me we should both ride to his house, me on the racer and him on the Grifter. This was something like 1994? We rode them to his place, and unfortunately I got a lift home. I say unfortunately because he stole a load of videos I'd lent him, and moved house and the bikes disappeared...

Shame because I'd love to have both those bikes now


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## Angelfishsolo (5 May 2011)

I had a Chopper. Used to be able to clear three people laying on the ground butted up against a ramp made of wood and bricks. Gods only know how!!!



ramses said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I was just reading through some other topics, and noticed a comment about Raleigh bikes having lost their reputation in recent years.
> 
> ...


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## Davidc (5 May 2011)

My all time favourite was my Holdsworth Cyclone. I bought it in 1967, it was a 1966 model, and I worked Saturdays and during the holidays at Sainsburys to get the money for it. I have a copy of the brochure, but no picture of the bike.

That bike saw me through 4 touring holidays, doing club TTs, it was my everyday transport at school and at university, and did everything asked of it.

In 1974 it was stolen, the thieves half demolished my shed and took the concrete base and railway lines it was attached to. A lot of trouble for a 7 year old bike that had done over 100,000 miles. I've wondered if they mistook it for something else.

The insurance money plus a bit bought me a second hand 1973 Holdsworth Mistral, a better bike but I never had the attachment to it that I had for the cyclone. Sold it at a considerable profit a couple of years later and bought a Peugeot. Big mistake but the Pug lasted me over 20 years.

I'd still happily kill the person(s) who nicked the Cyclone!

The Mistral brochure is from a 1980s one, but the 1973 model was very similar.


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## abo (5 May 2011)

ramses said:


> We'd head for the ramps, where the BMX's were flying in the air, hit the ramp on your Grifter and if you didn't wipe the ramp out, you'd just plump off, back on to the floor, having gained about 2ft of height and flight!



I used to jump my Grifter too, those skinny curved forks and heavy bike meant that after a while I had to remove the front mudguard as they forks had bent so much it was fouling the tyre...


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## Andy_R (5 May 2011)

My first bike was a mongrel that my dad built up, and I loved it to bits - steel frame, drop bars, 3 speed sturmey archer. I turned the drop bars upside down, my mates thought it was the coolest thing. I used to take the plugs out of the ends of the bars and stash my cigs in there .

My next bike was a yellow peugeot 10 speed that I bought from my mum's universal catalouge (showing my age now!) and paid about 2 pounds a week for 2 years!

That was followed after a decade of non cycling by a Claud Butler Vantage which got some hammer but eventually died in the shed!


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## Wankelschrauben (5 May 2011)

I got my uncles Mk1 Raleigh Chopper from my grand parents one year for Christmas.

It was an amazing bike which had many years of use until one year after Christmas the gearing mechanism had seized.

My uncle has it now and restored it.

It is either that or my current road bike, which I think I prefer over my beloved BMW.


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## Fnaar (6 May 2011)

Mine is more a story of regret at my own negligence, I suppose...
In my last week at uni, my bike (cheapo 'racer'... this was mid 1980s) was nicked




2 weeks later, I was working in a summer job, and spent £100 (which was a FORTUNE) on a touring bike... my knowledge of bikes was very very basic, and I bought it simply because it looked nice.




It was, I think, a Raleigh of some description, and it had a metallic brown frame, drops with matching brown bar tape, a rack, full mudguards, and extension levers meaning you could also brake with your hands on the horizontal bit of the bars, which I liked.

I did about 3 'long' rides on it (for me long was 20 miles then) and I did those in jeans/T shirt. Then I moved to London, and used it for commuting about town for a year or so. After that, I went to live abroad, and left it in my mum's garage. When she died a few yrs later, my brothers cleared the garage out... asked me on the phone if I wanted to keep it... I had no room, and lived miles away.... so they took it down the dump...

If I'd kept it, looked after it etc, it would be a lovely thing to modernise/upgrade, but sadly it wasn't to be. So, I love that bike, but in retrospect.


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## 007fair (6 May 2011)

first bike I remember was from late 70's and it was really old even then	Bought 2nd hand locally, it had handle bars that turned in towards you like the bikes in the Hovis adverts Curiously they had a Hovis badge / Logo on them so maybe it was an original Hovis bike.. brakes were non existant though

Next came a raleigh arena I think which I crashed into a gate in Holland when I was 14 Next came a proper bike (I thought) - 1 twelve speed elswick puma in blue with yellow tape and detailing. Lots of touring in that and this was my favourite Then a yellow saracen tufftracks mountain bike from dales in glasgow in 1987 for £400 which I still have! Nothing since that until recently


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## david k (6 May 2011)

tomahawk


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## BirdOnnaBike (7 May 2011)

Just remembered my actual first bike was not the Hercules Hunter, but a small red bike called a 'Fairey' bike. It was a 1950s one my dad got secondhand in the mid 60s. Don;t have a single photo of it. It had solid rubber tyres, if I remember right. There was a Fairey aircraft factory in the War near our house - not sure if they made bikes, or someone else made them, post-War, to keep the machines in production? I'd love to know.


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## david k (7 May 2011)

http://oldroads.com/fdbdown.asp?61 

like this one


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