Reminiscing (You're favourite old bike)

[exbfb]

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.

 

[Peter88]

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)

 

[Dewi]

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...

 

[Goldie]

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...

 

[Wardy]

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

 

[abo]

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

 

[Angelfishsolo]

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!!!

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:

 

[Davidc]

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.

 

[abo]

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...

 

[Andy_R]

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!

 

[Wankelschrauben]

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.

 

[Fnaar]

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.

 

[007fair]

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

 

[david k]

tomahawk

 

[BirdOnnaBike]

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.