What bicycle(s) did you have as a kid?

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My first bike was a green Schwinn with a banana seated and training wheels. On my 10th birthday, I got a Diamondback Viper in blue. I got a Concord 10 speed with 27" wheels when I turned 13.
 
I had a 20" Huffy from Caldor or Bradlee's. My dad saved the $2 they would have charged to assemble it and I danced around watching and waiting while he unboxed it. Came with training wheels. My mom was yelling at me once for some road safety thing and I tried to back up and avoid the conflict by pedalling backwards... this is when I learned about the coaster brake, and how it wasn't my old tricycle.

Later I was doing wheelies to impress some girls and landed on my hard head. Saw stars. Kept seeing stars later that night. Derp derp didn't say anything to anyone because they might have made me not ride, or wear a dorky helmet or something.

When my legs grew out we wandered through real bike shops who to a T warned us not to get dept store bikes. So we got a "Fuji Odessa" which history would probably show was a heavy steel clunker.

I delivered newspapers on that bike for a few years, operating the kickstand 37 times a day. Burned through a few aluminum kickstands before the helpful bike store guy hooked me up with a steel one.
 
My favorite childhood bike was my Huffy Judge 5. Look it up. It was the quintessential 1970's bike.
 
Raliegh 10sp; upright handle bars and fenders too; very English.

I figured it hauled about 10 tonnes of newspapers when i was in HS.

Oddly, a furniture store in W Hartford CT sold bicycles in the basement.
 
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A Schwinn Varsity 10 speed. All my friends had them and all were different colors. I put a 'cyclometer' on mine and put several thousand miles on it. I rode it everywhere from the age of about 12 to 15 years old.
 
Western Flyer tricycle,Roadmaster with training wheels,Iverson Road Runner,Ward's Spirit of 76 10 speed,Huffy Thunder Trail 78,Leeworld Mountain Sport 18 speed.
 
My first was a 28 inch so called "Victory Bike" made during WW 2 passed down when my brother joined the navy in 1943 or 44.
Next was in 46 or 47, a new Hawthorne deluxe 26 inch with a spring ride front end, headlight, tank with horn, and luggage rack with tail light and "blue dot" stop light.
That was classy!
Only bikes I had.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
Schwinn Predetor BMX.


My cousin had one of those around 1983 or so. Sweet bike!
 
Schwinn Stingray (very first bike that had training wheels,I learned how to ride a bicycle on this one. Red)
Schwinn Scrambler (Gold with black "mags")
Schwinn Varsity Sport 10 speed (metal flake/sparkle green)
Redline MX-II (candy apple red with gold/yellow anodized alloy parts)
Redline MX-III (chrome plated with blue anodized alloy parts,blue Tuff Wheel I's w/converted freewheel)
Diamond Back (their very first BXM model,I still have this one,candy apple red with gold/yellow anodized alloy parts,yellow Tuff Wheel II's w/oem freewheel)
Diamond Back Sorrento mountain bike (my current bike that I ride regularly)

I still want:
Redline Proline (1st generation late 70s white frame with red Tuff Wheel I's and red anodized alloy parts)
Mongoose (1st generation late 70s nickel plated frame,black Tuff Wheel I's,yellow oem Mongoose vinyl pads)
 
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Diamondback Viper


My brother had one of these w/chrome plated frame.
 
How about "cool" bicycle accessories? I had this thing called Raw Power that fitted over the grip that when you twisted it sounded like a motorcycle haha! And had this chrome triple tone horn (made by Schwinn). Then had a generator light that had the wheel that'd be spun by the moving tire. Never worked as good as advertised :^(
 
Great subject OP! First was an AMF tricycle. Then I learned to ride my mother's 26" Elgin with a war tire on the front. Then my fathers 26 Raleigh 3 spd. Next was a 24"heavy weight bike that I bought for a dollar. It was my paper route bike for several yrs. I saved up enough to buy a Raleigh 3 speed with side baskets. It was wicked fast but too delicate for my paper route.
 
I remember one of my childhood friends having a Schwinn Bantam. This kid up the street had one called a Huffy Monoshock.
 
Big day for me about 1966. I got what I asked for on my 12th birthday. Wester Auto sold the Western Flyer line of bicycles. I got the top of the line sting ray style bike called a Buzz Bike III. Three speed, hand brakes, gold metallic paint.
 
Some cheap Chinese no name bike that was purple with a white banana seat. Front wheel locked up the first day I had it, throwing me off.

As a teen, mom bought three Roadmaster bikes for the family. Mine and hers were three speeds. I think my younger sister got a smaller girls version of the same.

I had a 10 speed from Western Auto and another from Target. One winter I stripped down that last bike and gave it a two tone black and gold paint job, and went over all the mechanicals.

I rode that bike through college, selling it when I went off to active duty in the Army.
 
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