what school bike did you ride?

[Y282]

just thought of this. if you can find a pic, even better but when i was a kid you pretty much all cycled to school. for example my school cycling commuter career began with a hand me down raleigh chopper, then sun solo racer, then a record sprint, then a raleigh triathlon (still got it now).

so, what did you ride to school on? extra points for example or even original pics.

[Lord Pikey]

I think the first bike i remember having was a Raleigh Mustang in sunburst orange, then it got worse before getting better

Activator 2



I had this bad boy about 14



and then i got the bug and spunked out on one of these

Edited by Lord on Wednesday 16th March 20:09

Edited by Lord on Wednesday 16th March 20:19

[Y282]

always fancied the zaskar, looked dead flash.

my first one (all library pics)



second...



third (got a restored one of these in storage, must take some pics!)...



and my last school bike, which i still own today...

[adycav]

Raleigh Grifter in red.

My dad got me a speedo/odometer that we fitted to it. I kept riding as fast as I could downhill to try and get it 'off the clock', and fell off heavily a couple of times.




Replaced the Grifter with a blue Raleigh Sun Solo racer when I got a paper round. I used to wash that bike every week.



(Both library pics)



Happy days!

Edited by adycav on Wednesday 16th March 20:14

[Y282]

remember the first time i saw a grifter as a little kid. i'd only seen strikas until then and it looked HUGE by comparison. like a land rover with pedals.

[adycav]

It was a solid old thing that's for sure.

Better than a nancy-boy BMX!

[Y282]

adycav said:

It was a solid old thing that's for sure.

Better than a nancy-boy BMX!

"can you bunny hop it?"

"not since the hernia, no".

[adycav]

Grifter - the only bike you lean up against a fence rather than lay on the ground!

[Y282]

grifters were tough, but putting a raleigh bobmer down, that was virtually like having an off.

[Roman]

I was given a 2nd hand Raleigh Chopper by an uncle but wouldn't have been seen dead on it so it was sold to fund the purchase of a Raleigh Arena 5 speed racer (removed all the reflectors & alloy 'shorty' mudguards to save weight then added a speedometer!)

This was followed by a Carlton 10speed and then my first 'proper' bike which I started racing on - a Peugeot Roubaix with tubular tyres like this:


1984 Peugeot PGN 10 by JohnCompton76, on Flickr

Edited by Roman on Wednesday 16th March 20:43

[Y282]

Roman said:

I was given 2nd hand a Raleigh Chopper by an uncle but wouldn't have been seen dead on it so it was sold to fund the purchase of a Raleigh Arena 5 speed racer (removed all the reflectors & alloy 'shorty' mudguards to save weight then added a speedometer!) This was followed by a Carlton 10speed and then my first 'proper' bike which I started racing on - a Peugeot Roubaix with tubular tyres like this:


1984 Peugeot PGN 10 by JohnCompton76, on Flickr

THAT is stunning.

[Mark34bn]

My first bike was a Raleigh Chipper - red one on the link below -

http://www.rnlawrence.btinternet.co.uk/tomahawk.ht...

I had a Grifter for my 9th Birthday, Silver as in the pic below.



It ended up with more BMX bits bolted to it than I can remember. The only original part left was the frame.

This was followed by a Raleigh Winner. I think the same bike with different colour schemes was badged Raleigh Arena (blue) and Raleigh Ace (red)

Edited by Mark34bn on Wednesday 16th March 21:42

[thetapeworm]

Was there a cheaper / alternative Strika that was available around the same time?

My memory describes what seems to be a green Strika but with plastic mudflaps and the name "Strider" or "Strida" - cheap knock-off or the poor memories of a child that struggled with reading?

My secondary school ride was a yellow Falcon mountain bike from Halfords that fell apart a lot and was generally awful - I was mocked by those lucky enough to have a Saracen or a Muddy Fox but I enjoyed fixing it and saving for upgrades.

[Roman]

Y282 said:

Roman said:

I was given 2nd hand a Raleigh Chopper by an uncle but wouldn't have been seen dead on it so it was sold to fund the purchase of a Raleigh Arena 5 speed racer (removed all the reflectors & alloy 'shorty' mudguards to save weight then added a speedometer!) This was followed by a Carlton 10speed and then my first 'proper' bike which I started racing on - a Peugeot Roubaix with tubular tyres like this:


1984 Peugeot PGN 10 by JohnCompton76, on Flickr

THAT is stunning.

Yes it was very pretty, cost about £275 I think - several years worth of paper rounds. It was great for overtaking all the fringed leather jacket clad 'hoodlums' on their 50cc 'motorbikes' down the hill from school in front of everyone!

Soon got put in my place at my first race though!

[Y282]

thetapeworm said:

Was there a cheaper / alternative Strika that was available around the same time?

My memory describes what seems to be a green Strika but with plastic mudflaps and the name "Strider" or "Strida" - cheap knock-off or the poor memories of a child that struggled with reading?

My secondary school ride was a yellow Falcon mountain bike from Halfords that fell apart a lot and was generally awful - I was mocked by those lucky enough to have a Saracen or a Muddy Fox but I enjoyed fixing it and saving for upgrades.

i had a raleigh blazer when i was little, but it was white. snazzy little thing...



dunno if they did it in any other colours tho.

[thetapeworm]

Y282 said:

i had a raleigh blazer when i was little, but it was white. snazzy little thing...



dunno if they did it in any other colours tho.

My green "Strider" had the front suspension, comfy seat etc - that's why I'm beginning to think I was just a dumb illiterate

There is an old photo of me on the bike somewhere but it's been years since I've seen it.

[Raven Flyer]

Chopper then a Kalkoff Coupe Du Monde.

The CDM cost my dad nearly a week's wages.

[coupeboy]

I had a Kalkhoff Spitfire, then an Emmelle Cougar 15

[BliarOut]

Raleigh Chopper with Mobylette front forks (proper Easy Rider) and a rabbit skin seat cover which I tanned myself.

[h4muf]

Me,way back in'83 Mongoose Califorian.