What kind of bike did you have as a kid?

I had a yellow Schwinn Stingray. My dad wouldn't spring for the Lemon Peeler with the 5 speed, slick and smaller front wheel. Mine was a single speed with the yellow metalflake banana seat. Sold at a garage sale in 1978 for $5. Wish I could buy it back for $5.

How cool is it you have a picture of your old bike? My parents might have one somewhere though it would take me a year to find it.

We used to go to a place in Crystal, Minnesota that was a Schwinn Bicycle shop combined with a hobby shop that had slotcars and a huge slotcar track. Talk about a place to go and drool for hours when you're a kid.

 

Geez. I had a freakin' Schwinn Varsity! Remember those??? o No: p

 

I actually had a Raleigh LTD 3 speed before that..

Regarding the Varsity, I STILL have it! I still USE it!

 

I don't recall the bicycle's name, maybe JC Higgins one speed. That wasn't particularly memorable when you live out in the sticks.

Do remember the mini-bike with a pull start Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine, two speed centrifugal clutch, and little tires that was a heck of a lot of fun for 12 year old with places to go and hills to climb in the mid 60s. I was so envious of my buddy who got a Honda 50 when we were 14.

 

I had an old Rallye BMX bike. I went through 3 sets of grips, 5 sets of tires, uncountable numbers of tubes, and I wore the seat foam flat. When my speedo stopped working (YEAH ANALOG!) it was well over 5,000 miles, and I probably put it over 8,000 miles. I've still got that bike somewhere on new wheels (old ones nearly fell apart after too many jumps). It was retired when I cracked the frame. I should pull it out of retirement and restore it...

 

All my friends and I had bikes from the Krate series. Orange Krate, Apple Krate, Lemon Peeler, Cotton Picker, and a Pea Picker. My one buddy still has a basement full of old Krates. I may have to buy one off of him.

 

How 'bout a Royce Union 3 spd. English Racer!
This was before they even invented the banana seat!!!
Ooy!! I feel really really old all of a sudden.

 

My big brother had one heavy-A$$ 20 inch bicycle with shocks at all four corners. I think it was a Raliegh. He used to jump from some INSANELY high places with that tank. He broke the frame three or four times. Never broke himself. No kidding, some of these new "extreme" bikers would fear some of the jumps he made. I was always too chicken to try.

 

was it a 10 or 12 speed? i still bike [missoula is supposed to be "bike friendly"] but i hit a point a few years back where skinny framed, skinny tired road bikes just didnt cut it. i got into mountain bikes out of desperation. at 6' 4" and some 280+ lbs i could make any road bike and most mt.bks cry like little sissies. i love the trails and back roads around here, and ripping down some unexplored alley can be a real kick, but curbs, logs, and BIG rocks really can jump out in front of you:laugh: funny, the bikes we had as kids are now collectors items. just another example of somebody with too much money wanting to relive a past memory. now i go past the local bike shops and see bikes in the window that LOOK like 30 year old bikes, but cost more than my first car, heck, more than my newest car!:error:

 

I still have my stingray's, but they're for sale

I've got a bunch of Stingray's and part's, had big plan's of starting
a Stingray/Krate restoration service,and bought several bike's
and part's over the last couple of year's.
Plus I have my old green 72 Stingray and my 68 Orange Krate.
I don't really have the time(or garage space) to do the restoration
thing, stuff is just in the way.
Anybody looking for something specific? I'd like to liquidate alot of
these bike's and part's that I have.
1968 Orange Krate...need's new cable's/chain guard repainted
1970 Campus Green stingay
1968 blue fenderless stingray(restored)
1969 Red coaster brake Fastback
Late 70's(can't remember year) blue/silver stingray 3 spd

Is'nt it great when the nostalgia bug bite's, and you dig your old
childhood bike out, or go looking for a replacement?? That's what
happened with me and the restoration ideaou:

 

From what I can remember....all bmx/freestyle bikes. I`ve owned....
Torker,Haro[the original freestyler]Redline,Mongoose,SE racing quadangle and a PK Ripper,Hutch[Tim Judge and a Trickster]GT,Kuwahara. I know I forgot a few.I still have hanging in the garage a Redline and an Auburn. I recently sold my Tim Judge Hutch frame/fork for more than I paid for it back in the day.I was going to "restore" my Hutrch,but the old school bmx parts are kinda like restoring an old Buick. Expensive

 

How did I miss this thread? I am the last of 7 kids so I have pretty much seen them all. My older brothers had crates, Lemon Peeler, Pea Picker. I had an Orange Crate. One of my brothers still has his. Bicycles was for some reason the only quality thing that my Dad understood. Must have been the plugs on Capt Kangaroo. I am still into bikes myself. More so than when I was a kid. Here is a picture of a bike that I finished restoring about a year ago. I have owned since new. That is twenty years for those that care. SE Quadangle.:laugh:


You know I am surprised that there was no mention of people's paperbikes? Nothing like an old two speed kick back Schwinn!!:TU:

 

It was/is a 10 speed I believe.

Yeah, I was in a bike shop around here last year and I had to rub my eyes when the CHEAPEST bikes they had were like $480. They were the ones hung on the wall out of the way so nobody could see them.

All the $800-$2500 bikes were in plain view though.

Biking is HUGE around here because of the tourism and money in the area. Too steep for me though. I went and bought a $85 K-Mart trail bike special and have used it a ton already.

Sometimes I think these bikers are more sick than we are, just having to own the more expensive one because it's "there".

I know there is probably a difference in quality obviously, but the prices of bikes are really insane.

 

DrOlds:TU: :TU: :TU: I`ve owned three of them. The last one I had,I traded the frame/fork for a 74 AMC Matador.I think I got the worse end of the dealo No: Very cool bike INMOP

 

The first bike that was really mine and not a hand down from an older brother was a Schwinn Corvette about 1956. It was a blue 3 speed with midsized tires and chrome fenders. One of the first with tires between the balloon tires and the skinny racer tires.

Jerome Guffey

 

Should I admit that I have Seven of them? Here is one I built for my daughter. Don't see many eight year olds' out on a thousand dollar bike very often.

 

Small world Dr Olds,

I thought I reckognised the yellow quad.

Hello, fellow VBMXer.

Richie Rich on that board

Small world :TU:

BTW, your quads are sweet, always wanted one.

 

I had a Raleigh "banana" bike. My Mom gave it away when I went to college.
She also gave away my HeathKit "Boonie bike" mini bike with a 2 speed trans and a BIG lawn tractor rear tire and a ski for the front wheel.
She also gave away an english made gocart, pretty wild elaborate tube frame and dual chain drive. Chopped my little finger off on one of the chains/sprocket. Sister went to get the finger to re-attach (I was in hospital) but a dog got it first!

Bruce

 

Buick Lark66 There are a few of us on this site.

STR-1:bglasses:

 

my current old school redline