Your first ever road bike…

This was mine – a hotch-potch of various bits. The frame was an old Argos one (the frame builders, not the catalogue!), hand re-sprayed by me. Pink bottle cage didn’t last long…

First one that was mine and only mine? Still got it. Trek 320 I think…

one of these;

I *loved* that bike.

bought new with some of the insurance money from writign off my Opel Manta…

Dave Marsh 531c with full Shimano 600 groupset downtube shifters. Bought used for £200. It was a revelation after my Dawes Horizon tourer. Now both gone. That 531 frame was a lovely ride.

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Fixie – Drops[/url] by thom1984[/url], on Flickr

threw the frame out. wish i hadn’t. 🙁

an early 80s Raleigh Equipe..

the drop bars lasted a week before they were pulled off and replaced with a weird old wide riser bar from an ancient town bike..

then I ragged the wheels off it (sometimes literally) over ramps in the street and around all the nearby woods..

Falcon Olympic, bright orange mid 70’s. five speed with 53/39 front.

1994 Trek 5200 (bought in 2001 mint from the LBS owner), like this one:

Full Shimano 600 8-speed! It rode like a dog, unbelievably harsh, even with nice soft custom built Hope Ti Glide/Open Pro wheels! Couldn’t believe how much more comfy the 5900 was that I upgraded to a year later!

Raleigh Arena GTX , yes a special one, with an alloy chainset with no cotter pins and er…….. a light metallic coat of paint. I really wanted a Raleigh Quasar ( I believe, it was a long time ago) then I got from school, they had a bike which was dumped and I bought it from the school, a Puch Mistral A , which was my first go at 700 c wheels. I eventually got it repainted by my local Rover garage after I crashed my works van and was Maestro white. I then got some wheels built from a very early mail order company ( cant remember who) and they were mavic rims and campag hubs. Bought a campag Victory rear mech, which in my eyes and wallet as a 17yr old apprentice, the mutts. Weirdly mums garage was broken into and they nicked the wheels and left the bike. 😥 Think i gave it to a friend after that for turbo trainer life.

OP – is that a mini 30?

Mine was a Peugeot 531 pro.

OP – is that a mini 30?

It was – with 4 x Cibie Oscars fitted!

Loved that car.

Early 80’s Raleigh Olympus – blue with black detail, loved it!

2013 Trek 1.5 😳

Velomaniac – same here

5-whole-british-speeds. And a loveley plastic saddle!

Aye, that’s the one Coxy!

1986 Peugeot summut or other? !?

I was 14 and pestered my mum to death, i wanted a Peugeot Triathlon. But got the cheaper version. Not sure what it was called or what happened to it.

Bought from Nortons in leamington; happy days!

One like this

Frame still in the attic,can’t bear to get rid of it 🙄

One of these, but in red.

That Peugeot was 5 speed. I remember the rich kids with their fancy 10 speed bikes.
I was so jealous. I thought life couldn’t get any better if i had a 10 speed racer. Especially one of those fancy new carbon fibre bikes with campagnolo gears.
I thought i was well posh when i bought a campagnolo water bottle!!

A Raleigh Banana thing, my dad pulled it out of a skip.

not stricly road… but bought an empella bonfire cross bike when i hit 40 to do the peaks, 59cm, did’t know any better, massive for me, loved it and discovered road riding.

by the time i got a pue roadie i’d sold the empella, had a ‘correct size’ columbus/empella crosser and sworks tricross which both are stunning bikes, and yet the first ride on my scott cr sl full dura-ace blew my mind. still does. do need to get some decent wheels this summer though!

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Peugeot. Steel, single speed – who knew I was a trend setter? And dress sense to die for

and a winning smile 🙂

Raleigh Hustler GT which I got from Santa.

My mate’s first one was a Chopper…..a Sprint GT. Really narrow front tyre and 5 speed. It also had drop bars and a chopped seat. Believe was rare and now worth a bit for collectors if such things.

Hercules Hustler with a Sturmey 3sp

I’ve been way off-trend all my life 😆

My first late 70s was a 5 speed gas pipe special from Makro.

I saved some pennies up and next bought a Woodrup like the one below, and if I recall correctly I part exchanged it for my first mountain bike. 🙂

Motobecane steel super sprint with 105 (1988/89) bought off my Swiss brother in law. Internal brake cable iirc.

Elswick Turbo12 -I loved it!

Raleigh Jeep with a Sturmey 3-speed hub and retro-fitted drop bars, when I was about ten or eleven?

But my first real road bike was one of these:

Not that actual one though, mine got left behind a shed in Ambleside in the early 90s in a state of even greater disrepair… shame really.

Mine was a Carlton Criterium 12 speed of approx 1982 vintage. I saved all of paper round money for about a year to buy it and I seem to recall it was around £120.

I couldn’t stretch to the next model up which was 531bbut it was cool because it had racing geometry and no mudguard bosses.
Pale green colour with Suntour bits, including ratchet down tube levers.

Loved that bike.

Still have mine. It’s currently my turbo bike. Presenting my 25 year old Peugeot Triathlon 531…

Actually I tell a lie, I completely forgot about my old Raleigh Arena! The pug was my first proper serious road bike though.

Ignoring all the clanky, rusty, single speed, flat bar affairs I rode as a kid, my first proper road bike is the one I built about 6 months ago; A 1999 Raleigh 853 (same as the R700, but only sold as a frameset).

Raleigh Record Sprint like this one:

Mine was some ancient old thing from a junk shop. 4 speed freewheel, strange, almost Midge like bars, wingnuts and single cottered chainset. My pride and joy. sold when I was about 13 for a Falcon Eddy Merckx. A blue one. Stupidly sold that after abit and bought a Puch Prima Super 12 which saw me timetrialing until I got my 531 Raleigh

Pegoretti Duende.
All the gear no idea.

A 1984 Townsend 5 speed with 24″ wheels from Halfords. I was 11. Next came a lovely brown and champagne Raleigh Mondiale a couple of years later. That was it, until 2008.

It looks like the fifties but its 1982. Club hillclimb on my old Harry Quinn. Not strictly my first road bike. I had a Coventry Eagle which was my sisters then my brothers then mine. This was my first road bike. Happy memories.

My first one I think might have been a 5-speed Peugeot when I was 12. And I was a bit disappointed having asked for my first mountain bike. That got used until the next Christmas when I did get a mountain bike.

The second one I just bought last year, over 20 years later.

Pegoretti Duende.
All the gear no idea.

Ridiculous!

My first was a steel Dawes 5 speed, it took me ages to save for it, and the shop keeper kept it in the window the whole time I was paying for it, what a tease.
When I put down the last few pence he produced from behind the counter a set of Nigel Deans training wheels. Fiamme on Campagnolo Tipo with Clement tubs and handed them to me for free.
Off came the mudguards on went the sprints and that weekend I rode the Amersham 10 on it.
It served me well until I bought a Reg Barnett ‘proper’ race bike.
Racing the Barnett mid seventies,