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Learning to ride a bike

B

bilsat

master brummie
My first bike was an old "sit up and beg" black bike bought from a neighbour and my first lesson had me sitting on it with my father behind me holding on the saddle, "you peddle and I will hold you" he said, so I peddled as hard as I could. I was doing well so I turned my head to find that Dad was still back at the starting point!
I obviously then fell off!!!
End of first lesson.
 
Hello Bill I remember my first two wheeler Dad bought it home and did it up painted it Claret Red (yes he was a Villa fan). My eldest brother taught me to ride it and I loved it went everywhere on it. The pictures are my previous bikes.
 
Good pics wendy......had you just got up?......or on your way to bed?...:)
I remember my first bike, it was shiney and new. My parents paid a surprise visit to school (I was in a Gym lesson) and I was allowed out early as they wanted me to go with them to Tommy Godwins Bike shop in Kings heath to choose my new bike. I really wanted the one with dropped handle bars, but was "discouraged" and got the straight handlebars instead.
My 2 elder brothers taught me to ride by one pushing me downhill in our garden, the other one catching me at the bottom until I could stay up. Easy Peasy!!:cool:
 
Biking

Nice pics Wendy,
I progressed to a "racing bike" when I got a paper round but my dad insisted that the dropped handlebars were replaced with straight ones for safety!
Over the following years I experimented with "cowhorns" that kept on moving as they wouldn't fully tighten up, tried a "fixed wheel" great fun going down until you were going too fast but great when you wanted to show off as you just used the one pedal....
One mistake soon made was that racing bikes do not make good "mountain bikes" we used to go to the Aqueduct at Shirley and use the ground on one side of it as it had a drop of about 30 foot at the top, across a small area of flat ground then a small "hill" of about 10 foot. The idea was you started at the top of the big hill, pedal for all you were worth, across the flat ground , then launch yourself in to the air as you came off the top of the small hill. Great fun if the bike was up to it, but I remember walking home several times with spikes hanging out or several punctures.
The suicidal kids used to try the run in the reverse direction, start on a 10 foot hill and try to ride to the top of the 30 foot one, the track had been made by people with motorbikes and had deep side ridges and as a cyclist you had to miss the side walls, while peddling as hard as you could.
Usually you got within 8 foot from the top then if you were lucky you could jump off and watch the bike crash to the ground below, hopfully not injuring yourself to badly..
Wonder what the Health & Safety crowd would make of it today.
 
Bicycle

I never had a bicycle, i was never allowed to have one, (don't know why) i would borrow my brothers or sisters. One day i was riding up The Ridgeway on my borrowed bicycle on the pavement, i turned around and there across the road was a policeman on a bicycle riding in the road. i thought if i hurrry up and turn the corner i can then get into the road, but alas that did not wash he pulled along besides me and told me to get off so i thought i will flash my eyelashes at him i was about fourteen at the time, he not only told me off for riding on the pavement but for flashing my lashes as well. I am not sure if it is still illegal to do this these days as most chidren ride on the pavement........:)

Just found out that my g/g/ grandfather was a bicycle fitter.
 
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hi, all i learned to ride a bike when i was on holliday in ireland 1955.
i tryed to ride the farmers bike it was massive,he told me to put one leg through the frame onto the pedal and skoot with the other,when you get going put both feet on the pedals.wow this wierd way of riding works,and
off i went.i have never since seen any on riding a bike this way again.
PETE :D
 
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I learned to ride a Bike in 1942/43 at Camberley Woods Surrey it was an Officers Wife's one with a Basket on the Front and I was nearly knocked down by a Military Ambulance:) More details if I must:D
 
re learning to ride a bike

now now catkin,the farmers bike was a big bicycle. pete:D
 
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I learned to ride by pushing the bike to the top of the hill climbing on and letting it roll to the bottom, then once I'd got my balance worked out, started to use the pedals. E.
 
Just after the war when I was about 8 years old we had a holiday on a farm at Cleobury Mortimer, there were two daughters of the farmer, Ruby and Pearl and they taught me how to ride a two wheeler after a lot of practice, on one occasion they let me go and I wobbled into a big heap of stinging nettles, oh how they stung, but I finally got the hang of it.
 
I got my bike when I was 7, it was second hand with a bracket that pulled down and the bike rested on it, so that you could turn the pedals and pretend you were riding. I learned to ride it in Hamstead, there was a circle outside my aunts house, where the number 6 bus turned and all the kids learned there. My uncle held the back of the saddle for two or three goes, and I can still remember the thrill of finding I was riding on my own.:)
 
My First Bike

My First Bike Was An Hercules Dark Green Bike With A Dynomo Which
Gave You A Lighted Lamp On The Front Which Was Made At The Aston Cross
B,ham They Was Made For The Police Forces ,When They Closed Down
Tubes Limited Had Taken Over There Factory
And I Was Taught By My Two Old Friends Whom There Dad Was The Chimney Sweep Man In Ladywood And They Was Billy , And Phillip Hollond There Dad Bonna Hollond Was The Only Chimmney Sweep In The Area,
It Was A Big Bike And I Was Wobbling Billy Would Hold The Sadle And Try And Keep Me On , He Would Take Us Up To EYEIR StreetSpring Hill On A Sunday
Morning It Took Me Two Sundays To Master The Bike Then We Started To Make Our Own Bikes From Spares Found OnBomb Pecks
Them Was The Days MY Friends
Best Wishes ASTONIAN ,;;
 
push bikes

my first bike was an old bike from the second hand shop on spring hill .i nagged till i got one ,then it was 1969. it was one with a baby seat on the back in iron ,which weighted it down a bit so i got that took off. then i learnt to ride it in the playground in camden girls school playground ,after school. head mistress stopped me and asked what are you doing in here .i said learning to ride my bike .:Dshe said as you were .scabby knees and cuts thats how i learned to ride my bike.
 
my bikes

My first bike was a red three-wheeler which I had when I was six years old. My next second-hand bike was a Royal Enfield sit-up-and-beg which had no gears and was so heavy and it cost my Mom £3.10s. I was about ll years old, but daft as it sounds, I used to cycle all around the Clent Hills with an older friend who had a state-of-the-art Claude Butler racing bike. I reckon I was fitter than she was, me with no gears and she with a full range. Apart from that, I used to love cycling. Much too ancient now!!:(
 
first bike i got in england was a
Raleigh blue streek, silver and blue racing bike, 1583088559278.png
 
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My first bike was tricycle!! remember those? this was pre WW2 then after the war in 1946 age 13 My uncle gave me his Raleigh that he converted to a three speed Cyclo gear. The I started racing in 1949 age 16 36943056_1415162885250410_2495754179436347392_o.jpg002.jpg18920631_1672675396093641_3589609038368423714_n.jpghad Billy Gameson on Golden Hillock Rd Small Heath build me a bike that I raced for 10 years
 
I got a small two wheeler, 10" wheels and learned to ride it by going to the top of the hill jumping on and freewheeling to the bottom. I think I was about seven at the time.
Bought my first new bike, a Rudge Pathfinder out of my part time bakery round earnings when I was thirteen but I'd built a couple before that from used parts.
 
Eric Gibson said:
I got a small two wheeler, 10" wheels and learned to ride it by going to the top of the hill jumping on and freewheeling to the bottom. I think I was about seven at the time.
Bought my first new bike, a Rudge Pathfinder out of my part time bakery round earnings when I was thirteen but I'd built a couple before that from used parts.
Click to expand...
we went around tat yard or rubbish tips. collecting parts.and like you we built a bike......Some weird creations. :grinning:
 
mw0njm. said:
I would not feel safe in that thing in any weather.:worried::worried:
Click to expand...
HaHaHa You got that right Reminds me of the "Cape Up lads" on club rides with the oilskin capes we used then at least they had hooks inside to hold the cape down with,45287263_1557843264315704_750414615782883328_o (1).jpg but could be a real problem when windy
 
My younger cousin had a yellow and red Mobo bike fitted with outriders which we both enjoyed whizzing around on. One day I arrived to find the outriders gone and my cousin riding two wheeled! This was very bad,not only could I not ride a two wheeler,my cousin was younger than me and worst of all a GIRL.
I spent all that day learning to ride and despite much bruising,cuts and scratches I managed to crack it.
From then the only bike I could use was my Dad's sit up and beg. This was far too large for me so I learned to ride with one leg through the frame. We had a fairly large garden and I became quit adept riding in this manner but I was not allowed to ride on the highway. Over the years I borrowed or cobbled together many bikes but it was not until I became a printers apprentice that I bought a brand new 10 gear dropped handlebar racing machine. It didn't last long. Riding up and down the moat at Hobs Moat was no place for a racing bike and so it morphed into another wreck.
I belive the no cycling ban is now enforced at Hobs Moat.However in the dim and distant past cycling was not allowed but the ban was ignored by many and we spent many a happy hour there. The no cycling sign,stuck on a tree;once rescued made an excellent launch pad for some of the tracks and slopes.It still amazes me that no one was seriously injured given the hazards we had to negotiate.


Happy days
NoddKD
 
Did anyone ride a bike with a fixed gear? My mate had one & it nearly killed me. Try to stop pedaling & the pedals would give you an almighty clout. Horrible type of bike. My own bike was a bitzer. Bits of this & that, sometimes cowhorn handlebars, sometimes straight or dropped. It had old fashioned Sturmey Archer gears ( stop pedaling to change gear or was it pedal backwards?) Weighed a ton!!
 
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