I got a class one when i was about 10 (circa 1994) raleigh, ten speed, 2 gear things, was great.

Gareth Brogdon ( the balaclava kid, anyone remember him?) nicked it outside west view shops just before i went to carlton camp, my cousin seen him on it a few weeks later and kicked the shit out of him and took it back, not bad for a girl.

Ahhhh christmas bikes, the memories.

One of these beauties!!!

I don't know what make mine was but it was a cool mauve and grey affair.

But I always deeply resented the fact that it arrived in the same van as a horrible bright orange bike which was ordered for the lad next door but one. He kept telling me afterwards the bikes had been delivered at the same time, and for some reason I just wanted to hit him every time he said it.

Metallic black Raleigh Striker! loved that bike, even when i went over the handlebars going downhill and landed face first in gravel. I remember while mam was using tweezers to get the gravel out of my face i was only concerned that id scratched the bike.

I was too little for a grifter.

he's dead now isn't he?? I certainly hope he is at any rate

Yer thank god, choked on a condom of drugs

Probably one of the worst people ever to grace this town.

And he went to west view when i did

hooray for the Angel of Death!!!!!

I wasn't ready for that.



My first bike was an Asda check out girl when Asda used to be in the hopping centre.

I resign, again.

the hopping centre? I always used to walk through. Will I get sent a fine through the post?

I was 9 or 10 (sister a year younger), and we wanted bikes, the parents made out money was tight so I opted for Lego.
We got up Christmas morning opened all our prezzies and no bikes , even worse no Lego .

When Mam and Dad got up they could tell we were a bit miffed , they asked if we been in the blue room (we had two front rooms, blue and red, we were using red room at the time), obviously not .
Sister got a 3 speed ladies bike and I got a 5 speed Raleigh Scorpio, , mind I needed step-ladders to get on it at the time .

You lot must have had rich familys new bikes for crimbo.
When i was a lad it was an apple. orange. and some nuts and if my dad was not to pissed and never kicked off we were delighted.

We were very poor when I was a kid but I used to love it when me older brother got a bike for Christmas 'cos I knew, NEXT YEAR, that bike would be mine

Never mind, I got a good Christmas present this morning.

One of these, same colour and everything. I think that my mam and dad got it from the cycle shop that was in Church Street, wasn't it where the Wonkey Donkey was

a mega breakfast bun??

I got mine from there too Fensy!

Peter Wilson in bed with you again.

Church Street Cycles?

raleigh arena five speed racer from the shop where barnado's is,i think they called it wilkinsons

One of these:



Mine got nicked the day after boxing day so my mam and dad went and got me that

I used to get bike parts with me dad and build up old bikes to new with parts from that old bike shop up king oswy.

Which is now a pizza shop!

One of these;



It had box between the handle bars that played various sound effects!

thanks elvis i sat ages trying to think what it was called i knew wilkinsons did'nt seem right

i was never posh enough to have one of them with the sound boxes on, i had to wait to one of the kids in the street let me have a go at theirs.

i had one of them, the sound broke after a week though; dont chuck your bike over a wall

Christmas bikes:

Debbie never rammed your breakfast sausages in your eyes whilst still hot from the pan??

Always a bonus like...

When I was a young un, say 7/8 year old, around 79/80, we didn't have BMX's. They were popular from about the mid 80's.

You had this choice pretty much....

Little kid - striker/tomohawk

Big kid - grifter/chopper

Basically striker and tomohawk were the little kid version of Grifter and Chopper, without gears.

My first bike when I was 7, which would have been 79, was a striker. Not that I got to ride it for about 6 months, what with being buried under 3 foot of snow for yonks.

Then when I was 9, christmas 81, I got a Lazer Custom racing bike which was about 6 sizes too big for me. Not that I got to ride it for about 6 months, what with the entire town being frozen solid ice for yonks.

Two new bikes, co-inciding with the snowiest winter then the coldest winter in the last 45 years.

An interesting first bike/weather related combo, I'm sure you'll all agree.

At the height of Chopper fever my Dad got me a sensible, gear free, green bike with normal handle bars and a comfy seat. After adding gears and cow horns it was alright but not enough to stop me envying anybody with a large purple chopper.

Never leaves you that feeling does it?

Mine was a Red Grifter (same as Mick Tait's Head Bandage) 3 griptwist Sturmey Archer gears- Red, Yellow and Blue. . . loved that bike.
Seeing as someone has remembered about Goodall and Lewis, did anybody get a bike from Jack Marshall's?

The 1st real bike i can remember getting was a Raleigh Grifter too, my mam bought it 2nd hand for £25 from a family down Trimdon Colliery. The gears were a right pain and it was a bloody heavy bike if i remember rightly.