The 'My First Bike' Thread

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
I have no recollection at all of this bike, but it appears to be called a Flipper, c. 1980

It has however inspired a lifelong lack of effort in tidying my brake and shifter cables.
I have to dig up a shot of my black Speedwell with the motocross bars that predates my Mongoose.

I rode barefoot with those sharp edged cotter pin cranks too. I lost so much ankle skin with those things for years too.
Make me feel stupid about getting changed for ride these days. Pfft, just ride it......
 

Scotty T

Walks the walk
First bike was a Bennett convertible, removable top tube small frame dragster style.

First MTB was a Repco Sierra 1989 model I got in 1990, red one in the image below. There's a pic of me riding it in my first ever race in 1994 which I'll dig up.



That's a classic @Haakon, I bought one of those Mongoose NX (7.1, the lower spec with v-brakes and Manitou) used for $150 in 2012 or so for my son, with a spare set of wheels! I also sold a bunch of the earlier models when I worked in a shop in 97/98.
 

smitho

Likes Bikes and Dirt
1996 Marin Bobcat Trail. Not this bike, but the same - matching fork/stem/barends and all. Steel, gripshift, canti. Was my dad's bike and about three sizes too big, but first ticket to explore the Anglesea bush.

Soon graduated to a thoroughly clapped out (and almost vintage even then) Marin Pine Mountain with RockShox Judy's which was a hand-me-down from the local mountain bike tour operator, but first proper mountain bike to call my own. I still wonder how I survived launching it off the sketchy gaps, jumps and hucks to flat with the XC spec flat bars, and skinny lightweight mavic rims. Although, there was one jump which my teenage memory claims was 22ft, which eventually claimed the back wheel.
 

Attachments

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
No photos of the Repco, but this is the first “proper” mountain bike I got in 2000. It even had a disc brake! Wow!
One of the gentlemen that I rode with in the mid 90's had the same Y-frame Mongoose but in blue.
A good solid bike at the time but V-brake only for him.
 

Scotty T

Walks the walk
One of the gentlemen that I rode with in the mid 90's had the same Y-frame Mongoose but in blue.
A good solid bike at the time but V-brake only for him.
Yeah blue was the first of the y frames in 1997. They used a triangular profile tubing in 96 on a normal style frame, still have my Rockadile with that.
 

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
Yeah blue was the first of the y frames in 1997. They used a triangular profile tubing in 96 on a normal style frame, still have my Rockadile with that.
I don't think you could bust one of those frame easily. I remember it sure felt solid which isn't always the best for an alloy frame.
 

Scotty T

Walks the walk
I have a pair of those OGK Tuff Wheels in the shed now.

Don't know what make the Mongoose clone was though. sure is well done with the same dropouts and rear triangle and front gusset - even with the little outward pointing rib. Tourney calipers, looks like Takagi cranks and a Haro handle too.

Nice one sir :) Big thumbs up.
I reckon it's a Red Devil. Could only find a yellow with that same gusset but they also came in red and blue.

https://flic.kr/p/kvSefW
 

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
I reckon it's a Red Devil. Could only find a yellow with that same gusset but they also came in red and blue.

https://flic.kr/p/kvSefW
That looks like the one.
I remember that Mongoose also built frames for Jag and Roger De Coster that looked much the same as a Mongoose, but they had no hole in the front gusset or an oval hole instead respectively.

I'm awaiting for someone to have a classic Proline, PK Ripper or Quadangle as their first bike now :)
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
I have a pair of those OGK Tuff Wheels in the shed now.

Don't know what make the Mongoose clone was though. sure is well done with the same dropouts and rear triangle and front gusset - even with the little outward pointing rib. Tourney calipers, looks like Takagi cranks and a Haro handle too.

Nice one sir :) Big thumbs up.
I was bought the bmx in about 1982, It came with gold diacomp rim brakes and chrome plated rims but the frame was identical to a Mongoose bar the V-welds and that area where the stand bolts up was different. Oh and the OGKs with the coaster brakes I'll never forget, death was near a few times with those :D.

I reckon it's a Red Devil. Could only find a yellow with that same gusset but they also came in red and blue.

https://flic.kr/p/kvSefW
I don't think it was one of them it came with that spider and proper Cro-mo one piece cranks on it not the nasty cheap plated ones. It will come back to me one day.
 
Last edited:

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
I was bought the bmx in about 1982, It came with gold diacomp rim brakes and chrome plated rims but the frame was identical to a Mongoose bar the V-welds and that area where the stand bolts up was different. Oh and the OGKs with the coaster brakes I'll never forget, death was near a few times with those :D.
Is this it? BMX Museum incorrectly called it a Madison.
https://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/madison/45797
Edit: Wrong dropouts on this one.

I had Motomags which were heavy-as an then I made them eggular from jumping. Put on Tuff 1's a coaster brake. I didn't might coaster brakes though until you need to pedal backwards.

I don't think it was one of them it came with that spider and proper Cro-mo one piece cranks on it not the nasty cheap plated ones. It will come back to me one day.
Sugino cranks and Takagi spider. Pretty likely if it was a Japanese frame.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
One of the gentlemen that I rode with in the mid 90's had the same Y-frame Mongoose but in blue.
A good solid bike at the time but V-brake only for him.
Everyone at the time said it would crack at the y junction, but it never did. Stupid rigid frame - took it out for a lap of Stromlo a little while back and it was brutal after the Trance!! Super fun, took my a few minutes to remember how to ride it but it all came back.

It did duty for years as a commuter too with slicks on it, a role it was super fun at. Currently has a SRAM NX 1x11 on it to teach Kirsty mountain biking, but it’s a bit old school twitchy for that...

One of the local meth heads in my suburb has the dual suspension version which I coveted at the time but
 

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
Everyone at the time said it would crack at the y junction, but it never did. Stupid rigid frame - took it out for a lap of Stromlo a little while back and it was brutal after the Trance!! Super fun, took my a few minutes to remember how to ride it but it all came back.
Yes, old school alloy HTs will beat you up. You need something tapered and from uber grades of alloy to have anything that resembles comfort. I haven't owned a alloy HT yet but a Zaskar would sway me.

One of the local meth heads in my suburb has the dual suspension version which I coveted at the time but
I remember the dually of that model. The Y-frame is natural for double boing.
If the local meth head has the Mongoose Amplifier then you got to get that off him while he is too wacked to know. Those were pretty cool.

Jennifer, you utter goose.....you can bet someone got done DUI and then this happened.
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/pag...-bike-with-australian-rotary-motor/1134693493
 
Last edited:

Flow-Rider

Burner
Is this it? BMX Museum incorrectly called it a Madison.
https://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/madison/45797
Edit: Wrong dropouts on this one.

I had Motomags which were heavy-as an then I made them eggular from jumping. Put on Tuff 1's a coaster brake. I didn't might coaster brakes though until you need to pedal backwards.



Sugino cranks and Takagi spider. Pretty likely if it was a Japanese frame.
I remember the motor mags, kids used to punch out the middle connecting bits. The old full rotation slip to pedal forwards was great too from the old coasters. :D I inherited a dragster before this bmx from my brother with a blue tuff 1.

Yes, they were the cranks, I think the frame was called a Hamelex or Haminex, definitely not a red devil that was a big department store bike.


This bike was bought from a wholesaler, as mum knew a lady that owned a small corner store and she overheard me whinging that I wanted a new BMX bike. I didn't get to choose either, my birthday came around a few months later and this new bike turns up.
 
Last edited:

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
This bike was bought from a wholesaler, as mum knew a lady that owned a small corner store and she overheard me whinging that I wanted a new BMX bike. I didn't get to choose either, my birthday came around a few months later and this new bike turns up.
New bike day when you are kid is 10x better than new bike day as an adult.
Some of the magic goes when you know too much about what you want to get. I remember coming home one day in December seeing my Dad in the garage with a black bike then suddenly the roller door was pulled down.
 

silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
No photos cause this was all too long ago.
First bike was a used Speedwell dragster that one of my primary school teachers gifted to me and my younger brother.
First bike was a Europa road bike with 750b wheels...Japanese steel frame.
Then there was a Mongoose BMX until some prick stole it.

And then finally, in 1982, my father bought me a Bennett mountain bike thing which was, to be honest, more of a hybrid. I certainly bent the original dual crown brazed steel fork after something of a jumps session...

I eventually, in 2004, gifted the well used but still functional Bennett to a young lad in Bourke who was keen for a bike.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
My very first bicycle was when I was 11. It was my father's track racer from the dark ages. It was a Malvern Star 3 star racer. Almost nothing left so I had to build it up with new brakes, gears etc. It looked mostly like this:



Cotter pin cranks were an absolute pain in the arse. It finally died being used to ride dirt trails.

He also had a Peugeot velodrome bike with wooden rims. I rode that a few times on banked tracks for amusement. I was pretty shit.

My first mountain bike was a generation later and it was a Giant Boulder SE with the RS Judy TT forks. Like this:



I used to ride beside the North Coast rail line north of Rocky and I lost count of the number of times I rode home with no brakes after buckling the wheels. The elastomer forks were... ...pointless. That led to my first disc braked bike, an Avanti Hammer. This was amazing compared to the Boulder. From there many many bikes.
 
Top