Your first love (bike)?

[Thug]

My first road bike was purchased 3 weeks ago, a Giant TCR Comp 2.

 

First proper MTB was purchased in Feb 2006, a Raleigh RM7 which has since been upgraded into a Santa Cruz.

 

[Boesman]

Pretty good choice for a first road bike. Used to own a TCR2 - loved it!

I remember my first race with my EddieMerckx was the Jock... 3 stages and 150km of hell. Groupset was warn so badly everytime the hill got steeper and the torque increased, the chain would come off. I had to make a plan so I sold a VW Beetle body for R1200 and upgraded my bike with a new chainring, chain and 105 STI levers . Some time later stripped the paintwork, chromed the chainstays and fork and sprayed the rest powder blue with cherry-pink (if ever there were such name for a color) EddieMerckx decals (similar colors to the EddieMerckx Corsa model). I even phoned the old man up in Belgium wanting him to send me new decals and a CulumbusSLX frame sticker for the bike to keep it as close to authentic as possible. He thought I was kidding.... I eventually cut a picture from a Merckx brochure I got from Queens' and stuck it on the frame.... Sold it for a tidy profit some years later for the TCR2... Boesman2007-08-30 06:17:21

[linnega]

I bought a second hand Peugeot Mirage for R400 in 1987 which was a bargain.  By the end of '88 the spokes had a nice brown rusted look so I convinced the parents that they were about to break and kill me, so I changed them all to stainless steel spokes (all 72 of them).  In 1989 I bought a pair of used Patrick shoes (remember the ones with the yellow sole) to go with my red plastic toeclips and straps.  In 1990 I had saved enough to buy a pair of second hand Look "clipless" pedals (just like Greg Lemond) and a pair of Lemond-style sunglasses.  They definitely weren't Oakley's.  The following year I did a bit of linesmanning at the SA Open tennis tournament and earned myself a decent salary for a 15 year old(don't tell my teachers - I called in sick).  With that cash I bought an entire Shimano 105 drivetrain (which I think was still 12 speed).  Shifters were still downtube.  I also upgrade my brake levers to aero brake levers that hid the cables.  I had run out of cash by then so I sprayed the fork in a chrome colour instead of getting it anodised and removed all the Peugeot stickers.  The frame was a stealth black with a chrome coloured fork - ahh the style!!

 

Sadly, when I got back from varsity in July 1994, I found my brother had misunderstood the difference between "loan" and "give", and had sold the bike to buy himself one of those *** massive tubed Cannondales that were so popular in the early 90s (in Durban anyway).  I only bought my next bike in mid-2000 after a 5 year break.  Fortunately that mistake (a Trek 1000) was resolved by palming it off on some unsuspecting American while I was living in the states. 

 

The bikes I have had since (Orbea alu, Look carbon adn Giant TCR comp) have all been much better bikes than the Peugeot but I regularly scan the local Cash Converters for a black Peugeot Mirage that I can ride when I feel nostalgic.  Not sure where I would get the Rolls saddle but I'm sure I could make a plan.

[Tumbleweed]

first road bike: brother lent me his trek 2300 just before xmas (it's quite a beaut bike. he didn't like the colour so got the decals scanned and repainted in white on a matt black background, and replaced all the chrome 105 goodies with black 105). he phoned me drunk on my birthday (diarise it - 18th december) to say: "sorry (hic) i forgot to get you a preshent, why don't you just (hic) hold onto that bike?"

 

this was followed by intermittent calls over the next coupl hours, to add bits and bobs like a flexwing saddle, a trainer, hrm, etc. it was a profitable birthday!   

holy roller2007-08-30 06:21:59

[porky]

I dont know.............personally I dont look at bikes like that

, or running shoes, or golf clubs or..............!!

 

...........to me they are just a means to an end, a tool to be used to achieve a goal - nothing more, nothing less.

 

[pbp2007]

Actually my first hate: I didn't want a bike at all, but I found a burgundy-coloured BSA under the Christmas tree in 1965. Single-speed, of course. When I outgrew that it turned into a s/h Rudge, chrome finish. Talk about bling. By early high school that had been upgraded by the addition of an "osgear". Now there's a word that brings back memories of valve tubing.

 

I guess my first true love was the Raleigh International I bought with my vac earnings in Harvard Square, Mass, in the early 1970s. Magical summer nights in Cambridge. I had to leave it behind and didn't own a bike again until a s/h Hansom in 1998 that carried me to several Argi.

 

The ones I love now are my '82 Gios Super Record and Steady Eddy (Merckx Corsa Extra, my steed in PBP2007). And of course the screaming yellow Lejeune 753 that looks fast even standing still and carried me to my best Argus times, now in honorable retirement on the IDT.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tumbleweed]

I dont know.............personally I dont look at bikes like that

' date=' or running shoes, or golf clubs or..............!!

 

...........to me they are just a means to an end, a tool to be used to achieve a goal - nothing more, nothing less.

 

[/quote']

 

if you don't love your bike, you can't expect it to respect you either.

[porky]

I dont know.............personally I dont look at bikes like that

' date=' or running shoes, or golf clubs or..............!!

 

...........to me they are just a means to an end, a tool to be used to achieve a goal - nothing more, nothing less.

 

[/quote']

 

if you don't love your bike, you can't expect it to respect you either.

 

 - I know where you are coming from HR - but lets be real, these are just inanimate, lifeless,objects with little more significance than what we invest in them.

 

Ask me about my first pet, or my first girlfriend (if I can remember that far back ) my first job interview etc, but lifeless, boring, metal and carbon composites dont interest me as anything other than a tool to be used.

 

Maybe I just have no imagination.!

 

[Tumbleweed]

i've loved every mtb i've ever owned over the last decade or so, so i'll list them all:

kona cinder cone (held onto that one for ages before it got stolen)

giant xtc nrs 3 (got stolen out my garage)

giant xtc nrs 1 (got hijacked on that one)

giant xtc nrs 1 (came off back of bike caddy on the way home from barberton - almost ruined a friendship)

sunn tox (still have this one, it's a singlespeed now)

cannondale f900sl/with lefty (lent/gave it to my brother a few months back)

cannondale f900sl/with fatty (swopped it with lbs owner for the zum)  

gt zum (not technically a full-on mtb - got stolen when i lent it to my brother-in-law)

gt i-drive (sold it to a mate about a year back, cos he wanted something to ride around on with his kid)

gt avalanche 1 (sold this to my ex after her bike got stolen in graskop this year)

giant trance (still got this one - she just got new shoes (mavics) and brakes (avids))

 

at the moment i also have the trek road bike (mentioned elsewhere on this thread), a gt compe bmx, a mongoose bmx (that's been in pieces since the bad night last year - fuelled by my first hallucinogenic trip in 10 years - that i decided to take it apart) and a schwinn stingray chopper. i also have the boys' giant mtx 250 and gt chucker at home (they also have bikes at their mom's house).

 

and that's why i recently had to swap the lounge and bike room around.  

 

  

 

[Tumbleweed]

I dont know.............personally I dont look at bikes like that

' date=' or running shoes, or golf clubs or..............!!

 

...........to me they are just a means to an end, a tool to be used to achieve a goal - nothing more, nothing less.

 

[/quote']

 

if you don't love your bike, you can't expect it to respect you either.

 

 - I know where you are coming from HR - but lets be real, these are just inanimate, lifeless,objects with little more significance than what we invest in them.

 

Ask me about my first pet, or my first girlfriend (if I can remember that far back ) my first job interview etc, but lifeless, boring, metal and carbon composites dont interest me as anything other than a tool to be used.

 

Maybe I just have no imagination.!

 

i also the remember the first time i petted with my first real girlfriend. oh, wait, that's not what you said at all

 

i try not remember my very first girlfriend, cos she was also the first girl to beat me up! but that story's just to painful to repeat

holy roller2007-08-30 06:46:33

[1hill@aTime]

my very first road bike was back in std6, not sure what it was i think some game special, but my first sort of decent bike, way back then was my daccordi with shimano 600 components, nice bike back in the day, well i though it was.

[javadude]

 

I dont know.............personally I dont look at bikes like that

' date=' or running shoes, or golf clubs or..............!!

 

...........to me they are just a means to an end, a tool to be used to achieve a goal - nothing more, nothing less.

 

[/quote']

 

I think porky should be banned from these forums.

 

[Carbon Freak]

My first bike was.....A real bitch, I Loved her but she didint love me back.

Every time I tried to ride he she said NO as there was something wrong,

I was very inexperienced, as soon as I got up on her she would through me off ususally for no reason other than being a bit awkard, still I kept at it taking her nice places, (strolls along the beach front, into the hills you know the sort) but as soon as you would think you have her on your side she would throw you off if you were up on her for too long.....

I decided enough was enough when I met a friendly, high maintance model when I wentout shopping one day, I instantly fell in Love with her sleek lines, racy body and excellent handeling ability, as well as the looks all my mates gave me when I arrived with her, she is affectionally known as Mags.... to everyone else COLNAGO CFIFTY!

[Tumbleweed]

My first bike was.....A real bitch' date=' I Loved her but she didint love me back.

Every time I tried to ride he she said NO as there was something wrong,

I was very inexperienced, as soon as I got up on her she would through me off ususally for no reason other than being a bit awkard, still I kept at it taking her nice places, (strolls along the beach front, into the hills you know the sort) but as soon as you would think you have her on your side she would throw you off if you were up on her for too long.....

I decided enough was enough when I met a friendly, high maintance model when I wentout shopping one day, I instantly fell in Love with her sleek lines, racy body and excellent handeling ability, as well as the looks all my mates gave me when I arrived with her, she is affectionally known as Mags.... to everyone else COLNAGO CFIFTY!

[/quote']

nice first post freaky one! welcone to the hub. how're fings in zim? can you get a giant trance for under Z$500 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000?

[MintSauce]

 

Maybe I just have no imagination.!

 

 

Not trying to insult you or anything, but perhaps it's passion you lack....?

 

Do you ride for the enjoyment or for the exercise....?

 

Just wondering

 

 

 

 

[Frosty]

First bike was a Raleigh Chopper - mom left the garage door open when going to the shops, when she got back the bike was gone.

 

Second bike was a dikwiel (can't remember the name) single speed. How embarrassed I was going to primary school on this. Upgraded to a blue PnP bmx after the dikwiel was also stolen, and was eventually was passed down from brother to brother to brother (the bmx).

 

Fourth bike was also a PnP racer special (the one's with the extra brake levers on the handle bars) - decided one day to spray it with a can of engineer's blue - that's all that I could find at the time - never could work out why it had so many scratches on it.

 

These bikes were all while at school.

 

Then 9 years after leaving school I bought a Raleigh M90 for R400 at Dion (Eastgate). Did my first four 94.7 and two H2H on this monster.