(http://i40.tinypic.com/25swnz9.jpg)
king of the road many years ago , the chopper !
I had an old black bone shaker from an uncle with lever brakes.
The village's.
A blue Raleigh bmx, she was the ticket. Stunt pegs and all.
Then I'd a 10 speed racer, heap of shite from Conway cycles
Then I had the daddyo, Raleigh maurader 18 speed.
Think all of them aRe rusting in the shed.
A red president racer. Mighty yoke to go.
Raleigh Grifter. Great bike!
sun 10 speed racer
A bmx 2000 with back pedal brakes. Followed by a ten speed racer. Buckled the shite out of the wheels on it as surprisingly they're not built for going up and down kerbs.
Minder had a cool orange and white bmx with more stunt nuts than you could shake a stick at.
(http://i41.tinypic.com/2lt3adv.jpg)
something similar to this only blue with white wheels.
Gotta love the BMX.
I had a Piranha BMX with front and back stunt nuts. Also if I was a good boy(ie waited till the brother was away) i would go out on his Grifter. It was a big boys BMX and took some abuse from both of us.
You boys were into your bmx's. You'd never have survived a pot hole in Cavan on one of those little things!
Quote from: mylestheslasher on June 15, 2009, 10:18:09 PM
A red president racer. Mighty yoke to go.
I had one of them too. It had the cloth handlebar grips :D
Tomahawk, then 5 speed racer, then a Raleigh Bomber.
Had a Raleigh Burner...Then a pale blue Grifter...moved on to a big bomber and finished off with a Raleigh Banana 12 speed racer. F**K them were the days :D :D :D
A Tomahawk followed by a Chopper followed by a Grifter.
Installed an electric bell on the Chooper. Had a number plate on the Grifter.
The Tomahawk had no brakes. I remember going down the hill at The Hill. Wrote aff.
The Tomahawk:
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/catfoodrob/choppers/images/models/se(alex).jpg)
The Chopper:
(http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/object_images/535x535/10319038.jpg)
The Grifter:
(http://bmxmuseum.com/image/dscn0016_lg.jpg)
O'Neill, is that top one not a Chopper? The Tomahawk was the junior chopper and it didn't have gears.
Edit: The bottom one also seems to be a Raleigh Strika not a Grifter.
I just had an ordinary nameless variety, but I used to borrow my brother's Triumph 20 whenever I could - which was quite a girly looking bike now that I look at it
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alfspickup/biketriumph20.JPG)
Believe me, I know my Tomahawks and Choppers. The Tomahawk was simply a version of the Chopper but aimed at a younger audience - a mini-chopper. It had all the same features.
(http://www.rnlawrence.btinternet.co.uk/images/goldtomahawk.jpg)
Quote from: Orior on June 15, 2009, 09:40:09 PM
I had an old black bone shaker from an uncle with lever brakes.
Any resemblance, apart from miles on the clock?
(http://sheldonbrown.com/images/superbe54.gif)
This is only slightly similar to my first bike at the age of 14.
I called it the Tank.
I think it had 2" wide wheels and heavy metal mudguards Although I was over 6f tall then, I had to slant it to allow one foot touch the ground on tippy toes. The 3 speed gear cable was broke when I got it, I put in a new one, but it made no difference, except that now there was a 2nd and 3rd gear. It took some marathon effort to pump up a head of steam to get it up to cruising speed in 3rd gear.
By that stage in my life I was anyway immune to inferiority complex and took a perverse pride in the savage primevil power.
Boy racers were wimps.
It was vandal proof, gurriers would use it for rock throwing practice when it was parked somewhere.
Quote from: ONeill on June 16, 2009, 12:07:03 AM
Believe me, I know my Tomahawks and Choppers. The Tomahawk was simply a version of the Chopper but aimed at a younger audience - a mini-chopper. It had all the same features.
I had a Tomahawk but it didn't have gears or the shock absorbers like the first picture.
Quote from: ONeill on June 15, 2009, 11:13:55 PM
The Tomahawk:
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/catfoodrob/choppers/images/models/se(alex).jpg)
The Chopper:
(http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/object_images/535x535/10319038.jpg)
The Grifter:
(http://bmxmuseum.com/image/dscn0016_lg.jpg)
The chain being loose like that on the Chopper used to be the quere recipe for landing a nut down on
either side of that gear lever :'(
My first bike was a hand-me-down from my sister and was the one I learned to ride with. Didn't stop me from not being in control and zooming in to a big bunch of nettles stinging the face, arms, hands and legs of myself when pushed by my big brother under the pretext of my being able to "acquire" balance if he pushed me hard enough and I peddled and it would come to me.
I used to borrow/wreck the sisters' bikes from about the age of 6 to 10 and in between I used my brothers Triumph pushy too. Not many of them about and I think the original frame and chain wheel is lying up in a loft in one of the barns at home. (There is a woman in Kilrea who has a Rover pushbike from between 1910 and 1915 with the original brakes, chainwheel, saddle etc. Worth a small fortune apparently.) Not being long-legged enough to fit over the cental bar of the Triumph, I used to slide one leg through and this has probably led to my back problems today.
I used to want a Chopper because the uncle of Paddy and Eoin Bradley had one, but wasn't allowed cos it was considered too dangerous as it would cowp backwards too easily. Then the local GP bought his daughter a Grifter. That was it. It had to be a Grifter. It wasn't to be.
Next was a Raleigh Flyer 5-speed. I used to ogle it in Albert Cole's window and then one day it was mine. To hell with your national lottery I was about to take my first steps towards winning the Tour De France. Or so I thought. That bike lasted me for 6 years then I progressed onto a Peugeot with a Reynolds 531 frame, Triple T stem, Campagnola chain and gear set and a few other add-ons which I kept for years until some p***k reversed into it when parked at university.
I now have a Gary Fisher Mamba mountain bike which I bought in Japan 14 years ago for about $700US. Feckin love it. Got the Rock Shox at the front and the Shimano groupset with the click pedals. I've been through a few rims and a helmet thanks to my exploits barreling down Japanese mountain lane. Still, the auld push bike is a great way of getting around a city, especially one like Perth which is pretty much flat.
Rumour has it that Tony Fearon is the fella who was used to model the original "Boneshaker" bike invented by some Scots bloke in the 18th or 19th. Century. I'm sure someone could post the link to that picture. It's the one where the rotund and somewhat cherub-looking gentleman is gayly sauntering along on the wooden machine before chains and gears were invented.
Did anyone else put an old empty Tip-Top carton on the back wheel under the mudguard to make your bike sound like a motorbike??
Quote from: Doogie Browser on June 16, 2009, 09:32:11 AM
Did anyone else put an old empty Tip-Top carton on the back wheel under the mudguard to make your bike sound like a motorbike??
Yep, made one hell of a raquet :D
Also, used to go through a pair of trainers every few weeks by using them as brakes on the back tyre
Had a Grifter myself , great bike . Don't remember a chain guard on her though and the saddle was different to the one in the picture above .
Quote from: Doogie Browser on June 16, 2009, 09:32:11 AM
Did anyone else put an old empty Tip-Top carton on the back wheel under the mudguard to make your bike sound like a motorbike??
:D
The "Why Don't You" gang recommended a clothes peg holding a few playing cards against the spokes for a similar effect.
Quote from: full back on June 16, 2009, 09:49:58 AM
Quote from: Doogie Browser on June 16, 2009, 09:32:11 AM
Did anyone else put an old empty Tip-Top carton on the back wheel under the mudguard to make your bike sound like a motorbike??
Yep, made one hell of a raquet :D
Also, used to go through a pair of trainers every few weeks by using them as brakes on the back tyre
Was Mammy Full Back as "happy" about that as mammy BC was ;D
The cards on the spokes were the job !
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on June 16, 2009, 12:33:31 PM
Quote from: full back on June 16, 2009, 09:49:58 AM
Quote from: Doogie Browser on June 16, 2009, 09:32:11 AM
Did anyone else put an old empty Tip-Top carton on the back wheel under the mudguard to make your bike sound like a motorbike??
Yep, made one hell of a raquet :D
Also, used to go through a pair of trainers every few weeks by using them as brakes on the back tyre
Was Mammy Full Back as "happy" about that as mammy BC was ;D
The cards on the spokes were the job !
I would say they both had similar thoughts on it :D
A good clip around the lugs was to be expected when the sole was hanging off them or your sock was falling out through the hole in them
there also was the learning to skid using the back brake. You were the ticket when this trick was mastered.
Quote from: full back on June 16, 2009, 12:35:47 PM
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on June 16, 2009, 12:33:31 PM
Quote from: full back on June 16, 2009, 09:49:58 AM
Quote from: Doogie Browser on June 16, 2009, 09:32:11 AM
Did anyone else put an old empty Tip-Top carton on the back wheel under the mudguard to make your bike sound like a motorbike??
Yep, made one hell of a raquet :D
Also, used to go through a pair of trainers every few weeks by using them as brakes on the back tyre
Was Mammy Full Back as "happy" about that as mammy BC was ;D
The cards on the spokes were the job !
I would say they both had similar thoughts on it :D
A good clip around the lugs was to be expected when the sole was hanging off them or your sock was falling out through the hole in them
It was like holes in the knees of your school trousers, always got a slap for that too :D
Got a Raleigh Burner meself from Santy....only had it a week and my Granda's wee black labrador pup knocked it down from it's standard position propped against the wall outstide the back door and the wee fecker ate the nice foam handles off it. I spent 3 days trying to drive over it after that.
Then I got a Dawes Ascent mountain bike with 18 (count them...18) gears :o
It was the ticket for going to training as I had a bit of an uphill journey on the way home, but I always got to training in about 10 mins flat!
Did anyone ever right themselves aff trying to do "jumps" off ramps made from a couple of blocks and a plank?
I did myeself more damage at that craic.
first bike was a fold in the middle thing, old man paid 20 pound for it with mudguards and carrier on it, off they came and learned how to wheelie and skid sideways using the backpedal brake.was the bees knees for me. then had a racer type thing with the 3 speed wheel at the back, it was alright but i always wanted a raleigh grifter and later a 10 speed raleigh winner, had neither and then started riding other things than bicycles.
Had a grifter and they were some bike.
Maybe it's nostalgia playing tricks but I remember doing serious jumps on the grifter on ramps that were made from old sheets of timber lying about the yard and a few blocks - definitely note to code.
Took the bike over the fields, through shucks, it was the best all round bike for a wee fella in my day
Quote from: The Iceman on June 16, 2009, 03:34:39 PM
Had a grifter and they were some bike.
Maybe it's nostalgia playing tricks but I remember doing serious jumps on the grifter on ramps that were made from old sheets of timber lying about the yard and a few blocks - definitely note to code.
Took the bike over the fields, through shucks, it was the best all round bike for a wee fella in my day
The grifter was a seriously heavy yolk for the fields.
Got a peugot racer with the quick release skinny wheels one christmas, wouldn't have been complete without the two shoe laces tied around the middle bar for sliding the hurley stick into it all the same.
Had a Raleigh Grifter aswell, some yoke for burning up and down the back lane!
The bmx was the revolution though. Riding with no hands, wheelying for more than 10 pedals, free-wheeling whilst standing on the front stunt nuts, free-wheeling whilst standing on the back stunt nuts...The options were endless. The stunt nuts were always a great way for maximising passengers. One on the front, one on back, one standing pedalling like f**k and another sitting on the saddle!
We would have built some ramps too and got people to lie on the ground to jump over them like Eval. I remember one of lads pulling an auld bike from the river and me and him painting it with a lovely tin of blue emulsion!
(http://bjarniogelva.com/wp-content/grifter.jpg)
i still have the scar on my arm, when i stuck mine in the hedge
Here hi there are sum fancy looking bikes in the collection. Mine was an antique of a thing that was more a death trap than a bike, the old mikasas were worn to get a grip on the handle bars lol. She made a clinker of a noise tho when you put a lolley pop stick between the back spokes. King of the road it was!!
Things changed one Christmas though, when I got a proper mountain bike with a helmet. Weird not having to stand up and use the sole of your right foot on the back tyre to break.!!
Sprick 10 speed racer. Heavy oul yoke. In the days before credit cards were in everyone's pocket, the best thing for the 'authentic' motorbike noise was a kidney donor card - outlasted any amount of playing cards
Raleigh Mag Burner - black. It was the coolest of the cool.
Graduated to a Raleigh Mauraruder mountain bike which was also a serious bike, you'd got 4 onto it - kinda miss cycling now
saw illdecide on his fairy-wheels the other day.... struggling up a hill he was ;D
(http://www.bikefix.co.uk/i/fat_man.jpg)
(http://www.rnlawrence.btinternet.co.uk/images/goldtomahawk.jpg)
i had the Tomahawk. living on the Falls rd it was not safe to have a bike and with 20 people living in the one house, buy one of them a bike........
anyway we got this bike and after about two days of learning how to ride the fooker, me and my older Bro went to the fields at the old school. down the hills we went after about 4 or 5 goes i went down the hill hit a rock and my foot was caught in the spokes. I'd totally snapped my leg. a compound fracture above the ankle.
looking at it now i can remember my foot resting on my knee!!!! was in hospital from end of May till mid July. in those days ya stayed in the hospital.
next bike was a grifter and moved onto the ten speed racer that took me to work when i was 16. eventually ending up with the spring suspension Raleigh mountain bike (got that about 16 years ago)