My first tricycle was red. The handlebars got rusted after a while. I was a speed demon on that tricycle. I didn’t go very far with it but I went very fast, for my young self anyway.
Later I got a shiny purple bicycle with training wheels. I went even faster with those training wheels. Soon after, the training wheels came off and I was flying like the wind. I went everywhere with that bicycle, probably to places I shouldn’t have been. Riding that bicycle felt like freedom at the time.
After I’d had a trike and scooters I started using this one as my first bike, which I had at the age of ten or so, looked pretty much like this. It had 28 inch tyres, which were too large for me, and the handlebars would be even narrower, Dutch-style ones. The saddle was the same but before I could use it, I had a springless one which would be fastened directly onto the frame. I hated the crossbar and with the exception of the next bike I’ve only bought women’s bikes or unisex bikes ever since. As I was still too short, the pedals had small wooden blocks on either side to lower the distance to the saddle. As happy as I was about it, I wish I’d had a more modern bike which some of my classmates already had.
The first with two wheels was my mother’s.It was too big for me and it had a wicker basket on the front! I got my own Rayleigh when I passed the 11+ exam.
My first mode of transport was a rusty tricycle. We moved house when I was 5 to a council house with a huge garden. The previous family left all their old outside toys in the garden. I remember there were a couple of bigger bikes as well as a big metal snail that was designed to be ridden long ago. All of them were well used and rusty.
The tricycle had big wheels and a metal trunk on the back where you could store your treasures. It was a dull brown colour due to the rust but had probably started life as a shade of red. It veered to one side and didn’t have much of a seat but I thought it was fantastic!
It was very similar to Chilliboot’s but white with a red seat and had red patterns on the wheel spokes… I loved it so much riding up and down the pavements in front of the house. In those days children could still safely do that. I also had a scooter but the tricycle was more fun.
Mum and Dad were avid cyclists and it wasn’t long after this picture was taken before I was presented with a brand new two wheeled bike. No stabilisers were allowed (they were for wimps) and falls were frequent until one day I had mastered the art…
Unlike Butterscotch, I loved long distance. One day while I was about three or four, I decided to meet my Dad who was biking home from his work about five miles away. Hardly any traffic on the roads in the early fifties. He took a short cut and we must have missed each other and I arrived at the gates of the factory where one of his work mates said that he had left a while ago…
I started to ride home and was met by my Dad, who, after an eight hour shift and a cycle home, had to turn around and come back to look for me…I don’t recall him being mad, perhaps just relieved…
Here it is with my son on board
It was my cousins who inherited from his cousin .
Then it came to us and then to our children and then our grandchildren .
It’s now in the garage waiting for our great grandchildren
My brothers’ cast off tricycle was a similar one but I think the pedals were on the front wheel
It was pale blue if my memory serves me well
It had two foot plates at the back, no trunk. There’s a photo of the 3 of us somewhere (I’ll have to look for it) with me on the trike and I had casually slung a handbag over the handlebars to carry the essential, 4 yr old female’s paraphernalia
Mine was very similar to yours Muddy,but with a what i called a bread bin on the back and it was red.
And today dh and i have an adult version each,mine is red,dh`s is blue.
red. The handlebars got rusted after a while. I was a speed demon on that tricycle. I didn’t go very far with it but I went very fast, for my young self anyway.
