My new road bike

[mininuts]

This is what I had at that time. Mine was the Winner 10 speed



And this is the black and gold Burner that my mate had

[klarzy]

Damn...

16 years and 6 stones ago....

[Best_of_British]

I want to buy a BMX of ebay now and revisit my yoof of bunnyhopping over ramps. Had a chrome mongoose with black sky mag wheels, v handle bars same as the burner. Wish a still had it, sold it for a fiver.

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[johnnyb44]

Thank you all for your posts and sharing your pictures of by gone bikes. You tend to forget all the old bikes of yesteryears..Raleigh Arena, Ace ,Record and was there a pulsar?. There was also the Raleigh Chopper and it's smaller bother the chipper and not forgetting the bomber. A lot of kids if my generation also had Sun Solos , Coventry Eagle, and Puch . BMX bikes never really interested me but where very popular amongst school mates. Raleigh burners where the most popular. They did a few different models. Ultra burners , night burners with some sporting mag wheels. There were also Amacco, Baur and Mongoose Bmx bikes around to..Today I stripped my bike down and re greased the wheel hubs and crank and replaced the inner tubes and brake cables. It now looks factory fresh and works nice and smooth. Looking forward now for some dry weather to try it out :-))

[clf]

Thanks for posting this Johnny, it is very similar to my own story.

1985, our first christmas after my mother and father separated. My mother worked three menial jobs to make the house nice and she always made sure my sister were well fed and clothed. She struggled to afford much more and was petrified that someone would criticise how she brought up her children. To her, even now, it would be a failure as a mother in her eyes. She never failed

The old coal fire, steel ill fitting windows in our council house. My sister and I, leading up to Christmas, had indicated we wanted racing bikes. Mine was the one below, a badge engineered Raleigh. Philips Premiere by Raleigh it was called, and I was not hopeful at all, as it was £150 in the club book.



She hinted that she had got us bikes each, but still not hopeful that they were the ones we had chosen. On Christmas eve we pleaded with her to let us have them early, but it was a firm 'No' each time, and talked between ourselves, as to who could be storing them for her. The coal bucket was half full, and certainly enough to get us through the rest of the miserable Christmas Eve, when she asked us to fill it up. It was a grimy dirty 3 minutes of our lives we always tried to avoid, and this was no different. I did think it strange that she asked us to get coal when it was half full, but my sister and I both declined.

Christmas morning, the bikes we wanted were both sitting in the living room for us. We were so overjoyed and grateful. Later she told us, 'I bet you wish you had got the coal last night, because that's where the bikes were kept!' :doh:

I used the bike constantly for the next 5 or 6 years until I started to drive. Mum even borrowed it to go to one of her jobs 3 miles from home. Upgrading and replacing bits and pieces. Stripped the frame to bare metal by hand, and painted it Ford Signal Yellow blending into Signal Orange then back to Yellow, with Lettraset (remember that?) on the down tube, I renamed it 'Stationary Motion'! It is still in the attic now!

[johnnyb44]

Cheers Alan for sharing that lovely story .It's heartwarming to read such stuff like this. I vaguely remember those bikes. It's funny how much you forget about the past until a photo is posted and it jogs your memory. I would love to see more pictures of members old bikes if they have any. Unfortunately I can't post pictures of mine as I haven't re subscribed yet to the club.

[sworks]

A friend of mine restores Raleigh burners and has a selection of the rarer competition frames rather than the mass produced 'general sale' items. My favourite was the team burners Old bikes are almost as expensive as cars!

[johnnyb44]

I've just got back from its maiden voyage. Years ago when I had one I always remembered how comfortable it was, but this time round I was a little worried that with an extra 30 years on me and three more double chins ,:-))) to content with, it might not be the same story. All my fears where in vain though. It still feels comfortable and right for me. I put this down to the frame being built out of steel instead of Aluminium. Steel frames seem to absorb vibrations better than Aluminium ones giving the bike a nice comfy ride. You can actually see the front forks spring ever so slightly over the roads, soaking up the vibrations. I usually try to get around 10 miles a night in on my bike nowadays so I'm fairly experienced in telling a good bike from a bad one. The funny thing about it all was when I was returning home on it tonight. I past an old school friend I haven't seen for ages and he instantly said " you still haven't got that old bike from when you were a kid." I was tempted to say yeah but I told him the truth :-)). Haha .
One thing I have done when I got home was to take the toe clips off. There blooming dangerous things trying to ride though town in stop start traffic. I just know I will come to a sticky end with these dam things fitted.

[clf]

a friend of mine used to be into bmx in his youth, and has just recently bought himself a haro for restoration. it seems there is a big bike restoration scene. especially with the late 30 to 40 year olds. disposable income makes younger dreams possible now.

[neilb740]

My first proper bike was a BSA Javelin. The one in the picture isn't mine but it was identical.
I was taken to the local bike shop to try it for size in September, my mum and dad had been paying for it in instalments.

5 minutes sitting on it then it was whisked away back into the store room until Christmas. Longest 4 months of my life wobbling around on my old second hand Raleigh Tomahawk (remember them!!)

I had it for years until some scumbag nicked it from outside a chippy.