[sridhu]

I had a hand-me-down Raleigh Men's 26" bike in green with full chain guard & SS carrier. I added mirrors (think it was the law in Madras at that time)

When i got it in 1978, it was already 25-30 years old. But was fully 'serviced' and painted when I got it.

Went to our milk man when I went to Pilani in 1983

Strangely, my son picked a Raleigh 21 speed sport bike for his 12th birthday. That is sweet too!

[Eddy]

I had Atlas Blue Flame and Hero Hawk.

[Abhi_abarth]

This was my ride from 4th standard to 12th standard passed on by my dad. This was my uncle's cycle (bought in 1976) which my dad and I used till 2001 as we couldn't afford a new one. This was the model before the 'Goldline' series. The image is for representation purpose but the cycle looked more or less like this without the stickering.


Gave it to our apartment watchmen as we finally bought a Hero Winner in 2001

[Aditya]

I had a Hamilton kids' bike when I was really young. When I was 12, my dad bought me a BSA SLR for Rs. 925. It was a brilliant bike and everyone wanted one back then. Rode the wheels off it till 1995 when I took over my dad's Ambassador Mark3. Then I passed on the SLR to a security guard.

[catchjyoti]

My first cycle was a BSA SLR in red color. I learnt cycling on it using half-pedaling at first before moving on to full-pedaling

[Samba]

Hero Kid
Hercules Captain
Hero Impact
Hercules Topgear EZY

The Hercules Captain was my birthday gift in 1994.
I still have it with me.

[BlackPearl]

Nice thread Samfromindia! I learnt riding in a bicycle called Leica when I was in class 2. I soon outgrew it and after that my parents did not let me buy a new one as they thought I was a devil on wheels. The elderly people in my locality did not help with my cause with their incessant complaints on how dangerous I was. So I ended up borrowing cycles from friends and whoever was kind enough. This was going on well till I had a major accident in a cycle in class 9 that I had borrowed from our driver. I slipped on sand kept for construction and headed straight into a shop. The shop owner had just removed the shutters after an afternoon siesta and minutes later found me and the bicycle inside his shop. I escaped lightly without much injuries but the cycle and the jars kept inside the shop suffered heavily. I did not have any money to silence our driver, so he promptly reported about his loss to my parents. They were furious, but one good thing happened out of this incident. I got a brand new shiny Hero Hawk cycle within a few days. But my string of accidents continued and reports came pouring in from those jobless elders whose only fun in life was to complaint about kids in the locality. I convinced my parents that I was not the one to blame. The cycle was uncontrollably fast.
So the cycle was given to our driver and I got a new Hero Ranger Techno with dual shock absorbers! That was a novelty in those days. It was a shocking violet colour. But after a couple of years it got stolen one night along with my cousins BSA SLR. I was heart broken and it was inconvenient as well because I had to use the cycle for going to tuitions. So in a month's time I got another cycle. This was a state of the art (in those days) Hero Ranger Swing with 18 speed Shimano gears. It was the first time that I got a manual with a cycle. I had that cycle for many years. Sold it off to a friend, but as usual, remorse hit me after a few days and wanted to get it back. Unfortunately it had been stolen from his garage

Sorry for the long post, but I loved bicycles. Unfortunately I never took a picture of any of them. I have started riding again recently with an Apollo Gradient

[TorqueMonster]

I'm more on the younger side of the age group here, I have reduced the cycling and moved on to bikes in barely a year. Since 2015, I have been using a Hercules Turbodrive, in Yellow and Blue Color (It was some special edition, don't remember the exact name. Drove it around for most tutions and to go play cricket before moving to a Bajaj Platina that my father owns.



I don't have photos of the cycle so here is this one for reference. Same colour scheme, just varying stickers.

[bblost]

My first cycle was something called Tubo. Got it when I was maybe 5-6 years old.

Then got a BSA SLR chassis number MSO4958. No idea why I still remember that number but this was my first dose of freedom. Still remember cycling 20 kilometers just for fun.

Then I got myself a Cannondale Quick 5 a couple of years back and still have it with me. Although my cycling these days due to WFH has reduced a lot.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by bblost

My first cycle was something called Tubo. Got it when I was maybe 5-6 years old.

Then got a BSA SLR chassis number MSO4958. No idea why I still remember that number but this was my first dose of freedom. Still remember cycling 20 kilometers just for fun.

Then I got myself a Cannondale Quick 5 a couple of years back and still have it with me. Although my cycling these days due to WFH has reduced a lot.

That's really surprising. All the WFH guys are racking up huge miles here, since their timings and meetings are so flexible. There are guys who have actually taken their laptop and shifted to the mountains in Himachal and riding epic rides there. The more sedate party animals have moved to Konkan and Goa. With laptops and cycles. Another friend moved to his village in Andhra during the second wave. Had to go in an emergency and got stuck there for a few months. So bought himself a 7000 buck Hercules roadster while there (as transporting one of his bikes from Poona would have been more of a cost and hassle with thr transport issues across state lines) and enjoyed his rides on village roads.

[HooghlyBoy]

I vividly remember getting a Green Colour BSA-SLR 18" Bi-Cycle as a Birthday gift from my Dad on my 10th Birthday. I learnt it after 6 months courtesy help from my friends as I had crashed badly onto a pedestrian in the first week of trying to learn it. I got scared when he come in front of me after I made a turn onto a blind alley, I BRAKED HARD (literally both the rear & front brakes) and the next thing I remember was passing out after hitting the man.
He gave me First Aid and took me and bicycle to my home. I recovered from the trauma after 5-6 months and then started cycling in a nearby football ground with good grass cover.
I used it till my college days, then it was left to rust as my job took me far away. One day my mother informed me over a phone call on my 25th Birthday that it has been sold as Scrap.
Thanks for bringing back so many memories.

[charanreddy]

My first cycle, owned was a Hercules Rockshocks. Back in 1997. It costed around 2150. Before that once I learned cycling, I used to rent one for anywhere between rs 1 to rs 3 for an hour from a shop 2 kms away.

I kept that cycle till about 2001, post which it was handed over to a known guy at school. My dad also taught me how to ride a scooter (Bajaj Chetak 1978) in about 1999, just post my 10th std and hence I lost interest in my cycle around the same time.

[KiloAlpha]

My first bicycle was a black Hero Jet, purchased when I was in 8th standard and used till 3rd year college - when I got my moped.

I used it daily to commute to school when in 12th standard, and set a personal best time of 22 minutes for the 7.5km distance. Then, when I got to college, I was "inspired" by Colin Chapman and stripped it bare to make it faster. So it was reduced to just the frame, sprocket/chain/pedals, handlebar, seat, and brakes. When I got my moped, I donated it to a classmate because he wanted it for a personal project.

[AutoIndian]

My first tryst with cycle was my Dad's 1965 Raleigh, guess it was Robinhood model. As someone said above I learnt riding it by monkey pedalling. My cousin, who was working in Tata Motors in the early 80's used to visit us on his BSA SLR & offer my Cadbury Dairy Milk. That combo of BSA SLR ride with Dairy Milk mouth was simply heaven.

After 10th Std. I used to ride my Dad's 1965 Raleigh from home to Akurdi Station, park the black elephant there and take the local train to Pune Station. On the return journey in the evening pick up my Dad's black elephant after off-boarding the train and get back home. This to-&-fro 6km journey continued for 6 years.

After getting my first job in Bajaj Auto in 1998, I would ride to the company on the black elephant, but only for about a month, because after I got my first salary in hand the black elephant was replaced with a sleek, red-silver BSA Mach-1. The love affair with this continued for another 11 months because after completing one year in the company I could get an interest free loan to purchase the then recently launched Bajaj Caliber and suddenly my cycling interest died down there in 1999, when I got the Caliber.

After almost 20 years, in 2018, my cycling interest was re-kindled by one of my close friends and I got myself the Marin Fairfax SC1, which I am enjoying since last 3 years.

[flotsam]

We started off with a red Atlas ladies bicycle in the mid 1970s, followed by a blue Speed King by Hind Cycles, bought used from a cousin, for 300 rupees.

In my late teens, my dad bought me a BSA Mach 10, a beautiful bike, which was stolen within months. This was the bike I have the most happy memories of: I spent hours polishing it, and I think it had the actual BSA piled arms logo on the head tube.

I replaced that a couple of years later with a Hero Hawk. I think it was white and purple, and came with a white saddle bag, and a beautifully designed owners manual, which I still have. I sold the bike a few years later, after it had laid idle, when I was far away working.