Your first "REAL" road bike?

[Suckleyi]

1978 Raleigh Super Grand Prix. It was $225. My dad would only pay half and made me get the 23.5" so I could grow into it. I so wanted the Super Course, but it was another $50 or something. Half of $225 was months of paper delivery, shoveling snow and whatever I could do to make cash at 13. It eventually had mostly Campy nuovo record and tubulars.

Montgomery County MD 13/14 Champion. Maybe someone here remembers racing at IBM and Georgetown Cycle Sport? The beginning of a lifetime of bike racing and support of pro teams until just recently. Feeling a bit old... :-)

[reuben]

Originally Posted by Suckleyi

1978 Raleigh Super Grand Prix. It was $225. My dad would only pay half and made me get the 23.5" so I could grow into it. I so wanted the Super Course, but it was another $50 or something. Half of $225 was months of paper delivery, shoveling snow and whatever I could do to make cash at 13. It eventually had mostly Campy nuovo record and tubulars.

Montgomery County MD 13/14 Champion. Maybe someone here remembers racing at IBM and Georgetown Cycle Sport? The beginning of a lifetime of bike racing and support of pro teams until just recently. Feeling a bit old... :-)

This is a purely awesome story and pic. Absolutely fantastic.

[Howzit]

Old steel Raleigh with down tube shifters off of craigslist in 2002/03-ish. Thing was huge. But I just randomly wanted to start racing bikes. So grabbed whatever was cheap and looked ideal. Haha. Then a local bike shop set me up with a used Carbon Kestrel 200sci that was more my size.

[obrentharris]

Peugeot PX10 bought with money from my first full-time job 4 months after graduating from high school.



Brent

[ickymon]

Peugeot UO10 in fall of 77. Had a box-boy job with a supermarket and $$$ burning a hole in my pocket😆 Always thought those bikes were the shat! Mitch

[feynman]

Nishiki International, 1989. Brand new, at major expense for me, college student.

I loved this bike.

Some time later I read that the bike shop was shut down for illegally replacing stock parts with lower grade equipment, then selling the better parts out their back door.

I checked, and sure enough they had robbed my bike of the good stuff. I didn't know any better when they took advantage of my ignorance, and it bothered me for a very long time. I guess it still does now that I have recalled this.

Nevertheless, bathe in the beauty (not my photo or bike):

[Coffee Rider]

No picture but a 1988 (or maybe 1989) red Specialized Allez with Shimano 105. It probably had BioPace chainrings and included pedals (some of the "newer" riders might not know that bikes used to come with pedals :-)).

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by feynman;3259045

[img

https://i.imgur.com/hFalFgv.jpg[/img]

Did the evil shop remove the shifters from the bike too? I can't find them anywhere!

[mhespenheide]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

Did the evil shop remove the shifters from the bike too? I can't find them anywhere!

Shifters are built into the brake levers. The giveaway is the second set of (shift) cables coming out from the side, while the brake cables are routed under the tape.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by Coffee Rider

No picture but a 1988 (or maybe 1989) red Specialized Allez with Shimano 105. It probably had BioPace chainrings and included pedals (some of the "newer" riders might not know that bikes used to come with pedals :-)).

Bikes DID always come with pedals because everyone had flat or quill pedals with toe clips on the better bikes.

[T-Crush]

Originally Posted by Coffee Rider

No picture but a 1988 (or maybe 1989) red Specialized Allez with Shimano 105. It probably had BioPace chainrings and included pedals (some of the "newer" riders might not know that bikes used to come with pedals :-)).

Was it the American Flyers version? I loved those bikes.

[Coffee Rider]

Originally Posted by T-Crush

Was it the American Flyers version? I loved those bikes.

Unfortunately not.


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[earlgrey]

My first real road racing bike was a lugged steel 1995 Bianchi Veloce with Campy Veloce 8 speed group.

I was never into racing, but was riding with a club in Silicon Valley (the SLUGC) and needed something a bit quicker than my 1990 Fisher Sphinx Monster Cross. Still have the Fisher, but the Bianchi was stolen at SF State around 2001 (I was stupidly commuting on it).

Not my photo:

[Bikedud]

1986 Ross Centaur
Ross Cen.jpg

Before the first ride I upgraded the pedals and brake levers, wrapped the bars in pink Benotto bar tape, and put over 3000 miles on it in 12 months. Then I went out and purchased a Specialized Allez SE. I still have both -great memories.

[rmac24]

Purchased this as a graduation present after finishing my MBA degree in the late 80's.

One of the first lugged framesets with full carbon fiber tubes made in Japan and distributed in the US, with Shimano Ultegra components and Dura Ace pedals. Sold it to a friend who still rides it.