Your first "REAL" road bike?

[Ahneida Ride]

Early Seventiies Carlton Raleigh Competition. 531, Record + Zeus mix.
Still got it !!!

[terry]

in 1975 i bought a motobecane grand record, reynolds 531, some campy record, TA 3 arm crank, weinmann brakes and clement sew-ups. i haven't stopped riding sew-ups since.

[davids]

It was a Motobecane Super Mirage. I'm guessing it was a '75. I'm sure there's a picture of the teenage me and the bike somewhere in my parent's photo collection. Beautiful medium blue, stem-mounted shifters... I loved it!

It replaced the Raleigh Chopper I'd begged for as a 9-year old, and it was mine until it was stolen out of the back yard of the house I lived in during my junior year at college, left outside by a housemate when we stumbled off to bed drunk, after our first house-party of the year. I replaced it with a Miyata 310, I think...

Here's a picture of somebody else's Super Mirage. It looks about right:

[MartyE]

1975 Viscount Aerospace pro, black and silver with requisite
death fork. Suntour Cyclone derailleurs and Mavic Mod E rims
with Wolber tires.

Marty

[bcm119]

'89 peugeot bordeax with 7 speed indexed shifting, exage components. I loaded it up and took it on a week long bike/camping tour in the Catskills when I was about 13, and from then on I was fascinated with road bikes.

Your Doctor did his first juniors races on a Sears free Spirit that didn't fit, left over from his 10th birthday.

The next year (1981), lawn cuttings and Santa brought your Doctor a 531C-tubed Trek with Suntour something on it, that left his hands in 1984....

[slowgoing]

Mid seventies C.Itoh. I couldn't afford a Motobecane, Raleigh, Falcon, Gitane or Bottechia. I took the C.Itoh over a Kabuki or a Sears Free Spirit. It only lasted about two weeks before I totalled it and had to borrow my brother's single speed Huffy with 26" wheels for the next few years. Upgraded to a Raleigh Supercourse and then a used orange Swedish Crescent with 531 main tubes in college.

[RichMc]

Some of you guys make me feel old, but that's because I am. 1970 I bought my first Raleigh SuperCourse, 531 butted tubes, Brooks saddle and Simplex derailluers. Great bike and for a while I had to ride it everyday to college while I fixed up my Austin BugEye Sprite. A couple of years after I got that I bought a Mondia Special, full Campy w/ handlebar end shifters, sew-ups and a Brooks Professional saddle. That bike was beautiful and fast, but man, was that saddle harsh. The Raleigh was stolen at school. Still wish I had the Mondia but I didn't appreciate what I had at the time. It wasn't good for daily travel to school because of the tires. Sold it for another SuperCourse and some extra cash. Starving student you know. Not like today where Mommy & Daddy pay for everything.

[cookieguy]

After a few months on a 35+ lb Schwinn, I knew I needed a real bicycle. It took me a year and a half a saving a few dollars at a time to be able to pay the $400 for the bicycle (1983 or 1984). It's a mix of suntour, sugino, and miche parts. Approx 22-23 lb. It felt like riding a rocket. I still use it on my wind trainer.

I still remember a long walk home on wooden soled cleated shoes after going through both of my spare tires.....

[vaxn8r]

1983 Nishiki Pro. I almost bought a Trek like Froze...I think a 660...but when I saw this, decked out with Nuovo Record, and just a hair over my price range, I couldn't resist.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=3115

[soulspinner]

80s Cannondale(stiff) Superbe Pro, white Look pedals added in 1985. 21 puonds with MA 40 clinchers with Specialized turbos(flatted constantly...). Shook my kidneys but I was young and rode that rig a lot of miles.

[bfd]

My first real road bike - a Fuji Del Rey, for about $300 - it was considered by either Bicycling or Consumer Reports (or both) as the "best buy"....

[PaulE]

Does a Peugeot UO8 count as a real road bike? It sure did to me at the time. Mine was circa 1971, light blue with a leather saddle and Mafac brakes without suicide levers. I was 14 and had it a year or two when it was stolen off of my back porch. I then moved up to a yellow Dawes Galaxy, non-butted Reynolds 531, but still the same great Simplex derailleurs, which I had until 1992, when I sold it for a lot less than I paid for the Brooks saddle it had , the one with the wide rivets ground down to be flush with the leather. That saddle, a Sugino crank, and some Campy Valentino derailleurs were from an early 1980's upgrade.

If they don't count as road bikes, in 1992 I started riding again and moved up to a red Miyata 9-14 with 7 speed Shimano 105 indexed downtube shifters, and that bike was upgraded to 105 8 speed with brifters. I still have that bike on my trainer in the basement.

[don compton]

thanks weisan, if it were only 59 cm.
don c.

My first "nice" road bike was (is) a 1985 Dave Moulton Fuso with first-generation Dura-Ace click shifting. It's still the prettiest bike I own.
Jack