Remember your first bike? Ivan Basso does, and he wants his back

My first bike was actually my sister's old bike. I must have been 8 or 9. My dad got it stripped, resprayed, new saddle, cool handlebars. It was very kind of him to go to so much effort. But I still knew, deep in my heart, that it was a girls bike. I think my friends knew that too

Why would Ivan Basso want my first bike?

My first bike was a single speed (ooh, how trendy!) with solid rubber tyres and a front brake only. I could belt along the pavement, jam on the brake, and the rear wheel would lift excitingly into the air.

My first bike was a Raleigh Gresham Flyer from J.E. James in Sheffield. I remember not being allowed stabilisers and mastering it in an afternoon.

My next bike was a Viking Warlord. 5 gears, drop handlebars, shorty mudguards and a downtube shifter. It was my pride and joy and I rode it absolutely everywhere, including some 30-40 mile jaunts into the Peak District with my mates (not bad at 12 years of age!)

My first bike was actually a trike. My dad used to take me out on it in Portsmouth to see Hugh Porter ride the track. I was 3-ish and can only remember it being black and white like our telly !

Had a green bike of ancient vintage with dodgy rod operated brakes that was passed on to me from my elder sister and my brother before her. I didn't much like it at the time and saw it as a stepping stone to a 'proper' bike but I assume it'd be worth something now amongst collectors of all things old and vintage. It did have a leather saddle. My fondest memories of it are of hacking round my parents' back garden pretending I was on a motorcross bike.

My first bike was my Mum's old HC Strudwick tourer. She'd belonged to a local cycle club in the early 50's where she met my Dad and they went all over the place. It was a proper mens frame made of reynolds 531(?).
I stripped it completely and had it sprayed metallic purple, well it was 1973, and fitted with Weinmann components. Last seen in West Germany in 1978, I had to give it away to a mate as I couldn't get it in my car to bring it back to the UK when I was posted to Catterick.

Mine was a Raleigh Elf back in 1976. Metallic blue with solid tyres, rod brakes and rubber pedals...Alas I had yet to discover Waxoyl

A Raleigh Hustler was my third bike, mine was metallic green and gold - what a great bike, I wasn't kink to it though, at various points the drops came off and I fitted mighty cowhorn handlebars and a red Chopper-style seat… that was a look. It was the mid-70s is my only excuse bad things happened.

A purple Puch Mini Sprint: curly frame, single speed, mudguards and rack, white wall tyres. How I loved that bike!

Purple Raleigh Hustler with 3-speed Sturmey Archer. Mid-70s. May not sound like much of a bike, but to a ten-year old boy it was the dog's wotsits. I used to ride round pretending to be Barry Sheene. Hadn't heard of the Tour de France by that age. As I rode it I watched it progressively rust away over three winters of salted roads in Lincolnshire. I loved that bike.

That's nice for you Tony. I had my sisters old bike: red with white tyres. I took the tartan basket off the back and the pennant off the front but it didn't fool any of my mates who were on their siblings cast off Tomahawks and choppers. It probably explains my pathetic attempts to heal the mental scars by buying Condor after Condor.

My first bike was more of a toy than a bike, but I still loved it - a Triang with a plastic Lambretta shell over the top (murder to get the chain back on) that I got for Christmas in 1965. I've still got a picture of me belting (well, relatively) along Central Road on Wanstead Flats on Christmas Day. Looking every inch the proper mod… stick that in yer pipe Wiggo.

Next bike was a Raleigh with 20in wheels and a coaster back brake an absolutely superb skidding machine bought from a real old school bike shop in Katherine Rd, East Ham.

By the way: in January I posted a story on one of his other first bikes, in this case a red Benati (it's in Dutch but you can use Google Translate to get the hang of it or just look at the pictures of Ivan, the bike and his little son Santiago):

http://italiaanseracefietsen.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/bassos-eerste-race...

I have it, and he can't have it back.

No idea of Brand but it was a deep red with white tyres and a white saddle. It was the one I learnt to ride without stabilisers.

I had a peugeot five speed racer. can't remember the model but i do recall it was made from 'Carbolite 103' tubing. wrecked the back wheel doing skids down the rec...