Not a childhood bike, but one from adolescence - my Dad bought me this 1976 Puch Royal X in 1978, and I rode it lots and all over.
In 1987 I sold it to fund a guitar amp purchase, regretted it, but was unable to buy it back. In '97, when I got back into bikes, I started looking for another white 23-in Puch Royal X. Zip. None to be found, no matter how far and wide I looked. A couple of weeks ago, on a whim, I look at Facebook Marketplace and run a couple of my usual searches for old French bikes, and on a whim I type in "Puch." And up comes this, for $100.
and yeah, it's in Georgia and I'm in South Carolina, but I find a shop near the seller who will box it and ship it, and the seller agrees to take it there to get his money, and I'm really happy that I've got a bike like I have been seeking for more than 20 years. I poke around looking for any records of serial numbers but have no luck, and then the bike arrives and I disassemble it and start cleaning and I get to the head tube and I see this -
- that vertical scar down along the H? I did that. I remember seeing it after one of several moves in a short period of time, I remember being sad and bummed about it - but what are the odds of there being TWO white 23-in Puch Royal Xs in the state of Georgia with that particular scar? It's MY bike.
Here it is this morning, as I reassemble it to ride for a season or two before I have it properly refinished with the right transfers -
