jefnvk

Whenever it was, fairly certain it was a black and orange generic 16" that probably came form Toys-R-Us. Can't remember having 12" at least. Single speed with a coaster brake and a worn out back tire from getting it going fast, hitting the brake, and sliding the back tire around. Still have some scars from that activity

I only had one other bike between that one and my first real bike that I still own and regularly ride.

noimagination

I got a bike for my 5th birthday (tricycle before that), my Dad made me ride with training wheels until my 6th birthday. Of course, by then, most/all of my friends had had theirs off for months, I was the only dork still with training wheels. It worked, I guess, since once the training wheels were off I had no trouble riding without them. I still remember the sweet feeling of swoopy freedom, riding without training wheels for the first time (damn, more than 45 years ago).

The bike was nothing special, from Holiday (kind of like Benny's for you New Englanders, but smaller and with gas pumps). A generic dept. store bike, red, plastic seat, red & silver handlebar streamers, pin-striped fenders, etc. Appropriately sized for 5-6 year olds, single speed, coaster brake. It wasn't nearly as cool as the Schwinn bikes the rich kids had. It still represented a big increase in my range of freedom to 6 year old me. It got passed down to my 2 brothers and sister as we grew. As I remember, it didn't make the move 'way down south to Madison with us, I think we gave it away to another kid.

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wipekitty

I was about 4. I had a little 16" pink coaster brake bike with a basket, bell, and of course streamers. Being the ladylike gal I was, I liked to ride around in my pink kitty dress and threaten the neighbor boy who was about three years older than me.

Dad did his usual thing and tricked me into learning how to do something by pretending he was holding me up, then telling me later that I'd been balancing on my own. (The underwater swimming incident was a bit less pleasant.)

Annnnddd...over 30 years later, I got myself another pink bike, and still ride in a cat dress, but now with bike shorts. Some things never change.

gabe3366

I suppose I was around 7 to 10, on a diamondback bmx in my nonna's driveway.

Milton Keynes

I think I was about 6, never used training wheels, had parents and older sisters attempting to teach me balance. I must have had gotten the hang of it but not the confidence, because one day my dad took me outside to "teach" me. He told me to get on my bike and ride down the sidewalk to the end of the block, which I did and back. I don't think he even helped me balance, he just told me and I did it.

BTW, the bike was a Western Flyer banana seat bike which I rode up until I was a teenager and graduated to a ten speed.

Waxbytes

I was seven and the bike was red. That's all I can remember other than falling off a lot as my parents didn't think training wheels were a good idea. It didn't take long to get the hang of it.

fietsbob

Neolithic.

Super_Sport

I was 5 or 6. Bike was a red Huffy. Ended up crashing it on a big downhill race with a neighborhood kid a year or so later. I kept riding it but was scared of downhills after that. Still not a good descender...

rubiconazoid

I believe I was 6 years old. I think it was a red Murray . I convinced my father to take the training wheels off rather quickly. I took 2 quick spills in the driveway and then I was off to the races.

Milton Keynes

My son learned last year at age 6. He had been on training wheels for quite a while, but one day he decided he was ready to learn. Took him to a large grassy area, I took his training wheels off and my wife helped him balance. I think after about 5 minutes he was on his own. I'm pretty sure it helped that he had a Razor-type scooter that he rode around his grampa's driveway. I noticed that he would get going with one foot and then coast around keeping his foot up, so I knew it wasn't going to be too hard for him. If he could balance that scooter he could balance a bike.

*edit* Well, according to one of my old Facebook posts that just popped up in my feed from two years ago, my son learned at age 5. He's now 7 and enjoys going on short rides around town with me. My daughter is 5 and rides her "big girl" bike with training wheels, but I think it might be time to try to teach her how to balance using the no pedals method.

Lazyass

I have no memory of not being able to ride a bike. It would be before I started kindergarten. Now my grandson turns 7 next week. He never got off his training wheels and now his bike is rusted in his backyard. I don't think he touched it in the last year. He cares about nothing else in life but playing Minecraft and watching Minecraft videos on Youtube.

DomaneS5

I was 4....1977. I had a Spider Man bike with training wheels. Took the training wheels off after about a month.

Gaelen

Somewhere in the 5-7 range. I'm not sure if it was my first bike, but, the first one I remember was a dark green Huffy. Man, that thing was sweet.

Cheryl G

Not sure the exact age but I have a photo of me on it. It was a pink 16"-20" with coaster brakes, I'm guessing I was about 6 when the photo was taken after I learned to ride without training wheels.

My son turns 4 in two weeks and we are getting him his first bike. Meanwhile, I am back on a bike for the first time in 9 years and my husband will be getting one soon too so we can eventually take family rides.

calyco

At age 8 with bmx bike, training wheels came off like 3 months later I think. I remember gliding on grass trying to get the proper balance Once I got it I was ecstatic, so happy that day

seagullplayer

Before I started kindergarten, it was an old blue bike with solid wheels.

Wish I still had it. It was decades old when I got it in the late 60's...

rydabent

Not until about the age of 9, for the simple fact it wasnt until then I got a bike. My "bike" was a hard rubber tired sidewalk bike with a V-belt drive. I learned to ride it all by myself in short order. At the age of 11 I got my first real bike with 24 inch tires that I rode 1 and 3/4 miles to school.

Crashola

I must have been 6 -- with no training wheels. I just remember my dad holding me up as I pedaled and then let me go. I seem to recall a couple of crashes before getting it down.

And it was a Huffy "Cheater Slick" Like one of these:

prq9218

I was 4, don't remember what bike I learned on, but by 6, I was doing the majority of my riding on my sisters hand me down Huffy Dream Girl with a banana seat.

PaulH

Pretty much the same experience for me, back in the 1950s. I don't think the concept of "bike fit" had caught on yet.

beicster 

I don't recall exactly but I was about 5 and the only thing I remember about the bike is that is was an old (in the early 70's) and it had hard, non-pneumatic tires. The tires were coming apart and occasionally a long strip would come loose and whip me as it went by.

Aahzz

I was 7 or 8. I really really really wanted a BMX style bike like my friends had, but my dad's sister owned a bike shop and talked him into an expensive (she didn't discount for family, either) Italian-cruiser-looking thing. I don't remember the brand or the model, it was 1975....but it so wasn't what I wanted. I rode it anyway for about 2 years 'til I got a Huffy 10-speed - the "Breaking Away" model. That bike I loved.

vsudhir18

4 or 5 years old and learned on the classic training wheels bike and would go around my elementary school playground learning the ropes until I was ready to go without training wheels

124Spider

I was no more than 5. The bike was a hand-me-down J.C. Higgins (a Sears brand, apparently) 20" bike, that had previously been operated, in turn, by my two older brothers.

I learned to ride it on the slight hill on our little front yard, which ended at a brick wall beside our car-port. The idea that if I didn't get the bike under control before I got to the wall, I was in for a crash, provided extra incentive!

Mark

manapua_man

I think I was 5-6 and had a hand me down BMX bike.