On the third day of Christmas, Domestic Sluttery gave to me, a printed bicycle cushion from Hunkydory Home!
They gave away a lovely lampshade last Christmas, they've been supporters and sponsors of our blog this year and they're back today with more goodies for you to win. Hunkydory Home do quirky and retro in a way that no one else can. And I'm smitten with this bicycle cushion that we're giving away (I'm also rather taken with this Secretary cushion - it was a tough choice!)
But, the bicycle cushion (worth £29) won, because we know how many of you are fans of whooshing about on two wheels. The cushion is filled with a feather insert, so it'll be all snuggly and it'll look awesome with most decors. I bet it's the one that the cat picks to cosy up on. Can't do anything about that, sorry.
What do you have to do to win? Well it's time for a bit of a Christmas break (just for today, calm down) so instead, just leave a comment telling us about your first bike. Did you get yours for Christmas, did you have a hand-me-down from your big brother? What colour was it? Tell us stories! Want an extra entry? We're spreading the joy this time, so you can like our competition entry on Facebook too (give us ten minutes to get it live, won't you early birds?)
We'll close the competition at 8pm tonight (yes, even if we've got a cocktail in our hands, so make sure you've got your entry in before then). Then we'll pick the winner at random and announce in Monday. First thing in the morning to make someone's day that little bit brighter.
The small print (yawn): The competition will close at 8pm December 3rd. This prize is only available to UK readers! You must also leave a name as well to make sure we know who you are! If you're anon your entry won't count. We're not allowed to enter our own competitions, but Siany's first bike was red and it was BEAUTIFUL. She rode it into a wall once and it really hurt when she fell off. We wish we could enter our competitions. Humph.
My first bike was pink and white, with sparkly handles and seat, in true 1989 style. I was the biggest tomboy in existance, so it was not wholly appreciated, although my next-door neighbours (older boys, v. exciting) used to push me around my garden on it and pretend that it was a horse. I was 6. Those were the days :)
ReplyDeleteGot my first bike nine months ago and I am 26 years old. Couldn't ride a bike so bought one. Was very tricky at first. Went on velodrome after 4th outing on my bike. Some said brave, some said stupid. Either way, I'm still not the greatest cyclist in the world.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a red Rayleigh number with a plastic box on the back (with the creepiest looking clown on it ever!!), unfortunately it was a pretty girly bike and I much preferred my brother's which came with buttons that made shooting noises! As a result he got a bit cross I kept taking his bike and he stabbed a children's cross stitch needle into the front wheel of my bike! I've just about forgiven him now, as long as he doesn't do it to my lovely new Pashley bike!!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was white and pink, with one of those naff plastic baskets on the front, with plastic daisies stuck on it. It also had a bell which had a I <3 My Bike logo on it. I learnt to ride it on the prom by the sea at Fleetwood, we'd go every weekend and finish the trip with some Fish and Chips. It was always windy too, which made learning tricky. Thanks goodness for the stabilisers!
ReplyDeleteI was a real tomboy, and my first bike was a yellow and black boys one that I picked myself when I was about 7. My sister had a nice pink one with streamers and a basket and I thought it was horrible! How times change, now Im the girliest girl ever!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a little pink Raleigh bike with a seat on the back for my baby and wonky stabilisers so that the bike tipped a bit from side to side as I peddled. On Christmas day my dad had to continuously push me up the back street so I could peddle full pelt down the front street over and over and over again.
ReplyDeleteWoo I may be first:
ReplyDeleteWell bike the first was a burgundy raleigh with classy stabilisers no doubt a hand me down from big sis. We had many adventures cycling around the local paths, riding down the 'big dip' (which to my small eyes was rather big and I now realise is just a dip), falling into big heaps once the stabilisers left me and the ensuing grazed elbows, knees, hands etc... oh the fun! She was the first in a long line of bikes the latest version of which sees me swooshing around London to gay abandon... well when they aren't covered in snow anyway... and riding far and wide to exotic locations like (drumroll please).... Southend! She will always remain in my heart as the first. Her name was Princess.
My first bike was bright yellow and it was called a "Bobo" and I loved it, I used to get slagged off for it when all my mates had choppers and tomahawks, but I didn't care!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a Raleigh Hercules Hunter in Cobalt Blue and white. I LOVED it! I would ride everywhere, and took my Cycling Proficiency Test in the school yard with four other people so i could be grown up and ride on the roads (in other news, Dianne Shutt failed her exam when she went around the corner and her handlebars came away from the bike, and she piled straight into the wall of the outside toilets.)
ReplyDeleteMy days of joy with my bike came to an end two years later, when I went to get it out of the shed for it's spring outing, and found that my younger brother had nicked different parts off it to rebuild a really rubbish scrapped bike that he's nicked from the tip!
my first bike came from a free-ad in the paper, it was old, rusty and not very impressive so I spray painted it blue and pink to try & tart it up, but a week later when I took it to cycling profficiency the instructor told me the frame was bent & after scolding my parents for neglecting their daughter's safety, demanded that they buy me a new one - so I got a lovely dark green 'diamond back' mountain bike - bonus!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was technically not a bike but a trike, it was big and blue and white and plastic and the best bit was that my mum and dad had bought letter stickers and had put my name on the front and back of the trike. I thought that the trike came from the shop and was made especially for me, I loved it.
ReplyDeleteCrazily enough - I was 22 when I got my first bicycle! Living in London as an only child, my parents freaked at the idea of me riding off on my own.. so I never bothered to learn, instead slagging off cycling as a lycra-clad sport for chumps, even though I secretly wanted to ride! Anyway, my first bike was a red Raleigh 1969 shopper.. weighed a tonne and only had two working gears but it was small and basic enough not to freak me out. The first day I managed to ride will live with me forever.. I got myself a fantastic trainer (Ridewise) and I was riding, unaided, off into the distance within an hour! I now own a way more speedy but still as pretty Raleigh Clubman Lady with a Mixte racing frame (also red) and I haven't stopped obsessing about bikes ever since that fateful day!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was given to me for my 7th birthday. We kept it at my granny's house as it was super hilly where we lived so I would make up every excuse possible to go to her place. It was so cool and very 1988 - bright yellow with tassels on the handlebars and fluro spokes that looked wicked when I rode it. Gosh I miss it.
ReplyDeleteI have'nt actually ever had a bike, my mum and dad could'nt afford one (yes sad I know!) so my first mode of transport was actually a LoLo ball! anyone remeber them???? great memories of it! A red ball with a yellow outer disc, I took it everywhere with me :-)
ReplyDeleteI must have been about 4/5 when I had my first bike. It was purple with a pink and white basket. I would ride endless laps around our back garden, rocking with stabilisers. To my dismay, my older brother and friends used it in an obstacle course competition. Running around with it held above their heads, as boys do.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a grotty rusty pink second hand machine when I was 7 but I hand painted it bright yellow using Humbrol enamel paints. I rode it all over the place around Suffolk for a good few years. I loved it so much that my first 'grown up' bike was also bright yellow :o)
ReplyDeleteMy first bicycle was a boy's bike, a hand me down from the son of a family friend. How I hated it! It was too big, it was dirty, and - worse - it bore the colours and logo of Rangers Football Club. I had no interest in football! It didn't even have a basket, and I had dreamed of cycling along the pavements with a basket and pink streamers billowing behind me. I looked very boyish as a little girl, so wheeling along on this big brute was so embarrassing that I gave up riding altogether until I was twenty. Having this bicycle cushion in my life would do a lot to heal my childhood wounds...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I remember, it was pink Raleigh with little flowers on it and white handles.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it had stabilisers (I wasn't the best cyclist.
The kids from a nearby street wanted to use it for skids and tricks, but I wouldn't let them!
i never had a bike :o(
ReplyDeletei learnt to ride when i was very small, on my brother's bike, and i was allowed to borrow his black bmx to do my cycling proficiency test at school (and passed), but never ever got a bike for christmas when i asked. i think this was due to the many accidents my brother got into with his, my parents probably didn't want me to end up the same way! i've recently aquired a beat up mountain bike on a freecycle site, which i intend to make good use of, as soon as i get a comfy big-bum seat for it :o)
My first bike was a cool blue BMX that my dad built for me from scratch one Christmas in the early 90s. I was awesome, I looked awesome on it. The love affair lasted until the following spring when, on my first outing to the local BMX track, my father's careful soldering came apart mid-jump and I crashed face-first into the ground. Such is life!
ReplyDeleteI ride a nice safe dutch bike sedately round Hackney now :)
My first bike was good old fashioned Raleigh stock in lovely yellow. I decided to gather my immediate family around to demonstrate how good I was at riding and using the brakes now I was stabilizer-free, and set of down our long sloped driveway...forgetting to use the brakes. I went face first into the log fence at the bottom, and felt very silly indeed. Don't worry, it didn't put me off. I've now learned where the brakes are, and am still riding today :)
ReplyDeleteUhh - my first bike! I was three years old and myself, my brother and my twin sister all got bikes on Christmas day. They were wrapped in white sack near the Christmas tree (too big to actually put under our puny tree!). It was small (as expected) and red is the colour I remember it to be!
ReplyDeleteGreat memories :)
I learned to ride when I was about 8, borrowing a clapped out bike off the boy three doors down and wobbling off down the middle of the road. I didn't get my own bike till I was a student in 1978. It was a 1920s tourer in Hunter Green and I bought it off an old lady for £5. I loved that bike. I called it Resin (short for Resolution and Independence). Though I was faintly insulted when I went out one morning to find that a thief had stolen my lock and left the bike!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a purple Raleigh, and it felt huuuuge! Could barely reach the peddles, let alone the ground. The stabilisers stayed on for a good long time - until my younger brother learned to ride without and I wasn't having that, so spent hours wobbling down the drive until I finally cracked it. My current bike is also purple . . . and sitting lonely in the garage!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a light purple, lilac if you will, Raleigh Model Number ?!£"$. It had a lunchbox type thing above the back wheel. Of course it had stabilisers. My dad took them off but I insisted he run behind me holding bike otherwise was convinced I would fall off. In the end when he let go I did continue pedalling into the distance, I realisedm and promptly fell off.
ReplyDeleteMine was a blue trike and I loved it
ReplyDeleteI can't even remember my first bike - I grew up on a farm so we just always had bikes (always second hand of course). I haven't riddena bike nwo in years, as I am too scared of London traffic. So a bike cushion would be ideal for getting my cycling fix without having to dodge black cabs!
ReplyDeleteAdore Hunkydory Home too - in fact I featured them in my guide to retro gifts on my blog this week:
http://pennydreadfulvintage.blogspot.com/2010/12/retro-christmas-gift-guide-part-2.html
Mine was a Raleigh Bluebird.
ReplyDeleteI used to flit round the village, learning from the big boys how to ride no handed.
Perched on the pedals wind rushing through my hair, I soared down the hill wings spread, the scent of autumn hot on my tail.
I still with I could fly south for the winter!
my great grandpa bought me my first proper bike, i was about 14 - it was a raleigh pink one which got sprayed matt black when i got to 16 and turned my back on all things pink... i kept the little white bag on the back though, i had to keep my fags and vodka somewhere.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was green and came to me from over the ocean with my crazy canadian cousin as a gift.:-) I still have it.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was this really rather ugly blue fold up bike, before they were small, cool and compact.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it did have a great bit to sit on above the back wheel and I could give great croggies (nobody else seems to call it that - it seems to be a 'backy' to everyone else.)
One day, I was sat on my coat on this special little seat as my friend, Deborah, pedalled furiously away - until the coat caught in the spokes and flipped us upside down. My knees have never been quite the same since.
My first bike was a little pink number called 'Fleur'. She had a cream plastic box on the back that I used to keep my treasures in, but best of all, on a Friday Dad used to send me off to the chippy with some money and I'd pedal home with dinner for us all safe in the box on the back. Swish.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what my first bike was, but I do remember learning to ride it in Somerfields car park, with Dad holding on to the seat of it and me screaming 'don't let go!!!!'.
ReplyDeleteThen the Sunday family bike rides, where my shoe laces would tangle up in the pedals and I would slowly come to a halt, fall sideways and land in a bunch of stinging nettles.
Please can I have the cushion now?
It was one of those ones where you had to peddle backwards to brake (don't make them like that anymore). My sister borrowed, but was unaware of this fact. Pain ensued.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was actually both of my 2 older sisters' first bikes previously, so it was getting on a bit! Like some other DS commenters, it was a folding bike that was still massive and unwieldy when folded. It was kept in the garden shed, and I was always a little nervous taking it in and out of there due to the unshakeable conviction that a garden spider would fall on my head (it never happened!)
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a Raleigh Vixen, and i loved it. I had wanted a pink one but my mother being the clever woman she is bought me a green one. I later found out this was so she could give it to my younger brother once I'd grown out of it!
ReplyDeleteHe also loved it, even if he did get taunted by me for having a girls bike. Children are mean!
It was a yellow trike with a dumper-truck-scoopy thing on the back for putting all my dollies (and the dog!) in! But my first proper bike was pink & turquoise, and bought for me when I was 8 years old and my legs were too short to reach the pedals - so for a very long time I didn't ride it, just sat on it!
ReplyDeleteMine was a pink BMX with all the trimmings!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad bought it for me as a birthday present!
On that bike I learnt lots of things like; how to ride on two wheels, how to ride with no hands, how to loose the skin off your nose while riding looking up at the clouds rather than at the road (although my hunky crush noticed and actually talked to me *swoons at the memory*) . . . loved that bike!
The first bike I remember was a metallic bronze Raleigh, which sported white wall tyres... soooo cool!!
ReplyDeleteHeavily into horses at the time, I used to 'gallop' round on it , full pelt yelling such things as 'yehah' and 'giddy up'!!
Happy days when my only worry that was my mum would call me in for tea before the cute by from down the road came out to play!!
My first bike was a shiny pink princess bike, with a shiny silver bell and little pink streamers from the handlebars. It also came with a goliath set of stabilizers which still didn't prevent me from riding straight into a wall once.
ReplyDeleteI only learned to ride a bike in April this year. I did have one when I was a kid, which I was just about starting to get to grips with - but I came home one day to find my dad had given it away to one of his friends.
ReplyDeleteWhile travelling in China, my friends decided we should take a bike tour round the town of Yangshuo. Cue me quickly teaching myself by freewheeling round the block a few times while everyone else paid for their hire. I got the hang of it in five minutes.
So really my first bike was a 20p hire cycle in a small Chinese town. At the age of 27.
My first bike was a blue Raleigh Ranger. I will never forget the first time I rode it without stabalisers on. I was doing really well until I turned round to say to my Dad who was just behind me 'look I'm doing it!' Because I wasnt looking where I was going, I rode straight into a lampost! I had a really big scab on my face for a few days after that, much to the amusement of my school friends!
ReplyDeleteI learnt to ride a bike on my 24th birthday, on a hot June summers day, on a beautiful vintage bike called Roxy.
ReplyDeleteTwo days later, Rhiannon (Roxy's mum) took me to Re-cycle, which is a great scheme in York, where you can buy second hand bikes which have been donated, or left around the city. I chose a beautiful ruby red vintage bike and basket, and can now be happily found wobbling around the city on her.. even in the snow!
My first bike was a beautiful metallic blue Raleigh Princess which I adored. It had a basket on the front and a box on the back. I got it for christmas when I was 6 and my Dad taught me to ride it by pushing me along at the front of our house.
ReplyDeleteFirst bike was actually a tri-cycle. It was blue with 3 tin soldiers painted on the seat.
ReplyDeleteI remember having awesome races down the street with my neighbours, a mix or scooters, bikes, skateboards, rollar skates!
lots of grazes but so much fun!
. . . . dont suppose i can still squeeze into it now!?
hmmmmm so long ago haha, think it was pink with victorie plum on it & basket at the front. i used to find the biggest hill in the village & sit my little brother in the basket whilst zooming down the hill as fast as possible! not the safest thing to do i suppose but thats what being a kid is all about haha
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was red and gold and was a hand-me-down. It had always been a hand-me-down (my eldest sister had it handed from goodness knows where) and took to the task admirably.
ReplyDeleteWhen we outgrew the hand-me-down red and gold bike it was cleaned up and passed on (always as a Christmas present) to the next child (whoever's friend or cousin had a child it would fit).
The previous owner was then given... the slightly bigger red and gold bike. The second one had a bag instead of a basket. And after I was finished with it it also had spokey-dokes courtesy of my morning Frosties addiction.
My first bike was also a Raleigh. It was Red with a chrome chain guard. My Gran bought me it for christmas , she bought my sister exactly the same one too as she felt we wouldn't argue if we got the same pressies. Trouble was we couldn't tell them apart so argued even more , god bless her.
ReplyDeleteLovely cushion! The first bike I can remember having was a ridiculously over-sized and very non-girly mountain bike around the age of 13!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was purple and I used to strap a little bag to the space on the back and go for picnics :) Also remember falling off when racing my Dad (he was running alongside me).
ReplyDeleteI got my first bike when I was 11 - it was a purple Elswick Hopper..on my first go I fell off the in rose bed (ouch!) but once I got the hang of it there was no stopping me. Sadly it was damaged beyond repair when the garage roof blew off in the 'great storm of 87' !
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a Raleigh, with stabelizers, and no matter how hard my parents tried they couldn't get me to ride it without them! Then my friend showed me how to do it in about 10 minutes!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike had white handlebars, but I can't remember what the rest of it looked like! When no one else was around I used to pretend that it was a motorcycle and pedal as fast as I could up and down the garden.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a lavender Raleigh Bluebird. It had a little seat on the back for my doll. I remember learning to ride without stabilizers, a bunch of parents from down my street took all of us kids to a field to learn. I was no good at it, I kept falling off, so I threw a temper tantrum and got a hiding for it. I learned eventually, which is good because now that I'm 24 and can't drive, my bike is my only way of getting around!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was indeed a hand-me-down from my older brother. Not only was it an assault on the eyes (neon yellow), but the ears too - it had those less-than-wonderful beads on the spokes that rattle along much like a machine gun. (Not quite the pink-with-a-basket the girls across the road all had).
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was the very first "proper thing" I bought with my own money - well, the first time I was allowed to use the interest accumulated on an account my parents created for me when I was just born.
ReplyDeleteI remember that it was £168 and a lovely shade of purple. I was so happy - I had only learnt to ride a bike a week before my Cycling Proficiency (late starter or what!) and it was my treat because I'd passed.
The seat got eaten by mice over the winter one year and I think it's now in retirement in the back of my parents' garage, but I still think of it with a grin because I absolutely loved whizzing about on the country roads, my first real taste of freedom. Whizzing about in London now doesn't have quite the same effect!
Oh oh oh my first bike. A little red bike with white tyres - I LOVED it! I remember my mum used to wheel it to school when she picked me up in the afternoon and I used to run out to see if she'd brought it so I could ride it home.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still love bikes and cycling now... you never go off something if you were encouraged in the right way as a child :)
I'll never forget my first bike, it was green and old, a hand-me-down from my cousins. I was taught to ride it, to pedal and balance, but no one taught me about brakes, and I went down a hill straight into a brick wall. Never been keen on cycling since!
ReplyDeleteMy dad, God rest his soul, got me my first bike - a Red chopper when I was 9!! I rode it everywhere. The first time dad let go, I rode straight into the bushes as I couldn't master the brake.
ReplyDeleteI think I was about 5. It was all wrapped for Christmas. Although, there wasn't much guessing to be done, not with the way my dad wraps things. I suppose he couldn't really do much else with a bike.
ReplyDeleteIt was gorgeous. It was a bright blue colour and had little coloured beads in the spokes that made a noise that must have been dreadful for any adults within a half mile radius. I loved it.
I remember when the stabilisers came off. My dad was holding the bike as I cycled along merrily. It was only after a few seconds I realised he'd let go! I was cycling on my own! He hadn't told me, and I was angry at him for it... but it worked!
I can't quite remember the name of my first bike, I think it was a Raleigh Rainbow/ Either way, it was pink and had a lovely little bell and basket on the front, very girly!
ReplyDeleteI had a pink and white bike and next to the name (whatever that was) it had a picture of a cartoon cat face. I thought it was ace.
ReplyDeleteI got my first bike for Christmas at age ten. It was the 1970's and I wanted a boy's styled yellow ten speed bike with ramshorn handlebars. I got a VERY large boy's five speed bike in dark blue with regular cruising handlebars. There was NOTHING trendy or sexy about it.
ReplyDeleteI was tall for a ten year old, but this bike was tough to get on and off of and to ride all over our very hilly neighborhood. Imagine a very girly tween girl throwing her leg over a monster high bar-- not to mention what happened when I slid off the seat... OUCH!
That said, I never let on to my parents that I was disappointed. As far as they knew, I happily pedaled it all over my small little corner of the world.
My bike was pink, of course! and it had a white basket I was particularly proud of. I never rode it very much though, I grew up in a hilly village and I was never very sporty....
ReplyDeleteMy first bike... was pale blue, with a blue plastic box on the back with hot air balloon stickers on. And it had awesome white streamers hanging from each end of the handlebars, which I cut off, being a complete anti-girl.
ReplyDeleteI saw a little girl on the exact same bike a few months ago and had an immense urge to push her off it and reclaim 'my bike', even though my 21 year old legs are now probably a little long...
I got a hand-me-down bike that had been previously owned by three cousins and my brother. I remember it being yellow initially, but by the time it reached me it was white and peely. On my maiden voyage I rode the bicycle down a tiny ramp in our garden, and mid-way down the bike decided to snap entirely in two! I was left holding the handlebars while the seat and back wheel continued on to our lawn.
ReplyDeleteIt was called Heather. It was a lilac, flowery, white basket and belled affair that had stabilisers on for an embarrassingly long period. I sometimes miss Heather.. but her seat chaffed muchly, bitch.
ReplyDeleteI had a wee red mountain bike, it was amazing, me and my sisters all got a bike at the same time, and I clearly remember riding in circles around the house (and through/over the garden, oops..) for weeks on end, until it got too dark and we got too cold, when we would come inside and usually fall asleep wherever we first sat/lay/sprawled.
ReplyDeleteGood times.
My first bike was a Chopper, which now just makes me feel old! Can`t remember that much about it, but i`m sure it was blue. It was the best thing ever...at least until i moved onto the Raleigh Burner!
ReplyDeletePurple with ribbons and a jingly bell. Rarely ridden, as I lived at the bottom of a steep hill and was a lazy child.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was, unlike my friends lovely pink sparkly affairs with baskets, ribbons and clacking spokeydokeys a battered old hand me down blue boys bike (I had two older brothers). It had weathered backies, jumps and crashes to give me a good two years of fun racing round the back lanes and parks of Cardiff. It had fat white (grey) tyres and a scratty white (grey) vinyl seat. I LOVED my bike.
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was blue, had rainbow stickers on the frame and a seat for my doll, Helen, who went everywhere with me :)
ReplyDeletemy mum bought me my first bike... pink with stabilisers!
ReplyDeleteI fell off my first bike and my sister (instead of coming to my rescue) picked up my bike and cycled over the top of my tummy :( I think I deserve the pillow to cushion the blow......even though it was over 20 years ago!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's it! No more entries! Thanks for playing everyone!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was pink and beautiful and had white wheels; I received it for my 5th birthday. The Christmas after, I graciously asked Santa for a new white tyre for my bike, because my rear one was going flat - and nothing else. My mum kept the letter!
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was pink and sensible. I was so jealous of my brother who got a Grifter and would never let me ride it. It happened again when he got a Chopper and I didn't
ReplyDeleteMy first bike was a tricycle. I was 5 and it had rainbow printed cushions. One day my brother in all his wisdom as an 11 year old decided to hop on the back and we took a tumble down the road that was so grim, I didn't actually get back on a bike for another 30 odd years!
ReplyDeletei cant actually remember my first bike! i do remember the day the stabilizers came off and my big sister was mean and let go of my saddle so i wobbled all the way down the road before falling off though. the bik ewas more than likely her old one.
ReplyDelete