From the era where you made the bikes up yourself!! Bitsa's you would call them now, riding down the hill outside Wilson house to the garages on the Springfield estate. And in the holidays over to Winns common and down the "Dip" by the slade, how I'm not dead I'll never know : )
You crazy bastard TCE, I lived in Springfields ( Langhorne) and used to do this....... I have a feeling you must have been one of the little 'herberts' who used to rake the streets till midnight outside Marr house. That hill was even bigger before they made the bottom playground!.... There were not too many Charlton fans on Springfield, but there was a group of us as most used to support 'wet spam' or Arsenal...... as did my brother/Grandfather. One of my earliest memories is going down to the Valley with my father!, and in later days with my mates from Springfields.
Used to have a drop handle racer from Excel cycles in Woolwich, and cycle to school until we discovered the girls on the bus at Kings Warren!..... A lad in Elliscombe mount never had a bike, so the lads made him one, ( probably borrowed the parts as we might say) never seen a lad so 'chocked' with emotion!. Although I was always coming off my bike , no one ever seemed to get injured in those days!.... bruised, blood,skin shredded.... but not actually injured!. Health and safety!..... sorry different age.
Purple MKI Chopper - absolutely brilliant. The 2006 version that my kids had was a pale imitation with no proper gear knob and a two-part saddle - h&s gone mad, as they say.
I detested choppers, they were a scourge on British cycling, hopeless to steer, speed was non existent, bits fell off as soon as you looked at them and only ever ridden by poncey rich kids with long hair...
We used to 'cut and shunt' bikes in my mates shed in Brewery road, not all the parts were exactly legit but we made a steady turn over, we even used to by bike transfers from the toy shop at the bottom of Burrage Road...
My mate's brother worked at the Piper's steel foundary on the Woolwich Industrial Estate, a place I later worked in when I left school, and he used to make us 'Cow Horn' handle bars out of discarded pieces of tubular steel, they were considered the dogs bollox in them days, if he was on nights he'd spray them for us too, as long as you liked Post Office yellow...
We used to test ride them over the hills and dales of Winns Common and the Slade, still got the scars to prove it, and when we got home we played Subutteo...
Turned my drop down handle bars on my racer to make them "cow horned".
The dip in the Slade was great, even better in the snow. Spent so much time there, Winns Common and the woods . There was a "gang" of about 6 of us, used to walk around the woods, looking for old porn mags that had been hidden in the bushes. When we found some we would look at the pictures and not read the stories. When it was time to go home we would hide the mags somewhere else. Returning 2 or 3 days later to our hidden place, only to find someone else has found them and hidden them somewhere else. Kids today not know how lucky there are.
I had an early MK1 Yellow Chopper from 1969/70. Id entered a competiton in the News of the World to win one....obviously didnt win it, but got the surprise of my life on Christmas morning. The Chopper was the best version, the one with proper curved ape hanger andle bars which were adjustable....3 speed Sturmey Archer...have to say I was a bit envious of the slightly later 5 speed derailuer gear models, but hated the later bikes with the fixed position handle bars. Totally agree with an earlier post about the bikes being unstable.....I was hurtling down Milton Road in Welling in 1973 with my neighbour on the back....he started swaying from side to side, and I lost control of the bike and ended up face first on the tarmac, neighbour was cushioned by me........face was in such a mess they took me to hospital......broke my nose and two front teeth...however, as much as I loved my bike, things were never the same again after that crash and the bike was left to rot in the shed in the back garden.
Striker
Chopper - nicked after three days, whilst I was sitting on it - that's Catford for you
Some godawful thing that looked a bit like a chopper but weighed about four tons and could more or less only get started by going downhill
Never riden a bike since my youth - too bloody dangerous
[cite]ken from bexleyCommentTime9 hours ago quote# 37
From the era where you made the bikes up yourself!!
Bitsa's you would call them now, riding down the hill outside Wilson house to the garages on the Springfield estate.
And in the holidays over to Winns common and down the "Dip" by the slade, how I'm not dead I'll never know : )
You crazy bastard TCE, I lived in Springfields ( Langhorne) and used to do this....... I have a feeling you must have been one of the little 'herberts' who used to rake the streets till midnight outside Marr house.
That hill was even bigger before they made the bottom playground!.... There were not too many Charlton fans on Springfield, but there was a group of us as most used to support 'wet spam' or Arsenal...... as did my brother/Grandfather. One of my earliest memories is going down to the Valley with my father!, and in later days with my mates from Springfields.
Used to have a drop handle racer from Excel cycles in Woolwich, and cycle to school until we discovered the girls on the bus at Kings Warren!..... A lad in Elliscombe mount never had a bike, so the lads made him one, ( probably borrowed the parts as we might say) never seen a lad so 'chocked' with emotion!. Although I was always coming off my bike , no one ever seemed to get injured in those days!.... bruised, blood,skin shredded.... but not actually injured!. Health and safety!..... sorry different age.
[cite]ken from bexleyCommentTime9 hours ago quote# 37
From the era where you made the bikes up yourself!!
Bitsa's you would call them now, riding down the hill outside Wilson house to the garages on the Springfield estate.
And in the holidays over to Winns common and down the "Dip" by the slade, how I'm not dead I'll never know : )
You crazy bastard TCE, I lived in Springfields ( Langhorne) and used to do this....... I have a feeling you must have been one of the little 'herberts' who used to rake the streets till midnight outside Marr house.
That hill was even bigger before they made the bottom playground!.... There were not too many Charlton fans on Springfield, but there was a group of us as most used to support 'wet spam' or Arsenal...... as did my brother/Grandfather. One of my earliest memories is going down to the Valley with my father!, and in later days with my mates from Springfields.
Used to have a drop handle racer from Excel cycles in Woolwich, and cycle to school until we discovered the girls on the bus at Kings Warren!..... A lad in Elliscombe mount never had a bike, so the lads made him one, ( probably borrowed the parts as we might say) never seen a lad so 'chocked' with emotion!. Although I was always coming off my bike , no one ever seemed to get injured in those days!.... bruised, blood,skin shredded.... but not actually injured!. Health and safety!..... sorry different age.[/cite]
[cite]
Lol.
Excel cycles, next to the tramshed???[/cite]
Across the road from Pennys, if so that where I brought my racer.
I had a red raleigh burner, I wanted a blue one because it had the yellow mag wheels but we couldn't afford that one. Then I had a grifter xl, a black bike with grifter xl written in fancy red writing on it.
Striker was great, I also had a sport billy version of subbuteo
Yes Excel cycles was a great little bike shop, bit like Witcomb cycles in Newcross you could buy all sorts of stuff in there.
Of course that was in the days of local specialist shops, like club sports at Woolwich...... I think that was why I was disheartned when I went down to Woolwich last week..... 'cheap chavey shops' selling the same crap as the one next door, next to a pound shop, next to discount shop. a shopping centre half boarded up full of shops that have no interest for me I am afraid.......
had a black and silver raleigh burner, still in my dad's garage, i believe. the diamondback was the one to have round my way at the time. many went missing around mottingham village.
cycled for the first time in nearly 20 years last sunday, did a london bike tour with suz and absolutely loved it.
There were a few bike shops in Woolwich New Road, Blacketts was one and I think another was Perry's, they were all somehow interlinked family wise and there were tales of family fueds going way back...
Got my first 'real' bike from Blacketts, it was an Ellis Briggs, second hand Christmas present but a real beauty, bright orange, zeus gears and drop handle bars...
Used to ride to Istead Rise and back on the week-ends along the A2, dodgy but exhilerating, once clocked 40mph going down Griffin Road, even overtook a 192 bus, mad days...
My dad built me a chopper from just a frame he found, he put grifter front forks and wheel on it and grifter twist gears. He sprayed it a deep gloss black it was the most amazing bike a kid could have. In fact i might build one for my son now i think of it
I was far too nice a young lad to have a chopper bike. My pride and joy was my Eddie Mercx racing bike with bright orange paintjob. As I recollect now we used to cycle insane distances as kids in those days. Would a parent allow theIr 13 year old cycle to Eynsford from Eltham and back on the train by themselves nowadays? Early 70's was a superb time to grow up in.
Bmx for me remeber having a little blue and yellow one with stableisers on, but first bike I really remember was my american mongoose bmx, crome with white and blue pads, rear pegs.. and yes I did take it of some sweet jumps...
I never had a Chopper or Grifter.
I had a 'proper' bike as my dad called it.
I spent most of the school holidays borrowing my friends Grifter though as he found it too heavy.
I rode a Raleigh Arena to school each day when I was at secondary school.
It got smacked up by a car- I just jumped off the back in time- and I got a Raleigh Meteor instead. It was just the same as an Arena but a sort of orange/flame colour.
[quote][cite]Posted By: RedZed333[/cite][img]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1169/782326445_77bef74663_o.jpg[/img] Found this old pic of Woolwich New Road, circa 1982...
All the old bike shops boarded up...[/quote]
Oh now that takes me back, 10 years before that there was a little joke shop at the Tramshed end, I also remember Club Sports where I used to get the latest Subbuteo stuff...
Comments
Bitsa's you would call them now, riding down the hill outside Wilson house to the garages on the Springfield estate.
And in the holidays over to Winns common and down the "Dip" by the slade, how I'm not dead I'll never know : )
You crazy bastard TCE, I lived in Springfields ( Langhorne) and used to do this....... I have a feeling you must have been one of the little 'herberts' who used to rake the streets till midnight outside Marr house.
That hill was even bigger before they made the bottom playground!.... There were not too many Charlton fans on Springfield, but there was a group of us as most used to support 'wet spam' or Arsenal...... as did my brother/Grandfather. One of my earliest memories is going down to the Valley with my father!, and in later days with my mates from Springfields.
Used to have a drop handle racer from Excel cycles in Woolwich, and cycle to school until we discovered the girls on the bus at Kings Warren!..... A lad in Elliscombe mount never had a bike, so the lads made him one, ( probably borrowed the parts as we might say) never seen a lad so 'chocked' with emotion!. Although I was always coming off my bike , no one ever seemed to get injured in those days!.... bruised, blood,skin shredded.... but not actually injured!. Health and safety!..... sorry different age.
The 2006 version that my kids had was a pale imitation with no proper gear knob and a two-part saddle - h&s gone mad, as they say.
We used to 'cut and shunt' bikes in my mates shed in Brewery road, not all the parts were exactly legit but we made a steady turn over, we even used to by bike transfers from the toy shop at the bottom of Burrage Road...
My mate's brother worked at the Piper's steel foundary on the Woolwich Industrial Estate, a place I later worked in when I left school, and he used to make us 'Cow Horn' handle bars out of discarded pieces of tubular steel, they were considered the dogs bollox in them days, if he was on nights he'd spray them for us too, as long as you liked Post Office yellow...
We used to test ride them over the hills and dales of Winns Common and the Slade, still got the scars to prove it, and when we got home we played Subutteo...
The dip in the Slade was great, even better in the snow. Spent so much time there, Winns Common and the woods . There was a "gang" of about 6 of us, used to walk around the woods, looking for old porn mags that had been hidden in the bushes. When we found some we would look at the pictures and not read the stories. When it was time to go home we would hide the mags somewhere else. Returning 2 or 3 days later to our hidden place, only to find someone else has found them and hidden them somewhere else. Kids today not know how lucky there are.
Chopper - nicked after three days, whilst I was sitting on it - that's Catford for you
Some godawful thing that looked a bit like a chopper but weighed about four tons and could more or less only get started by going downhill
Never riden a bike since my youth - too bloody dangerous
Lol.
Excel cycles, next to the tramshed???
Across the road from Pennys, if so that where I brought my racer.
Striker was great, I also had a sport billy version of subbuteo
Of course that was in the days of local specialist shops, like club sports at Woolwich...... I think that was why I was disheartned when I went down to Woolwich last week..... 'cheap chavey shops' selling the same crap as the one next door, next to a pound shop, next to discount shop. a shopping centre half boarded up full of shops that have no interest for me I am afraid.......
cycled for the first time in nearly 20 years last sunday, did a london bike tour with suz and absolutely loved it.
think it might be time to dig out the bmx.
Got my first 'real' bike from Blacketts, it was an Ellis Briggs, second hand Christmas present but a real beauty, bright orange, zeus gears and drop handle bars...
Used to ride to Istead Rise and back on the week-ends along the A2, dodgy but exhilerating, once clocked 40mph going down Griffin Road, even overtook a 192 bus, mad days...
Found this old pic of Woolwich New Road, circa 1982...
All the old bike shops boarded up...
Chopper
Racer - all from shops in Woolwich New Road
I had a 'proper' bike as my dad called it.
I spent most of the school holidays borrowing my friends Grifter though as he found it too heavy.
I rode a Raleigh Arena to school each day when I was at secondary school.
It got smacked up by a car- I just jumped off the back in time- and I got a Raleigh Meteor instead. It was just the same as an Arena but a sort of orange/flame colour.
Found this old pic of Woolwich New Road, circa 1982...
All the old bike shops boarded up...[/quote]
Oh now that takes me back, 10 years before that there was a little joke shop at the Tramshed end, I also remember Club Sports where I used to get the latest Subbuteo stuff...