Modern Vespa

After riding the Blue Dragon around this weekend. We stopped at an antique mall and I found this little beauty.

This was the same toy we had as a child.

How about you? What was your first ride? Big Wheel? Tricycle? Bicycle?

That looks like exactly the same little number that I rode on first too

Can't say I actually remember my first ride but the first ride I remember was an Allis Chalmers toy riding tractor (a hand-me-down from my older brother)
The one below is similar but a later model from the later '50's.

My first serious ride was a 20" Roadmaster bicycle with three piece crank, manufactured in Britan.

My son had one just like that. It was called "Cheyenne". At 2 years old he would ride that thing so enthusiastically that the frame would hop across the floor!

got me hooked on 2 wheels

Something similar to this that was given to my brother and I by our uncle.

Nobody knows why I didn't end up a firefighter....this was my first ride...



I rode the wheels off it.

My favorite show was "Emergency" which I watched in the early 70s religiously. The sound of the warning call still gives me the chills. I

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=109171908

I have that very same tractor in my basement, waiting for my grandson to ride!

My first ride. (A hand me down from older siblings.)

Wow...that springy pony, red tractor and red fire truck just jump-started memories I never knew I still had!

I had the same in green and then I upgraded to the Orange Crate!! This was my first "motorcycle."

I had a similar bike called a Raleigh Chopper. Google tells me it was a Chopper MK2 with 3 gears. The small front wheel, ape hanger bars and suicide gear shift were a dangerous combination but every kid wanted one, I'd of got mine once it had been passed down through all my cousins. My younger brother would of then got it after me

I also remember having a red bicycle with stabilisers when I was about 6 and spending the whole of Christmas day manically riding it around my grandfathers garden in the snow.

I got this bad boy, which is still in existence at my Mum's house. My 3yr old son rides it and loves it!!

My friend's Jawa Babetta, the same like this.

During WWII, my father was a despatch rider (Don R) and originally trained on the Canadian Army preferred Indian motorcycle. When he landed in England, they were using Matchless, Nortons, Enfields as well as some other marques.
When he landed in France he was on an Enfield. When the war ended and he was demobbed, he bought an Enfield, one of the many that were war surplus units.
I remember it was in a crate covered with grease and a bitch to clean.
Gassed up and oiled, it started after a couple of kicks. I think he paid $75.00 which was a goodly sum back then. Being a Vet didn't mean a lot then.
When I turned 16, I was allowed to drive a car and motorcycle or any other powered vehicle. No classified licencing in those days.
Test was, drive around the corner and park the car. Licence approved.

My dad taught me to ride that bone breaking machine when I was 16. I have been riding PTW's off and on since then, with a hiatus for 15 years or so whilst raising 5 kids and a wife.(60 years)
Although she may not approve of that last statement.
I'm now 82 and can still get a leg over, on a bike as well.

Sorry, no pix they're in the attic and the kids will have to sort them out someday.

The Fisher-Price Creative Coaster.

I also had my first accident on it - I broke my jaw whilst attempting to stand up on it and ride it backwards down our sloping driveway. Of course it went straight out from under me and I face-planted, but I didn't understand the laws of physics very well at the time.

Mine was similar to the one in picture.

This beast was made by a Finnish company, specialised in plastic toys that last forever. The company still exists and makes toys, but sadly not this one.

Very liberally translated, this beast was called "Moon maggot from the Cucumberland", character based on nothing but weird imagination of the toy makers.

This rolled down hills so fine, I had reluctance to upgrade.

we have a winner

This was the first thing I drove as a kid. Would go to Michigan every year and help my Grand Father bring in the hay.
I was too small to load hay, so they showed me how to drive the tractor with the wagon behind it and back it up to the barn to be unloaded.
They bailed and loaded it and I transported it to the barn.

Actually, when I come to think of it, my first scooter ride was when I was about 12 years old. A buddy and me took a pair of steel wheeled roller skates, separated them and attached them to a 2"X 6"piece of lumber.
We nailed a broom stick for a prop handle and scooted away to our hearts content. I eventually hit a curb and fell and the prop handle caused an inguinal hernia. That ended my scooter career for about 3 months.
After that we became more technically savvy and devised a steering mechanism that eliminated body language steering.

Damn you Finns are weird (speaking as 1/4 Finnish...my Grandfather was from Karkkila and was an Ojanpera).

One EXACTLY like this...down to the color.

never had one but that looks just like the one my little brother had.

My grandson on a modern one a couple of years back. They are not quite what They used to be.

I got one for my little bloke too, still perfect for the job even now.
A couple of years later, he seemed to like the idea of this ride next.......

....was my first two wheeler. Never had a rocking horse or even a tricycle, went straight to two wheels. It was made out of plumbing pipe and had hard tires. My dad, he was quite the McGyver type. My first motorized ride was this 3 hp Taco.

A couple of my rides....

I can barely remember, but it must have been summer of '49, age 2 1/2. I would assume the neighborhood girls thought I was cute as they taught me how to ride. I do remember that the handlebars were over my head. I was riding straight, stopping and walking thru the corner, and riding again. Then figured countersteering. WHOO!!

I remember my own bike, used, abused, a 24" girl's bike, no fenders, no chain guard, 26" rear wheel, ape hangers.... Tubes were mostly patches.

Summer of '64 was in England. Uncle Ralph let me use his antique Puch moped. Going up Shooter's Hill I had to pedal, motor wasn't able to do it alone. Back to Detroit I got a Honda Sport 50.

My first ride was an orange sym mio 50cc. My buddy's mom's boyfriend at the time had a few scooters and he lent him it to deliver jimmy john's on while his car was in the shop.
I rode it once and I was hooked.
I would love to get my hands on one but they're hardly ever sold it seems like

Skipping the in utero part my first mechanized ride was a twelve year old Douglas 125.

My Dad had taken me to his local repair shop to look at a £30 old car. I was not very interested. Then I looked across the forecourt and saw, tucked away in a corner, sad and lonely, The Scooter. "Is that for sale? How Much?" £30. "OK. I'll take it. Can you deliver it to our house as I do not know how to drive it?"

A few days later it showed up and the rest, as they say, is history.

Wow, that's cool, small world!
And yes, for some reason there's always a Finn thinking and planning something a bit weird....I blame long dark winters!
I guess today the most famous example is the whole saga of "Angry Birds" characters, which are a bit on a side track compared to traditional fluffy, cute comic animals.

Was a new 1959 Cushman Highlander.....cost me $238 of paper route money.

Wish I still had it

fried okra