Xtra Team Talks: What's your most memorable childhood bike?

Don’tcha just love the random convos that pop up on long rides that help you learn a little bit more about your buds? Recently the Xtracycle team got to reminiscing about our favorite childhood bike. It’s no wonder we all gravitated toward working in this industry as adults – who wouldn’t be inspired by these awesome rides?!

Ross, Founder

This is my first bike. For me, I could use it to sneak off to get candy at the store. I could ride to my best friend Ryan’s house. This bike meant freedom for me. I loved it and it was a true sense of joy.

Kris, Sales and Marketing

My most memorable bike was a Trek 930 in blue. My dad gave it to me once he upgraded to a new bike. I believe I got it in 1996 and I rode it literally everywhere. It became my main method of getting around the neighborhood and was just a ton of fun to ride. It really was the spark that lit the flame of a lifelong passion for me. Bikes became a constant part of my life after this and I can’t remember a time in my life after that where I didn’t own at least one bike. Thanks Dad!

It looked like this:

(Image from Cheap Commuter Bikes)

Ashley, Sales & Marketing

I received my dream bike for my 6th birthday. It was a neon pink and purple Huffy Street Rocker that came with a real working radio strapped to the handle bars. The commercials in between cartoons on Nickelodeon had me convinced this bike would change my life – and it did! While no submersible rides happened, I loved riding with my friends on the endless desert roads behind our house in Palmdale, California, jamming out to 90s radio hits. I still seek that feeling of unbridled joy and limitless adventure to this day.

It looked like this:

(Image from Joseph at Offer Up)

Zack, Fulfillment

Likely passed down to me from my older brothers, my black Schwinn Z-Factor always felt like it was destined to belong to me. The now rare and collectible BMX bike that bore my first initial gave me my first taste of real adventure. It also taught me what it feels like to skin your knee on pavement! Boy, do I wish I could find one of those bikes now.

It looked like this:

(Image from BMX Museum)

Evan, Operations

My first mountain bike was a grey 1994 Univega Alpina 5.3. I loved riding in Tilden Park on the fire roads there. One time I went with a group of other eighth graders and one of them fell off of his bike. He was bleeding out of his mouth and we were worried about it, so one other kid (not the one who had fallen) and I biked to the ranger station an hour away. We were going as fast as we could and I remember almost eating it a bunch of times. Finally we got there and they called in a helicopter for the fallen kid. It all turned out well; the helicopter came and it turned out that he had just bitten his tongue…

Steve, Product

I have no idea what kind of bike it was but it was yellow with a bad-ass banana seat and chopper handlebars. It originally came with training wheels, and so I remember that the way I learned to ride a bike was that, because I rode my bike so much, one of the training wheels just broke off and I had to make due. Even at 6 or 7, I would leave my house and go so far with it… or what I thought was so far. I’ve owned a few bikes since, but no bike comes close to being as special to me….. except maybe my Xtracycle 🙂 The picture I found is a close match – but not the exact bike.

Jeff, Fulfillment