Recently, my sister uncovered a photo of my first bike.  It was quite small.  Thus, it didn't take long for me to graduate to a larger frame, and thus we have my 2nd bike, which I took possession of in 1981.

Steve & Dan in 1981

In this photo, I'm the one on the left, hanging out in Grandpa's back yard sporting a spiffy fall outfit!  My cousin Dan, who is a year older, is on the right.  I've moved on to a single-speed, cruiser-style bike, with fatter tires and a coaster brake.  You will note that the bell from my first bike has made the transition.

Oh, and it's a girl's bike!

Closer look at my cruiser bike

An interesting piece of trivia regarding this photo… while the handlebars are different on the two bikes, they are actually the same model!  You see, these bikes were hand-me-downs from Dan's two older sisters (hence the step-through frame), continuing the odd Steve Tanner tradition of never owning a brand new bike.

My parents have a hilarious Super 8 movie of me riding up and down our alley shortly after I received this bike.  Soon there was a car approaching, and I hadn't quite figured out how to work a coaster brake, so to get out of the way and stop, I intentionally crashed into a fence!

While I did enjoy the bigger bike and the ability to coast, when compared to the bikes that my friends had at the time (typically a BMX-type model), I have to admit that I didn't feel very "manly" while riding this thing.

Thankfully, that inferiority complex was corrected with my third bike, my favorite of all time.  But we'll cover that wonderful machine on another day!