My memory is hazy now, but I think it took me a year to pay off my first
"real" bike, a Claud Butler New Allrounder.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/
I worked two paper routes before school and delivered groceries on weekends. Each Saturday morning I rode from West Hampstead to Claud's shop in Clapham to make my "HP" payment and had enough money left over for food on Sunday's club run. After my bike was paid off, I remember one of the older club members built up a similar one for a girl in the club who had been riding a clunker. I think that one probably cost less than mine because Claud was going out of business.
John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada