I never had a proper stingray, much to my chagrin, but I did have a Mattel V-Room, with the toy motorcycle treatment. It was my first two-wheeler. Eventually I got embarrassed by the fake-ness (and ran out of batteries,) and removed the engine and exhaust pipe. I rode it for a couple of years, until the handlebars snapped off one day, leading to a nasty fall. I still wanted a cool stingray, but the next bike I received was an English racer style, with Sturmey-Archer 3-speed (which always got hopelessly fouled up.) I thought it was rather stodgy, but had to live with it. After that, the focus of my desire matured to a Schwinn 10 speed, which I ultimately did get.