When I was a kid, my bike was…

[trailrunner]

I don’t have any photographs of the bikes of my youth, but I remember a bike that I had when I was in third grade that was supposed to look like a motorcycle. There was a metal compartment on the top tube that was supposed to look like the gas tank of a motorcycle; it had a hinged lid so that the compartment could be used to store things like my lunch. One of the things I chose to store in there was a dead bird that I had found one day. After a week or two, it wound up stinking pretty bad. At that time (around 1970), the bikes that were the rage were the Schwinns with a banana seat and a sissy bar.

My dad and I often worked on bikes. He brought back a 10-speed from Japan (he was in the navy), and I took it apart to learn how it worked. He had bins of ball bearings and other parts that he had accumulated from taking apart junk bikes that people were throwing away. I grew up in a suburb that was only a couple of miles across with a maximum speed limit of 25 or 30 mph, so the kids rode everywhere on bikes. In junior high I got a paper route. We put together a genuine beach cruiser (I grew up close to the beach, so it *was* genuine) with a big basket on the front to hold my papers. I learned to maneuver a heavy load of Sunday morning papers, which came in handy while giving my friends rides on the handlebars (a common way of getting around town). That was my primary bike through high school, because besides holding my newspapers, it also held a case of beer (not that I ever did that :p ). That bike was a Schwinn (back when that meant something) that probably weighed 35 pounds with exactly one gear.

Another bike I put together in high school was a retro bike with a Sturmey Archer three-speed internally geared hub. I liked it because it had gears *and* a coaster brake, although it was flat where I lived so I didn’t really need the gears. During my senior year of HS, I worked at a restaurant on the edge of town about two or three miles from my house. After work, I’d practice riding all the way home with no hands on the handlebars, zig-zagging in and out of driveways and on the deserted streets late at night. Believe it or not, I actually got cited once by the local cops for riding with no hands on the handlebars.

Life was pretty simple back then.

[dkel]

@trailrunner 128702 wrote:

There was a metal compartment on the top tube that was supposed to look like the gas tank of a motorcycle; it had a hinged lid so that the compartment could be used to store things like my lunch. One of the things I chose to store in there was a dead bird that I had found one day. After a week or two, it wound up stinking pretty bad.

Like the time I stashed a popsicle in my coat pocket for later, but it melted—except a thousand times worse!

[Lt. Dan]

My first “real” bike(non huffy, etc) was a Schwinn Thrasher, EXACTLY like this one:

My first “geared” bike was a Schwinn Sprint, same color as this:

Rode that thing all over the place until is got smashed in a move (military brat)….

I’m currently on the hunt for another Schwinn of the same vintage (maybe a World or Paramount) to build as a nice cruise around bike…

[consularrider]

First bike was probably from Western Auto and shared with my older brother, something like this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10159[/ATTACH]

I got my first geared bike, a Sears 3 speed, in 1963. Like this one:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10160[/ATTACH]

[dkel]

@dkel 128701 wrote:

Pics with you as a kid are preferred, of course.

Just sayin’.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Ebike

[W Odie]

March 1964, I got a Firestone 500 bike for my 10th birthday. Here I am taking it for a spin on its maiden voyage. Notice this was a Freezing Saddles ride.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10162[/ATTACH]

[consularrider]

@dkel 128778 wrote:

Just sayin’.

Let’s see, folk’s house with my kid picture’s is on another continent, and believe me, I’ve went through the photos they still have looking for just this type last spring without luck. Sigh.

[americancyclo]

Rockin the Huffy
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10163[/ATTACH]

[dkel]

@americancyclo 128798 wrote:

Rockin the Huffy

That is awesome. You look exactly the same now, just scaled up.

[Lt. Dan]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10165[/ATTACH]

The ONLY pic of me when I was a little kid on the bike… This one was a bitchin’ Murray!!!

[Tim Kelley]

BMX Dumpster bike, complete with spoke beads and hand brakes, taking it off some sweet jumps in Gilby, North Dakota.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10166[/ATTACH]

[dkel]

@Lt. Dan 128855 wrote:

The ONLY pic of me when I was a little kid on the bike… This one was a bitchin’ Murray!!!

So cool!

[dkel]

@Tim Kelley 128856 wrote:

BMX Dumpster bike, complete with spoke beads and hand brakes, taking it off some sweet jumps in Gilby, North Dakota.

Hot-doggin’ it, even back in the day!

[wheelswings]

Our childhood bicycles got thrown out, but it turned out a neighbor salvaged them for us. He said he couldn’t bear to see them in the trash given all the fond memories he’s got of me and my brother riding up and down the street on our bicycles. Here are the bikes, now in his basement in Brooklyn. Mine is the smaller one, the blue one. I will keep an eye out for historical pix (this was ancient history, practically from medieval times, as my girls would let you know…).

[Author]

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