Hi,
My name is Rick and have been a bike enthusiast all my life I suppose. I remember getting my first bike for my 7th birthday. It was a Sears Roebuck Purple Stingray copy I suppose, it had a slightly stretched length than a Stingray, a banana seat (purple sparkle), sissy bar and ape hangers. I loved that bike and rode it all over! I was born and raised in San Francisco so there were lots of places to ride and get in trouble...
I started right away with modifications as my dad like to refer to as"Destroying the bike". I can't remember exactly what I did, but I had outside influences, my buddies. We rode all over the place, sometimes in groups or solo. Lots of hills to go down. Later I received a used Schwinn Orange Krate. It hadn't been ridden in quite some time and everything was rusty, the chain, linkage, handlebars and everything else chrome. I believe it just sat in some spoiled kids yard. When I got my hands on it, it was time to get her rollin' and lookin' good. A short time after I accomplished that it was stolen. I road several different bikes after that, it was the era that bicycle BMX started. No more banana seats, ape hangers or fenders. We would go the local bike shops and drool over all the new bikes that were coming out at the time. We had no money in those days as my parents had divorced and pretty much I had to fend for myself....
Paper routes and other methods of acquiring the fedia to buy things like Ashtabula forks, goosenecks and cranks to upgrade my wheels to go ride at McLaren Park in SF which had a cool BMX track (1975ish) After this time Motorcycles entered the picture and that so ended my pedaling days. I still ride the MCs. I now have a Beach Cruiser with a 3 speed hub That I love! a Formost, flat black along with the parts and white walls! I joined this forum because I'm starting a build for my soon to be 9 year old son! He has a Specialized 20" Riprock I bought him for his 7th birthday (hmmm sound familiar?) he loves that thing and is always asking to go for rides...
He asked me what kind of bikes I rode as a kid. I mentioned the first BMX types and my Orange Krate. I had to show him pictures so he could get a clue of what I was talking about. A while back I bought a '66 Coppertone Schwinn Stingray frame. His birthday is at the end of May and so he and I are building a oldschool BMX with that Schwinn frame complete with era correct single stem BMX bars, MotoMags, solo seat, knobby tires, I'm still acquiring parts, so far we have a lucky 7 sprocket (for now), A '66 schwinn crank to pull it with and the knobbies. Handlebars are in the mail and this Friday I'll order the rest, Goose neck, Forks, wheels, pedals etc...
I don't know who is more excited about this build him or me!!!!
So that's my/our story. I'm thinking about entering the bike build contest for kicks, I think my son will dig that too.
Happy Birthday David I love you!!!!
My name is Rick and have been a bike enthusiast all my life I suppose. I remember getting my first bike for my 7th birthday. It was a Sears Roebuck Purple Stingray copy I suppose, it had a slightly stretched length than a Stingray, a banana seat (purple sparkle), sissy bar and ape hangers. I loved that bike and rode it all over! I was born and raised in San Francisco so there were lots of places to ride and get in trouble...
I started right away with modifications as my dad like to refer to as"Destroying the bike". I can't remember exactly what I did, but I had outside influences, my buddies. We rode all over the place, sometimes in groups or solo. Lots of hills to go down. Later I received a used Schwinn Orange Krate. It hadn't been ridden in quite some time and everything was rusty, the chain, linkage, handlebars and everything else chrome. I believe it just sat in some spoiled kids yard. When I got my hands on it, it was time to get her rollin' and lookin' good. A short time after I accomplished that it was stolen. I road several different bikes after that, it was the era that bicycle BMX started. No more banana seats, ape hangers or fenders. We would go the local bike shops and drool over all the new bikes that were coming out at the time. We had no money in those days as my parents had divorced and pretty much I had to fend for myself....
Paper routes and other methods of acquiring the fedia to buy things like Ashtabula forks, goosenecks and cranks to upgrade my wheels to go ride at McLaren Park in SF which had a cool BMX track (1975ish) After this time Motorcycles entered the picture and that so ended my pedaling days. I still ride the MCs. I now have a Beach Cruiser with a 3 speed hub That I love! a Formost, flat black along with the parts and white walls! I joined this forum because I'm starting a build for my soon to be 9 year old son! He has a Specialized 20" Riprock I bought him for his 7th birthday (hmmm sound familiar?) he loves that thing and is always asking to go for rides...
He asked me what kind of bikes I rode as a kid. I mentioned the first BMX types and my Orange Krate. I had to show him pictures so he could get a clue of what I was talking about. A while back I bought a '66 Coppertone Schwinn Stingray frame. His birthday is at the end of May and so he and I are building a oldschool BMX with that Schwinn frame complete with era correct single stem BMX bars, MotoMags, solo seat, knobby tires, I'm still acquiring parts, so far we have a lucky 7 sprocket (for now), A '66 schwinn crank to pull it with and the knobbies. Handlebars are in the mail and this Friday I'll order the rest, Goose neck, Forks, wheels, pedals etc...
I don't know who is more excited about this build him or me!!!!
So that's my/our story. I'm thinking about entering the bike build contest for kicks, I think my son will dig that too.
Happy Birthday David I love you!!!!
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