I have always liked bicycles remeber when all my friends got skateboards I sux so Iwent back to my bike now its the only hobby I can stay foucsed (PTSD) on and its easy to keep my kids injoying.
What triggered your bicycle revival?
- Thread starter yoothgeye
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I'm 36 and can still remember the freedom I felt riding my first big wheel. Do they still make those? It was like a hot rod trike! I went through three of those, one every summer. The plastic front wheels would finally give out and split open due to me spinning the front wheel at take off or by locking my legs to slide to a stop. I loved those things! I still remember I had a Dukes of Hazzard one that had a pull-brake on the right rear wheel for flipping around. So cool!!
Anyways, my first bicycle came the Christmas of 1982. Santa brought me a brand-new Huffy Pro-Thunder BMX bike. It was yellow with blue trim, yellow mags with blue tires. Somewhere I still have the picture my parents took of me riding it in circles in the garage with training wheels Christmas morning because there was too much snow to ride it outside.
As a side note, I should also probably mention that I've always liked everything old. Cars, music, houses...everything. Bikes were no exception. My dad had and still has to this day, the Schwinn Traveler he bought brand new in 1962. I used to spend as much time on that bike as possible. I eventually started a small collection of old, busted-up wayward Schwinns for myself. It seems crazy to me now, a 12-year-old kid running around, scavenging old Schwinns out of junk piles. Well so, anyway, my friends of course all got into BMX and Freestyle and I eventually ended up turning my back on the old bikes for a shiney Haro FSX that was all decked out. The Haro even got shoved away in the garage when girls and cars became much more important.
Fast forward another twenty years...
My dad decides he's going to fix up his old Schwinn and he asks me if I could help him find parts on the Internet (dad's not exactly computer literate). I agreed and started poking around. I found the cabe and RRB and I realized there was a whole world of classic bike people out there. So the old flame I had for old bikes came back strong! I bought a '61 Schwinn Corvette for myself and a '57 Spitfire for my wife and the rest is history. After spending way too much time on both websites, I have discovered there are so many bikes out there and they're not all Schwinns. I have compiled a small list of must-haves and I'm working at filling up my garage. Having a blast!
Anyways, my first bicycle came the Christmas of 1982. Santa brought me a brand-new Huffy Pro-Thunder BMX bike. It was yellow with blue trim, yellow mags with blue tires. Somewhere I still have the picture my parents took of me riding it in circles in the garage with training wheels Christmas morning because there was too much snow to ride it outside.
As a side note, I should also probably mention that I've always liked everything old. Cars, music, houses...everything. Bikes were no exception. My dad had and still has to this day, the Schwinn Traveler he bought brand new in 1962. I used to spend as much time on that bike as possible. I eventually started a small collection of old, busted-up wayward Schwinns for myself. It seems crazy to me now, a 12-year-old kid running around, scavenging old Schwinns out of junk piles. Well so, anyway, my friends of course all got into BMX and Freestyle and I eventually ended up turning my back on the old bikes for a shiney Haro FSX that was all decked out. The Haro even got shoved away in the garage when girls and cars became much more important.
Fast forward another twenty years...
My dad decides he's going to fix up his old Schwinn and he asks me if I could help him find parts on the Internet (dad's not exactly computer literate). I agreed and started poking around. I found the cabe and RRB and I realized there was a whole world of classic bike people out there. So the old flame I had for old bikes came back strong! I bought a '61 Schwinn Corvette for myself and a '57 Spitfire for my wife and the rest is history. After spending way too much time on both websites, I have discovered there are so many bikes out there and they're not all Schwinns. I have compiled a small list of must-haves and I'm working at filling up my garage. Having a blast!
I've enjoyed this thread so much I decided to contribute.
I'm 65 going on retirement in a couple of years.
First bike was (I think) a Montgomery Wards 24 ballooner, it was maroon and cream. On my birthday, Mom and Dad sent me out to feed the chickens we raised, and I found the bike by the barrels of chicken feed. I think I surprised them as much as they surprised me, as I went ahead and fed the chickens.
Next bike I have very little memory of where it came from or even what it was, but I think it was a straight bar Montgomery Wards 26 ballooner. Red brush repaint.
By 7th grade I was delivering papers with it. Dad put one of those heavy racks on the back, and a large heavy basket on the front. That puppy was heavy.
Can't remember how many times I took the New Departure coaster apart, cleaned it and re-greased it, with all those disks. Somehow I got it back together every time and it worked.
I got a bigger paper route and moved up to a scooter. Anybody remember the Silver Pigeon scooter line made in Rockford, IL? Styled like a Lambretta, but much bigger and heavier, 4 cycle engine. Friend had a Cushman Silver Eagle. Then the first Honda 50 appeared in town, and the world changed.
Later in High School, got my first car, a 55 Chevy 4 door, Blue Flame 6 banger. Coral and gun metal grey. I hated the color, and now it's the most sought after color for the 55's.
In the early 70's there was a big "10 Speed" bike craze. We were early married, driving cars, starting careers, and had and no kids, my ex and I bought a pair of red Italian Coppi 10 speeds. There was just "something" about those Italian bikes that rode so much better than the Raleigh bike my brother had, that I still feel in our new Bianchi's. Fausto Coppi did ride for Bianchi, so there must have been a connection. We rode them a lot for a couple of years.
Life, Careers, Business Travel, Kids, Divorce, kids grew up and moved out, re-marriage -- the Coppis hung in the garage.
Sheryl has always liked to get exercise, so on a lark we bought a matching pair of Magna mountain bikes from Target, and rode them quite a bit for a couple of years.
We decided to upgrade at a real LBS and bought a pair of Specialized hybreds. The difference was amazing. Sold the Magna's on CL.
Somewhere about that time I was web surfing and stumbled on a bike forum that mentioned this forum. I looked at the original RRB gallery for a week or so, and realized that there were people (you) out there playing with my first bikes, and realized that I wanted to do that too. I'm hooked. Learned a lot on here. Bought and sold probably 80-100 flippers to fund the habit, and have a few old iron I won't part with. Lots of bikes and bike parts sitting around waiting for the next project.
Sheryl and I like to ride the road bikes in Charity rides, I like to try to make videos of our adventures, and get the old iron out for a ride when ever I get the chance.
Thanks for all the new friends I've made here, and everything I've learned from you.
.
I'm 65 going on retirement in a couple of years.
First bike was (I think) a Montgomery Wards 24 ballooner, it was maroon and cream. On my birthday, Mom and Dad sent me out to feed the chickens we raised, and I found the bike by the barrels of chicken feed. I think I surprised them as much as they surprised me, as I went ahead and fed the chickens.
Next bike I have very little memory of where it came from or even what it was, but I think it was a straight bar Montgomery Wards 26 ballooner. Red brush repaint.
By 7th grade I was delivering papers with it. Dad put one of those heavy racks on the back, and a large heavy basket on the front. That puppy was heavy.
Can't remember how many times I took the New Departure coaster apart, cleaned it and re-greased it, with all those disks. Somehow I got it back together every time and it worked.
I got a bigger paper route and moved up to a scooter. Anybody remember the Silver Pigeon scooter line made in Rockford, IL? Styled like a Lambretta, but much bigger and heavier, 4 cycle engine. Friend had a Cushman Silver Eagle. Then the first Honda 50 appeared in town, and the world changed.
Later in High School, got my first car, a 55 Chevy 4 door, Blue Flame 6 banger. Coral and gun metal grey. I hated the color, and now it's the most sought after color for the 55's.
In the early 70's there was a big "10 Speed" bike craze. We were early married, driving cars, starting careers, and had and no kids, my ex and I bought a pair of red Italian Coppi 10 speeds. There was just "something" about those Italian bikes that rode so much better than the Raleigh bike my brother had, that I still feel in our new Bianchi's. Fausto Coppi did ride for Bianchi, so there must have been a connection. We rode them a lot for a couple of years.
Life, Careers, Business Travel, Kids, Divorce, kids grew up and moved out, re-marriage -- the Coppis hung in the garage.
Sheryl has always liked to get exercise, so on a lark we bought a matching pair of Magna mountain bikes from Target, and rode them quite a bit for a couple of years.
We decided to upgrade at a real LBS and bought a pair of Specialized hybreds. The difference was amazing. Sold the Magna's on CL.
Somewhere about that time I was web surfing and stumbled on a bike forum that mentioned this forum. I looked at the original RRB gallery for a week or so, and realized that there were people (you) out there playing with my first bikes, and realized that I wanted to do that too. I'm hooked. Learned a lot on here. Bought and sold probably 80-100 flippers to fund the habit, and have a few old iron I won't part with. Lots of bikes and bike parts sitting around waiting for the next project.
Sheryl and I like to ride the road bikes in Charity rides, I like to try to make videos of our adventures, and get the old iron out for a ride when ever I get the chance.
Thanks for all the new friends I've made here, and everything I've learned from you.
.
I'm 50 yrs old now, about 7 years ago I was thinking about a bike that I had when I was 9 years old that had a Bendix 2 speed kick back hub on it so I went on a great search looking for a rim to build a bike like that first bike. Then I wanted to find my second childhood bike that I had, a1970 Raleigh Chopper, now I have two of those then I wanted some Schwinn Rays, Krates and Fast Backs that my parents couldn't afford when I was a kid. So now to this date I have 28 restored and original bikes. Muscle Bikes ,Trikes,couple of cruisers and one 1942 rat rod Elgin with a two speed kickback on it.
About 13 yrs ago kids were out of the house gas prices spiked high (so we thought) I told Shell oil to stick it and started commuting full time. This stint of riding has me at over 50,000 mi
and my favorite commuter bike at 30,000 mi on it. This ride is a Diamondback Topanga Comp. light wheels and tires rigid fork LX groupset. I just turned 62 in Dec. I do 15 mi. A day commuting all year long.
and my favorite commuter bike at 30,000 mi on it. This ride is a Diamondback Topanga Comp. light wheels and tires rigid fork LX groupset. I just turned 62 in Dec. I do 15 mi. A day commuting all year long.
I guess I've never really been "out" of bikes. I've had at least one bicycle since I was five, growing up out in the country in Michigan. I'm 42 now. My dad liked Schwinns, so I had a red kid's "road bike," as we called 'em in the 70's, and I remember just being bummed that it didn't have a banana seat like the COOL bikes. Then I had a Schwinn BMX bike, and graduated to a tenspeed.
In my early college years, I pulled out the BMX again, and started jumping it off stuff with a friend of mine. I was more into motorcycles at that point, but would still go for a pedalbike ride once in a while. Later in college I found a tenspeed in a storage closet on campus and it became mine, along with a mountain bike that someone left chained to an apartment porch when we moved in.
When my mon passed in 1997, I inherited her Cannondale mountain bike, and fixing it up was what really got me into fixing bikes. That was in 2005 or so. I then bought what would become my Vista Cruiser at an estate sale for $3, and started working on it, but put the project on hiatus when our twins were born in 2006. My dad gave me my stepsister's purple Stingray L'il Chik, and I cleaned it up for my oldest girl, and this past year I finished the Vista Cruiser. Now I have a Firestone 500 in the garage for me to restore for my wife.
Also in the past year, I started putting in a ten mile ride every weekend on the MTB. It might not be much, but its more riding than I've done in decades, and it's an exercise that I love doing, which is pretty hard to find, if you ask me.
In my early college years, I pulled out the BMX again, and started jumping it off stuff with a friend of mine. I was more into motorcycles at that point, but would still go for a pedalbike ride once in a while. Later in college I found a tenspeed in a storage closet on campus and it became mine, along with a mountain bike that someone left chained to an apartment porch when we moved in.
When my mon passed in 1997, I inherited her Cannondale mountain bike, and fixing it up was what really got me into fixing bikes. That was in 2005 or so. I then bought what would become my Vista Cruiser at an estate sale for $3, and started working on it, but put the project on hiatus when our twins were born in 2006. My dad gave me my stepsister's purple Stingray L'il Chik, and I cleaned it up for my oldest girl, and this past year I finished the Vista Cruiser. Now I have a Firestone 500 in the garage for me to restore for my wife.
Also in the past year, I started putting in a ten mile ride every weekend on the MTB. It might not be much, but its more riding than I've done in decades, and it's an exercise that I love doing, which is pretty hard to find, if you ask me.
