I was wondering when we would hear the bringgg bringgg of Bicyclebelldingding, it's been a bit stuffy around here.
My first bike memory is of an old white girls bike that my grandfather and I rescued from the local dump. He fixed it up and that's how I learned to ride. I think. There is a polariod somewhere of me in my pajamas on Christmas morning, kneeling next to a sea-foam green Rollfast with a white banana seat, chopper bars, and a big red bow. My first new bike. Eerily similar to Carl's photo. Like Matthew, I also had a C.Itoh in a beautiful pale yellow, my first ten-speed. Which, it should be noted here, was made by the Bridgestone company. Although I now understand the paint job was the best thing about the bike, I wanted to make it sparkle green like Janice M.'s Schwinn Continental down the block. I took it apart, then used toxic stripper and razor blades to take it down to bare metal. This was probably 1972, I was 11 or 12. My workshop was the basement floor in front of the boiler. I think I may not have used primer, and it may not have ridden quite the same, but it was a fairly decent green, and there were only a few leftover parts. The Platypus will be awesome, as will the Charlie Gallop. If they ever do make a dedicated kids bike, it will need to be called a Puggle. I am currently waiting on my large Susie. And building up an HHH tandem. And tootling around town on my 52 *El Clem*, which is completely complete except for mud flaps and likely a basket for the front rack, though that will create parking issues in my living room closet. On Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 10:20:50 PM UTC-4, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > Here is a thread that will veer just a bit from the normal subject matter. > But it has been 112 degrees today, and we have to do something while we > wait for our Platypus bikes. Going for a walk down memory lane is what > we’re doing. > > I recently found this treasure. Pictured is me, at 5 years old with my > very first bike. My parents purchased it at a garage sale from a family in > town. It was a Huffy Desert Rose (long, dramatic, wistful sigh here).The > story was that the bike had been backed over but -yay!- the man of the > house had welded the bike back into working order. I was THRILLED. I never > had training wheels - I learned by taking off and crashing all over the > neighborhood. I didn’t care if I was missing a lot of hide; I had wheels > and I was going places in my tiny North Dakota town. > > I would like to take this time to point out several things... > > 1. I really think they nailed the saddle height on the first try. > > 2. My bike had fenders! And they were clearly for decoration only. > > 3. What shoes was I wearing? I don’t know, but what I can tell you I > didn’t trouble myself with socks. > > 4. My celebrity lookalike was Mowgli from the Jungle Book. > > 6. Banana seats > Brooks saddles. > > 7. No need for racks/baskets. I put a friend or a little sister on the > banana seat and SHE carried the goods. > > 8. Kids were tougher in the 80s. That bike was huge for 5-year-old me, but > I rode it. Pedaling that bike felt like being stuck in the hardest gear > going uphill always (the welder dad overestimated his abilities), but I > rode the wheels off of it..most likely with flat tires. > > In closing, I might also point out that I was into Rivendell before > Rivendell was into Rivendell. Compare the Huffy with my Clementine - I was > an early adopter. > > This was the day the love affair began, friends. I am so happy to have a > photo of it. Who else has a story about their first bike? Bonus points if > you can also provide photos. > > Leah > > [image: 9836764F-6714-4872-9033-F9C64A034A14.jpeg] > [image: C5046809-7A38-4544-909F-E0DEB1A60092.jpeg] > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d9f34206-48dd-4cd7-a8c8-6d2211d8ce83o%40googlegroups.com.
