Bike memories............

The very first bike I remember is my tricycle. Actually, I don't remember much about it except the end of its life. I recall riding it off a wood plank with my friends and breaking off the handlebars, rolling down a hill out of control, crashing and then shitting my pants.

Hey, I was only 4 or 5, so cut me a break.

My first "real" bike came from Sears and had 16 inch hard rubber tires. I remember that the rear tire immediatly developed flat spots because I like to skid in front of our neighbors house. I'm sure I pissed off Mr March, but he had the best place to leave skidmarks because he had the smoothest sidewalk. Evenually, I skidded so much, the rear tire eventually shredded itself.

Next bike was my first "real" bike, check out those white wall tires and ape hanger bars.

1968......I'm one bad mofo.

My dad used to manage a retail tire store that sold other stuff like bikes, lawn mowers and go-karts so that's where most of the bikes he got me came from.

If I remember correctly, they were made by Kent Bicycles. Judging from their website, they kinda look cheap, back when I had them.......they were the same way. I can remember at least 2 or 3 times on seperate bikes when my dad would have to have one of his friends braze the head tube back onto the frame.

I used to beat the living snot out of my bikes.

After I turned about 12 or so, I cut lots of grass to make money so I started to buy my own bikes. I remember buying a couple of Ross bikes from Sears which I used to ride to school and back, they rusted out in a year or so because they were always left outside and in the rain.


My Ross looked very similar to this one. They didn't last long because I used them as mountain bikes and jumped lots of dirt berms with them.

After them, I had picked up a paper route and needed something I could install baskets on. So I bought a Sears Free Spirit bike.


Something like this one (but in a "boys" style)

I installed racks front and rear and got lots of use out of that bike, probably weighed 50 pounds, but it was one of the few bikes I had that I didn't break the frame in half.

While I was using my Free Spirit as a utility bike, I also owned one of those Schwinn "fillet" bikes. That was a sweet bike, I can't remember when, but I know at some point, somebody stole it.

Bastards.

After that, I as most boys the age of 16 drifted away from bikes to play around with cars until I was in my late 30's..............

At that point, I had turned into your typical out of shape suburbanite. I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and was probably 40 pounds overweight. The turning point was when I was when my lovely wife called me a fat bastard.

Or something like that.......I can't remember the words exactly.

I went down to Wal-Mart and bought myself a mountain bike and started riding again. Rode that thing for 2 or 3 years before most of the parts fell of of it and upgraded to my first "real" mountain bike, a Schwinn S-30


I put something 4000 miles on it before I sold it to one of my buddies to finance the purchase of my Surly Cross-Check. I really wished I had it back-I loved the way it handled.

Got a GT I-Drive after awhile, I liked that bike as well, it was built like a tank (weighed as much as one too) you could ride over or through just about anything on that bike.


Mine was very similar to this one only it was Mango Orange. Traded that with a friend for my Cannondale road bike.

Here's my current stable...............


They all didn't fit in one picture...........


Here's my chopper. You can't ride this bike without grinning like an idiot.

Till later.