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Bomber??

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rickyd

Wore out three sets of tires already!
Watching the Netflix series about the Unabomber season 1 episode 6 Ted shows up in town on a bike that appears to be a cantilever middleweight of some kind. This pic came off the web purported to be an og pic of stuff around his cabin. Can anyone ID this? Is this where the term "bomber" comes from as a description of bikes like this? Just a curious bike guy here. Rick
118804d1132518622-unabomber-rides-wily-bicycle_large.jpg
 
The kind of bike you bomb around on- We used to say: Let's go bomb around on our sting rays - and I have heard (in the distant past) rat rod cars referred to as bombers
 
When I was a kid we called a heavy mostly downhill bike a bomber. Did the Netflix series mention the Harvard Murray experiment?
 
Yes it did.
The early klunkers were also called bombers or even Marin bombers. The idea was buy a balloner that at the that was considered out of fashion and junk for cheap. Then remove the fenders chain guard anything that would mudd up and go ride off road. Why bomber? Because it was considered junk and if you break it who cares. Colloquial idea from the war years. We only have too make it back too base and we get a new plane if ours is too torn up. Same here go wreck a schwinn balloner cus in late 60s there was a ton of them around cheap and other brands too. Fashion for a desirable bike was a skinny tire English style or road bike, ten speed. A bomber is a cheap junk and easily replaceable thing
 
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