Me back in the early 70s.
We lived out in the country and rode through the woods and on dirt roads mostly. Our bikes stayed outside all year round, sat outside in the snow in the winter, and in the spring when we could ride them again we squirted some oil on the chains and went.
We set up jumps with old boards and concrete-blocks and every kid in the neighborhood had to jump each one or they were a sissy. I broke the frame on this bike once landing a jump and my father brazed it back together with his oxy-acetylene torch.
I remember the power I could get pushing on the pedals while pulling up on those high bars. My bike had the tallest gearing in the area and it's high top-speed let me win every racing challenge. I had a speedo on it early-on but it broke during one of my crashes. I remember it was up over 30mph when I crashed. We ended up with a lot of road-rash when we were kids.
Some kids in the area had a bicycle-gang they called the Rat Patrol because they found a dead rat and dragged it behind their bikes with a rope when the road in a group around the neighborhood.
We lived out in the country and rode through the woods and on dirt roads mostly. Our bikes stayed outside all year round, sat outside in the snow in the winter, and in the spring when we could ride them again we squirted some oil on the chains and went.
We set up jumps with old boards and concrete-blocks and every kid in the neighborhood had to jump each one or they were a sissy. I broke the frame on this bike once landing a jump and my father brazed it back together with his oxy-acetylene torch.
I remember the power I could get pushing on the pedals while pulling up on those high bars. My bike had the tallest gearing in the area and it's high top-speed let me win every racing challenge. I had a speedo on it early-on but it broke during one of my crashes. I remember it was up over 30mph when I crashed. We ended up with a lot of road-rash when we were kids.
Some kids in the area had a bicycle-gang they called the Rat Patrol because they found a dead rat and dragged it behind their bikes with a rope when the road in a group around the neighborhood.