Would you care to share some of yours. I did with Nigel and Hiroad
Great story LJ. Being a kid in the early fifties was a gift. Now tell me...when you rode those bikes, did you use a wooden clothes pin to hook a playing card to the back frame so it would bang against the spokes and make you sound like a motorcycle? Did your bike have only one speed? Was it a Schwinn? Ever have one of those radical little bikes with the banana seats and the hanger handlebars? Ever have a bike lock? (I didn't figure I needed one back then) Remember the smell of the bike shop, kind of a grease/rubber/leather mix? Was there a hill in town so steep that you avoided it for fear of going too fast?
Nigel-Yes I did all those things you mentioned with my bike. I hooked the cards to the bike fenders to make it sound like a motorcycle. You just had to watch out and not back up or the card would get messed up. When the cards got really bent, the sound was not as good. My first bike was a Firestone Pilot (really, I did own one) and I almost lost it going down 3rd. St. after my chain broke. I reacted by jumping a curb and landing in someone's yard. It was just one speed and I don't think anyone had locks for their bikes in the late forties and early 50's. I remember some of the kids had motor bikes which was really nothing more than a bicycle with a motor and gas tank attached. I envied others who had cushman scooters. I did some foolish things like riding down Main St. and deciding at the last moment if I needed to stop or just shoot right on through the intersection at Hershey Ave. We lived right next to that ravine that had a dumping place right off West 3rd. before you got to the stop sign where Main St. intersected. I had a nasty spill at that stop sign and landed face down in the gravel and ended up with a nasty strawberry on my right cheek. I was on my way to the Amusu theater so I just picked up my bike and kept going. The one hill I never went down was Green St. but I did ride my bike up Green St. from Hershey Ave until I got to Lucas. The only way I could do that was riding criss-criss over and over to compensate for the steep incline of the street. Even then, it was not an easy task but I did do it....once.
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Nigel: Not sure if you meant just LJ to answer about the bikes, but I'll throw this in:
In the late 40's, early 50's I had a bike that was bought from Western Auto. I think my Grandpa bought it. Yep, we clipped playing cards to the fender braces so that they would flap on the spokes making that "motorcycle sound". We also slipped the old bottle caps between the spokes and slid them down toward the hub. You'd try to get enough to make circles of different colors all the way around the hub. I decorated the seat, after the bike got older, with a "wood burning kit". Remember those?
The hill, in town that I remember (we moved in in 1956 when I was 12) was what was called Main Street hill. It was west of Green street, before 8th street was extended all the way through to Hershey. It was black top and steep with a ravine on one side, just before 3rd street cut in. One of my friends lost it going down that hill, with me riding along by his side. I think his chain broke. He shot off over the edge into the trees and ravine. I thought he had killed himself. But just had the normal painful kid injuries that you nursed yourself - afraid the parents would holler about if they knew how we got them.
Sorry to but in, but it's fun remembering.
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Hiroad, I remember Main street quite well riding my bike up and down on it and sliding down in the winter. Had to be careful though and find a way to stop before getting to Hershey Ave. Our house was the only one there from the ravine down to where Main St. intersected with 3rd. St. There was a big cliff there alongside Main before they put 8th street through to meet Main St. We played on top of that bluff/cliff and the view of the Mississippie was absolutely out of this world. We had a wonderful garden from the house down to the intersection. Our father would go to a farm and get a load of manure and spread it out on the ground and then spade it in by hand. Mom did lots of canning which were all shelved in the basement. Mom always hung the laundry out on a line and when it was not being used for that, we would put a blanket or sheet over it and make a tent out of it.
