A History of My Wheels by cleaverb
The same style, yet mine was painted primer gray
My first set of wheels that I can remember was a tricycle! Of course... It was second-hand; can't remember who it came from. I grew up with a large, extended family in my hometown - 12 cousins who were all within 7 years of my age, so it is impossible to guess where it came from. While attempting to recall its origin, it possibly came from a family whose home caught on fire,the trike was painted primer gray.It was of the standard 1950s style, complete with bent handlebars . Also, I inherited my first bike from my brother; it was the classic single speed cruiser, with the triple tube style frame.Featuring chrome high-rise handlebars, a banana seat(!), and 2.25 wide 20" tires . Mostly I remember this bike always having flat tires,because there was a huge amount of 'goosehead' thorns in my hometown.
History
My hometown was typical usa; every kid had their own bike, it seemed. There were the occasional chopper,10-speeds,and bmx styles. Most had single speed cruisers though. There were a few hybrids;including bikes that you had to climb a tree in order to mount the seat.And then get your friends to give you a push start! Also worth mention was skateboards,which were popular. Then there was the short-lived fad of teenagers borrowing Big Wheels for a thrill ride down a steep hill.
Nearly impossible to steer this going downhill with 100 pounds of kid onboard!
My First Two Wheeler
Mine was olive green!
My dad bought me an olive-green Huffy three-speed for my tenth birthday ! It featured narrow,touring style 26 inch rims/tires,the riser style of handlebars,and a thumb lever for shifting. The shifting was done inside the rear hub; it's still a mystery to me. What I do recall is we had a blizzard that year, and I went for a ride on a sunny March afternoon: 70* degrees Fahrenheit yet we had at least two-three feet(60-90cm) of snow on the ground. Sometime in the next summer, I convinced my mom to buy me a 'bike radio' , a citizens band (CB) radio which ran on four D cell batteries.It also had an AM band..of course this was back when you could hear more than 'talk radio' on the AM band . LOL .
Fenders were not included because they filled up with mud!
Except this half-height rear fender,which was cool.
My Second Bike
Once again ,dad bought this bicycle for me..it was a Huffy 20 inch with the classic 3 tubes crossbar styled frame.It was used, from a local farmers son. It featured a 2.25 wide slick,as opposed to the popular bmx knobbies of the day.This was another single speed cruiser, with high-rise handlebars, and a banana seat...also a two-tone red/black paint scheme.Fancy. This bike was around for a few re-incarnations,later on in time. Around this time, I got my first skateboard.It was old-style,the tires were hard rollerskate tires, with flimsy trucks. The board was aluminum! The board was given to me from a person who bought a box full of stuff at an estate auction. As a side note, my second skateboard was bought with GreenStamps, remember those ? It featured a Birch(wood) deck, and poly tires!
Third Bicycle
Somebody gave me a 24 inch 10-speed touring bicycle. I like to think it was (cousin) Tims' old bike, given by uncle Richard.He needed space in his garage. Thanks! This was the bike that I started learning to be a mechanic;the front brake cable was rusted solid. Most I can remember about this bike was having to stand on my 'tippy-toes' to touch the ground when stopped. I can't recall what color it was- white,red, or blue.The most memorable thing about this bike was; it gave me the parts I needed to experiment with customizing.
My Fourth Bike was My Second Bike,Reincarnated
I took notes on what the bmx-ers were doing, and incorporated it into my rides. I still preferred a slick tire over knobbies. Yet bmx was the 'in' style. I took the basic Huffy 20 inch frame, and replaced the banana seat with the touring saddle of the 10 speed. I traded my sister handlebars, giving up my high-rise style for her short,chrome mid-rise bars. They were a little taller than bmx bars,yet unlike bmx style,they had no crossbar. I pulled the one-piece crank from my old green Huffy,sprocket and all. I also followed the lead of the bmx-ers, and removed the brakes from my rim,creating a 'freewheel'. I replaced that with the rear caliper brake off the old green Huffy,white cable, chrome handle and all. The 177mm cranks were a drastic improvement for pedaling uphill; then I took it a step further, and created a two speed bike! This was when I found out that not all chains are the same: so I had to 'modify' grind my rear sprocket down to fit the 10 speed chain. Took the crank out of the 10-speed, and also the rear derailer. I had to drop 12 links from the chain to make it short enough to work. At first, I used the front derailer to shift, but I soon found that it was alot easier to 'use my finger' when I wanted to shift.Not the cleanest option. It worked, and it was unique.
My Fifth Bicycle / First Custom Frame
I loved my 20-inch with two speeds, but I was outgrowing it too fast. My first attempt to remedy the situation was to take a hammer, and bend the frame of the green Huffy. I managed to break the frame ! Not the result I was looking for...but I had the right idea. I bought a 26 inch frame from Clay for $10.Didn't need the rims/tires - he seemed confused, but complied. One slow day at the gas station(on company time!) I took the cutting torch to the frame. Much thought was given to the idea; I knew what I wanted. I chopped six inches off the down-tube,removing the knuckle where the rear supports joined, below the seat.I also chopped the front end off: leaving 8 inches of crossbar, and 12 inches of bottom tube. Note for posterity:this was a lobed frame.
First custom.The rounded top-bar was custom 'hammered' to fit.
I cleaned up the 'torch' work by hacksawing the ends, leaving as much tube as possible.But I wasn't done 'torching' the frame just yet. Three inches behind the bottom bracket, I heated up the two tubes, and bent them about 18* degrees downward. Next, I bent the rear 'uptubes' to connect them about 10 inches above the top of the bottom bracket,yet leaving full length 16 inch rear cage. It wasn't exactly true, yet straight enough for the first attempt. Clay had more frames... LOL . Now came the most important part; creating a front end that was long enough to prevent my knees jamming into the handlebars. I didn't do any bending in the front; I plain eyeballed the frame parts, and hacksawed by hand where to make the cuts at the right length. I wasn't the greatest of arc welders, so I used two pieces of heavy black pipe to connect up the joints in the top bar and downtubes. Wish I had pictures; although I rode this bike for more than a year, I never even painted it ! Well, that was becuase I broke the welds once, and didn't want to waste a paintjob that would get ruined by arc welding. It never broke again ! My next innovation was to use the forks from the old green Huffy frame, giving me added height in front..this helped to offset the frame; otherwise most of your weight was forward of the bottom bracket. It was a design flaw, but like I said, it was the first try. This was when I discovered my second design flaw: the forks had a 3 inches longer neck than the frame did. It turned out to be my favorite modification - when I found the 'perfect' spacer to remedy the 3 inch difference - a spring from a refrigerator door! I assembled the project with the two-speed drivetrain,a cabled rear brake, and all my favorite parts from the 20 inch. Amazing - I had more than 15 inches of clearance between the bottom bracket and the ground, yet with a down tube only 12 inches high, my center of gravity was very low. I had to add chain links, and I stayed with the finger shifting method instead of a cabled front derailer. The break in the frame I soon had was while riding on the pavement, it was more a 'tack' weld than a thorough solid finished result.The metal was not fatigued in the incident. The refrigerator door spring was too weak for my design though, it created a crunching sound (in the bearing cups) when I jumped or landed.It also fatigued the metal at the bottom of the neck; one day the forks broke off at the bottom joint of the neck. Lucky for me, I was chatting with my brother, bouncing the front end off of an old 55 gallon drum when it snapped! I was virtually sitting still,no forward motion. Oddly enough, I grew to love the design with the spring in the front end, even though it provided no suspension value; it was appealing to look at. Eye candy. My uncle M was rebuilding his Freightliner, and I found an old cam spring would fit my neck tube. Now here was a serious spring, which I could stand on, and my 150 pounds could not bow the spring any. That spring would last me for the life of the bike; very soon I would turn 16, and my attention was on motor vehicles.
More of a chopped design;went over the 'bars too many times on my first custom.
More Custom Ideas
My sophomore year in school featured a metal shop class- we worked with metal lathes,torches, and welding techniques. I was still trying to build a spring-suspension rear ended bike frame, yet could not get the parts needed to complete the project. I made up a great mount for the rim, yet it was impossible for me to find a spring that would support my weight. Also, the design of the 'hinge' would have to be worked out after I figured out the spring-suspension parts. Believe me, I spent many a daydream trying to put this project into reality. I drew picture after picture, and even discussed the idea with my friends...but we could not resolve the equation. Project DOA .
My Sixth Bicycle
I had just moved to Tucson, and had no wheels. Some dude in the area offered me an almost new 10 speed , for $50. You could buy the same bike, brand new for $100, but he needed money. So I bought it, and I rode it for almost 3 years.. in the end I stripped it for parts and threw it away. Amazingly, I had no bicycle for almost a year after that. I had a car, rode the bus, or walked . Eventually, I would get tired of those options.
My Seventh Bicycle
Somebody at my moms' apartment complex threw away a complete 26 inch tenspeed- literally they stood it next to the trash dumpster. Mom 'rescued' it and me on that fateful day. It was white, and not one piece was missing or broken. It even had a 6-volt generator with headlight, the one-piece style.No tailight. It was a heavy, lobed steel frame, and it was heavy. The only thing 'wrong' with the bike was - both brake cables were rusted solid. I took the brakes apart, and had the front brakes working in about a half an hour...but the rear brake cable was not salvageable. Of course, I had the parts from my last 10 speed, and so I went for a cruise that evening. Not very far, I didn't have the 'legs' for it ... Pretty soon, I bought new tubes,tires,and thornproof liners for my 'new' bike. But everything was rusted, not pretty. I took all the spokes out of the rims, and steel wooled the finish, and that helped. But the back rim had been damaged internally, it crunched and made noises when I put some weight into pedaling. I overhauled it, but never did replace the freewheel cassette. That was what it needed, but since it was a freebie, I didn't waste my money.
My Eighth Bicycle
Around six months later, mom 'found' another bike frame in the dumpster: This was a Sterling, a custom frame made in California. By professionals! All the cables, and everything worked, the problem was there were no wheels.And no kickstand... so I cannibalized my 'old' 10 speed for rims and tires. Had to buy a new aluminum kickstand since this one had a different style of mount than my old,all steel kickstand. This bicycle had been taken care of, you could tell in how the cables worked. It was a well-maintained machine.The aluminum frame made this the lightest weight bike I had owned - up to that time. I proceeded to look for parts at the local thrift shops: I bought an Shimano aluminum front rim for $5, sans tire. It had been spray painted blue; I stripped it down and steelwooled it back to nearly its original shine! My second 'upgrade' was when I bought a new saddle, I found a Vetta touring saddle. I forget the model, but it was one of those extra padded with the indentation in the center of the seat.White 'Vetta" on the side and back. Fell in love with Vettas .
My Ninth Bicycle
The Sterling frame moved with me to Arkansas. Unfortunately, I moved up into the 'hills' , and I lived on a particularly steep hill. It was fun/scary going down, and walk it back 'up' the hill to get home.Needless to say, the bike didn't get much attention for a few years..until I moved to B'ville.What a lovely, flat city. I grew up in a town which was hilly, tucson had hills yet was mostly flat; bville is a great town for easy pedaling/travel. I went for a few rides,and rediscovered the 'joy' of cycling again. Then, I moved back onto the hill. But my desire to ride was returning..even though I had no time or energy for riding after work, as a groundskeeper.Lazy. I was getting a little chubby... for the first time in my life! I couldn't stand it ...and at the time decided it was best to find a new job. My intention was to take some time off; a month or maybe two. The first thing I did, was to buy a new bicycle! I went to Walmart, about the only place in town who sold bikes.. they had this wonderful NEXT 26inch bike, complete with front shocks, and a rear 'mono-rail' suspension. The price of $79 ! Bought one, and a helmet. I spent a few days taking my bike to the park, to read, and cruise my new bike around town.Soon found a job, though. One of those fateful trips involved taking my old Sterling to a thrift shop. This is my current bike, and the only change made from the original configuration is that I installed a Vetta saddle, which drastically improved my comfort level. Well, this year I wore out several parts- new aluminum pedals, new twist grip shifters, replaced a bent sprocket, bought a rear seatpost mounted rack,and a new Mavic nickel chain. Recently got new tire, and flat proof tubes. It was amazing; I had gone nearly four years(!!!) without a flat tire. Ask anyone - four years without a flat has to be a record.Call Guiness ! My latest innovation is a headlight; I took an "off the shelf" floodlight, and installed a 9 volt lamp and battery. The tailtight is a jogger/runners flasher; the type that clips onto your shirtsleeve. It serves its purpose.