Dear Richard, It is my belief that the balloon tire Schwinn did more to promote the bicycle than anyone or any campaign could ever do. Certainly there were other bikes like Monarch, but most bikes as I remember were Schwinns. They were bicycles for everyone. Just one basic bicycle. Sure we could buy accessories and we did. I did everything possible to increase my allowance so I could buy accessories at our Ripon's Western Auto Store. But those bikes were strong enough for large front baskets and rear carriers. We could carry fifty pounds of those Sunday Journals in our double bags on the carriers.
In our family, my Dad bought us our Schwinns at the age of seven. My Brother got his two year before I got my new bike. I looked at that large box which Dad had picked up--right from the Chicago factory, for two years as my Brother rode his Schwinn. Finally, it was Spring and I was seven and my Brother was going to teach me how to ride a bike. He took me to Ripon's largest hill. Ripon was originally a "water-power" town on a "feeble creek"--Silver Creek. So there was a valley and a bluff. I could barely touch the pedals on the Schwinn and the road went down sharply to Silver Creek six blocks away. There was an intersection at the bottom of the hill with some gravel as the street was only oiled or had poor post-war blacktop. I wasn't even told that if you pushed back on the coaster-brake the bike could be stopped. It was my first moment on a bike and my Brother shoved me off. Well, I made it all the way to where the street turned up again past Silver Creek. All the children had balloon tire bikes----all, boys and girls. And all children rode these bikes until cars at sixteen. But I did speed up with the return of the English bike--the "English Racer." That was in the Spring of 1953--the first English Racer in Ripon. I still ride that bike. I mention this reminiscence to point to this institutional fact that Schwinn played a major role in the American bike consciousness. Just what the equipment role is today is for others to decide. Eric Westhagen _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
