24 Feb 2004 18:59:22 -0800,
<[email hidden]>,
(Tanya) said:Hi, Just wondering what people's fond memories of their first childhood bicycle are.
I'm just reposting what I'd posted with an x-noarchive in Oct. 2000.
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My first 2 wheeler was metallic blue with solid 16" rubber tires and training wheels. I was five.
After they came off and I started getting confident, I took a header resulting in a split lip, lots
of blood and wailing. My mother came running, picked me up assessed the damage and made me ride it
home. Later as I grew taller I started taking turns riding a bigger bike that must have had 28"
wheels. I had to walk it to the corner store and climb up on the steps to mount it. Good thing it
was a lady's frame or I'd have never been able to pedal it.
It was my seventh birthday. (1956) I was sitting in the front room with parents and relatives
opening presents when my grandfather asked me to get him a glass of water. I reluctantly went to the
bathroom to fill his glass. "NO", he hollered, "the water in kitchen is colder, bring me that." When
you're seven and excited that extra 12' seemed awfully far. I dutifully went into the kitchen and
leaning against the sink was a brand new "J.C.Higgins". It was a reddish maroon with white pin
striping and white painted rims with red pin stripes. 24" balloon tires and double top tube.
Undoubtedly the most beautiful bike in the world and it was obviously mine. I don't think he ever
got his drink because everybody was just around the corner evidently to catch my expression which
they could have probably heard a block away.
I rode that bike everywhere and where I couldn't ride it, I pushed it. It was faster some days than
others because my grandfather would oil the chain and fill the tires without ever mentioning it. It
was the greatest bike in the world until John Stoffel got an English racer. A black 3 speed with 26"
wheels and skinny tires. I had to have one too because he now was beating me in our rat races around
the neighbourhood. The big challenge was racing to Wolf Road and back, just over a two mile circuit.
I wanted a racer too but my grandfather said, "First beat John Stoffel and then we'll see about
getting another bike". He got what I think was a hunk of pipe and put it in the seat tube to raise
the saddle because the bike was becoming too small for me. Tightened the chain, lubed it and pumped
up the tires. Sure enough the next big race saw John Stoffel panting in disbelief that his bike was
no longer the fastest in our little gang. "See, you don't need another bike, that one's fast
enough". was my grandfather's response to the great news. I was disheartened but determined to buy
one myself. I started saving allowances and earnings from odd jobs. Any money I got went into a jar
saving toward a racer. Whenever we went shopping I'd be looking at the bikes. One day there was a
floor model with a few scratches marked down to what seemed a reasonable price and possibly
affordable. My grandfather talked to the salesman and we took home that bike for $20.00 of which my
grandfather paid a portion. I guess I was almost 12 years old. Suddenly the world's greatest bike
was relegated to rust until given to a younger cousin. My shiny new red Robin Hood racer was stolen
when I was 14 and much more interested in girls than bicycles. I didn't get on a bike again until I
was 21 and resurrected an abandoned three speed so I'd have something to ride to work.
I hope to never forget that "J.C.Higgins" leaning against the kitchen sink and the day it was the
world's fastest bike.
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zk
