A good ride, at least from my perspective!

We called them buzz bikes at the shop.

They were the ones with the ape hanger handlebars, banana seats and 20 in wheels, made popular by Al Fritz's classic innovation in the 1970's, the Schwinn Stingray.

If you didn't have one, you were really out of style.

Every manufacturer and retailer putting bicycles on the streets of America had at least one model with the looks and feel of the Stingray. Some were equipped with multiple speeds andderailleur gearing, with the stick shifter for style, like the Schwinn Crate models.

The RaleighChopper was probably the biggest name knock off of the time..

Now the very popular stick shifter, there was an innovation. A 6" tall, flat steel shaft, mounted in directly in front of the, usually male rider on the top tube of the bicycle. Any sudden stop or miscalculations of a jump or curb thrust the rider directly forward, only to have the momentum stop at the shifter, with it planted firmly in ones crotch.

The stick shift lever was quickly coined the ball buster, and for good reason.

It wasn't to long until the CPSC did away with them on manufactured bicycles and a generation of unintentional eunichs was averted.

Toward the end of this style run, as we were getting a bit older and outgrowing the 20 inch wheels, the kid across the street from where I grew up, received a 24 inch wheel, classic bicycle.

It was a full on boys bike, black with chrome fenders and a rack to carry stuff on mounted over the rear wheel. Kurt Destiche was his name, and his parents had bucked the trend when they gave him this non-conforming model for his birthday.

Kurt, being the nice guy he was, let me try his new bicycle out. I had never ridden anything other than the hand me down, traditional looking stuff a neighbor had given us, or the Montgomery Wards version of the banana bike Santa had delivered a couple of years before, so a new bike with a different look was intriguing. I could barely stand over the top tube with my feet on the ground, as Kurt was a bit taller and older than I.

The handlebars were more of an all rounderstyle, swept back and only a few inches tall, quite a difference from the 14 inch tall high rise style, common to the Stingray and it's bretheran.

The saddle had only room for the lone rider, as apposed to the room for a passenger length of the polo seats we were used to. The rider in a much better position as to propel the bicycle along well and I think it may have spring suspension for a little added comfort.

It was a whole different feel. What the generation of earlier bicyclists had experienced with the Schwinn Phantoms and styles of the 1940's and 50's.

While Kurt may have expected that I would take his new ride down the street, or maybe around the block, for a short cruise.

This bike seemed to have other intentions.

We, the bike and I went off.

Not following the quick test ride path Kurt had envisioned, but
on a 3 or 4 mile jaunt. It seemed to follow my Milwaukee Journal paper route for a time,navigating the grid street pattern of the near east side of Green Bay. This thing sailed along, at speeds one could only have imagined on the the smaller wheels of our current bikes, the handling was superior and it seemed truly effortless model to ride.

Oh, the ride!

After being gone for nearly one half hour of carving wonderful turns through the corners and feeling the breeze generated by our efforts, we arrived back at the start of our adventure.

I was hooked!

And Kurt was pissed off!

I recall him taking the bike from my hands, and storming off. He likely didn't speak to me for awhile, as he thought that I had done something unspeakable with his new bike. I don't remember him letting me ride this bike again, either.

From my perspective, it really wasn't my fault. The bicycle did all the talking. Communicating to me that this was bicycling was really all about. There was more to it than wheelies, jumps and skidding to a halt from top speed, some of the more popular activities with our beloved banana seat rides.

Bicycles have been my passion, avocation and vocation since that day.

I wonder if Kurt remembers his bike and my test ride as well as I do?


Rusty