Ok, my most memorable Christmas bike memory was when I was maybe 6 or 7. I found a beautiful, red Schwinn Stingray under the tree! I was SO excited, could barely believe it....
Little did I know that my pop had bought it second hand, repainted it, put a few new parts on (banana seat, grips). There was love put into that bike.... Later, when I was 12 years old Dad took my brother and I to the old Schwinn factory in Chicago for the Schwinn service school, where I learned to assemble a Varsity out of the box and build wheels. We later ran a family Schwinn business from '75 to '83, where I worked every day after school and on Saturdays. Still have a bunch of "Schwinn Approved" Snap-on tools in my box from those days. Miss you, Dad, RIP -br On Friday, December 13, 2019 at 10:15:15 AM UTC-8, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > Is anyone is getting a new bike or getting a loved one a new bike for > Christmas? This will be a really fun thread if there are a lot of people > planning for new bikes under their trees, or it could be really quiet here > (I know winter is not peak bike-purchasing season for most of the country), > but let’s see. > > I got a Clem a couple of months earlier, so I can’t contribute, but I’ll > include a short Christmas bike story anyway. My favorite gift as a kid was > the Huffy purple/black/gray mountain bike I got for Christmas in 5th or 6th > grade. The problem was that I was born and raised in North Dakota, where > the winters are long and fierce. I Could. Not. Wait. for spring that year. > I would walk out into the garage and stare at my new bike all that winter. > It had GEARS. It came with a WATER BOTTLE (that was cracked, but oh well) > and it had a small handlebar bag! Sometimes it got the best of me and I’d > wheel it out onto the street in front of the house and just pedal it a > little bit. The tires were perpetually flat, and I usually gave up and went > back inside quickly. But I was so content knowing that new bike - the first > new bike I’d ever had - was waiting for me in that garage. I could not wait > for spring to come. > > My very best friend got the same bike (both sets of parents favored > shopping at Target), and on some lucky Fridays, after school let out, we’d > pedal home to her farm where I’d stay and ride her horses with her all > weekend until church on Sunday. It was gravel roads the entire ride, and a > good 5 miles. We were just kids (11?12?) in the 90s and it was a real > adventure. I don’t know how we weren’t killed by gravel trucks as they > crested the hills; they’d never be expecting kids riding bikes on those > twisty gravel roads. Also, what were our parents thinking?!? But the only > thing I loved to ride more than my purple mountain bike was my friend’s big > old quarter horse, Bud - so away we went. We were big stuff. > > That Huffy was probably the nicest bike I ever had until I was 31 years > old and got a Betty Foy. I think Mom and Dad still have the Huffy in their > storage unit in my hometown. I’ll look for it this summer and take a selfie > with it. Now I’m completely bike-rich and marvel at my humble bike > beginnings. My first bike was a garage sale bike I got when I was 7, and > that is another tale. It’s so fun to look back at that Christmas and > remember how excited I was to taste the freedom that a new bike was going > to bring me. > > I hope someone is getting a new bike for Christmas this year. Christmas > bikes are the most sacred of bikes. > > Leah -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fa1740de-ac15-4ac8-ba09-a2a8626d64a3%40googlegroups.com.
