1960 REVISITED

When I saw this ad, I think my heart skipped a beat. It was my bicycle. Or very close to my beloved Schwinn of 1960. What I remember most was the chrome fenders. I would actually shine them.

I loved that bike like no other. I had three that I recall. One with training wheels, of course. I think I rode that one, without the training wheels, for a long time. It seemed like all my friends had bigger bikes, but most in the neighborhood were older, so it may have been the case of perception.

Western Auto provided my first big bike. Back in the day, there were little ones with training wheels and then the big ones. Nothing in between that I remember. Mine was red and I was proud of it. But it wasn't a Schwinn.

When I got my Schwinn, I was almost afraid to ride it. It was so beautiful. I knew I would wreck it. Hey, kids always wreck their bikes. But I couldn't imagine this one damaged.

I rode that bike until I was old enough to drive. I wish I had had an odometer. Man, I put some miles on that baby! We would ride all over town. And amazingly, we had no locks on them. We'd just leave them at the show, the baseball field, the city park, and when we'd go back for them, they were always there. 100% of the time. I never knew anybody who had their bike stolen back then. It was just the old honor system, I guess. Or just growing up in a small Midwest town. Simpler times? I wouldn't necessarily say that, but certainly safer.

I wonder what happened to that old bike? I'd guess it was sold dirt cheap. But no price could equal the fun I had on that black bike with chrome fenders. I should have given it a name--like

The Memory Making Machine.