Classic & Vintage - Any old guys have one of these as a kid?

1970 Schwinn Lemon Peeler Crate
http://www.bikeicons.com/images/1970%20Schwinn%20Lemon%20Peeler%20Krate.jpg
I used to smoke everybody in my neighborhood on that sucker!

Those big stick shifts were soon killed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, although stem shifters are arguably more dangerous, since one can strike them head-on. Hitting the stick shift would be painful, but at least the lever would move forward fairly easily, minimizing damage and making one less likely to sing like the castrati.

"OLDS GUYS", meaning exactly what?

I wanted a Schwinn but my parents thought my first new bike should be a Huffy.

1970 Schwinn Lemon Peeler Crate
I used to smoke everybody in my neighborhood on that sucker!

Good thing you weren't in my neighborhood. Me an' my Raleigh Fireball would'a schooled you. :D

I wasn't old then, but I had the regular 5 speed Stingray models in green. Bought it from a friend for $20 used, in '74, I think. The crates were the cool ones to have, but only for the kids/parents with $$. One of my neighbors who was the first to have everything cool, had one of the orange crates, and a couple of years later, one of the Yamaha motocross bikes.

Good thing you weren't in my neighborhood. Me an' my Raleigh Fireball would'a schooled you. :D

A one-legged asthmatic on anything with 27-inch wheels would've schooled him.

Alas -- the price we pay for vanity... :D

After my 3 Speed Stick Shift Sting Ray in Gold with a Leopard seat got stolen and I had to pay for the replacement as it was not locked...I bought (after 2 years of saving) a simple coaster brake model, later saved up $20. for the Krate front wheel, argued with the Schwinn shop to sell me a Varsity fork, installed that and then mounted the drum brake "mini" wheel on it. Very Kustom, and safer, as the fork did not swing back when turning and applying the brake. Later bought one of those Mag sprockets as they looked kind of Porsche 911 wheel like.

The Krates were cool, just a wee bit heavy, wee bit, no they were very heavy.

back when those were popular I had an unknown vintage english racer,
you know 3 speed sturmey archer setup.
Used to smoke all those 20 inch wheeled weenies until the bike
got stolen.

marty

1970 Schwinn Lemon Peeler Crate
http://www.bikeicons.com/images/1970%20Schwinn%20Lemon%20Peeler%20Krate.jpg
I used to smoke everybody in my neighborhood on that sucker!


I still have mine & use it for touring along with a Webco featuring tuff wheels & ashtubula :eek:

I had a Huffy that had 5 speed index shifting in a 'chopper' style bike like that. Thought I was hot stuff until I got a low-end gaspipe Atalia for my 14th birthday.
God knows where the Huffy went, but the Atalia is out in the barn, many, many upgrades later.
Top

There was only one guy in our neighborhood who had a Krate (Apple). We hated him ...

Dad built pseudo 'Rays for my brother and I out of red 20" repainted Schwinn frames, red glitter banana seats, ram's horn bars, high-loop sissys, and rear slicks. We could beat the kid on the Krate as we could get a better start with the rigid forks/sissys and he never learned to shift worth a sh*t. I think the ram's horn bars gave us an aero position as well. ;-)

We rode these for a couple of years before wanting to move to 10-speeds, but were pretty disappointed to be given a couple of crappy Taiwanese "English Racer" 3-speeds with an Italian name (Brioni). Yuck ...

Bob Hufford
Springfield, MO

I don't remember anyone with a Krate, but most of the other kids had Stingrays -- except me. My father wasn't going to spend that kind of money "on a toy that'll be in the garbage in a couple years". I got to ride around on a el-cheapo Columbia 3 speed Stingray knock-off.

In 1976, one of the cool kids got a Kent bike with full suspension front and back. Compared to that Kent, the Stingrays looked like Krap-Krates -- at least they did to us. Me and the kid with the Kent kept riding that bike over ever bigger jumps until we tacoed the rear wheel -- this was in the day of Evil Knievel. I was there to see the muscle bikes go out of style and the start of the BMX craze.

In a couple of years I'm going to stick my father in a nursing home in retaliation -- the crooked nursing home I saw on 60 minutes.

BTW, 41 isn't old, so speak for yourself.

I never had a Krate, deciding instead to hound my parents for a Raleigh Grand Prix, which I got for Christmas in 1969. I did buy lots of old Stingrays, at least one Huffy Rail (with that ugly extended frame) and whatever Murray called their version with its odd frame style.

I had a lime green Stingray coaster brake model that I bought for $10, and a Rollfast Stingray knockoff that I bought for the same price. I sold them for at least $20 each after cleaning them up. Big bucks in 1970!

Old? You decide. I'm 47.

When I was in Junior high school, there was a guy in the grade ahead of me who had a Raleigh International, I would wait for him and sit on his wheel all the way to school then sprint to victory, on my modified Schwinn "BMX" bike, while he was straining in a 52 x 14. He was most annoyed, little did he know I had a State Championship jersey in my closet. Other kids did not understand about racing, let alone shaving one's legs. The road bike stayed at home.

I loved the Krate Schwinns but I rode the regular, run-of-the-mill
Stingray. I got my love of bicycles from the old Stingray. It was
37 years ago yesterday that I came down and saw a blue one under
the Christmas tree :D :D. I didnt let 2' feet of snow stop me from
taking it for a ride :eek: In my neighborhood the kool guys had TALL
sissybars and and two sets of forks welded together for the EasyRider
look !

1970 Schwinn Lemon Peeler Crate
http://www.bikeicons.com/images/1970%20Schwinn%20Lemon%20Peeler%20Krate.jpg
I used to smoke everybody in my neighborhood on that sucker!

My buddy had one back in the late 60's. Everybody lusted after it, but it was not a match for a 26" 3 speed. All I remember is my buddy peddling his a$$ off trying to keep up with the rest of us. When he finally got to where we were going he always had the coolest looking bike there.

Other kids did not understand about racing, let alone shaving one's legs.

They may not have understood racing, but I bet they understood the shaving your legs part... :rolleyes:

In 1968 I had an Orange Stingray with a silver seat that had a 2 speed kickback shift. I was in hog heaven cruising around Los Alamitos on that thing.

In 1949, my dear old dad bought me a brand new J.C. Higgins cruiser at Sears. It was a beauty. We had no car, so we had to walk4-5 miles to the store one night. Going home, my dear old dad had to walk another five miles home, while I rode my brand new bike. I lived on that bike for many years. I even rode it to New York City from New Jersey, hitching a ride through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Wouldn't even ride the ol' man home on the bars, eh? "How sharper than a serpent's tooth to have a thankless child".

:D

Only the rich kids in my neighborhood had Schwinn Sting Rays, and only the richest had Krates. I had to make do with a Huffy Cheater Slick. I had that bike for many years and many miles, even after I got too big for it and bought a Kabuki ten-speed.