Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.gwd
02-22-06, 09:21 PM
Yeah, but how many people can say they didn't buy a car when they were 16-18. I'm showing my age, but in the early '70s, I can't think of one friend of mine who didn't have a car by the time they were 18.
Not much has changed since then. We're still an automobile-centered culture. Darn.
Recursive's reply reminded me that a friend who introduced me to cycling for transportation didn't get a car until he was 19. When his car died a couple years later he went car free again for 5 years till he bought a motorcycle. We lived in suburbia too. We graduated from high school in the very early '70s, before the oil embargo. A guy down the street never had a car either. I'm pretty sure several other guys who went to the army or marines didn't get cars until they came back. It may have seemed that all kids got cars but some just drove the family car on Saturday night. I myself didn't buy a car until I left college but my father bought a few junker cars that his kids shared. I drove first the one he bought for my older brother and then I drove one he bought for my sister. These cost $50.00 and $75.00. We could've paid for these but he just brought them home one day. We had to fix them ourselves. It was supposed to be some kind of lesson in wrench turning and dealing with mechanics and junkyards. I think my father and I jointly did the wrench turning for my sister but she also had boy friends to help her out. I'll have to ask if she changed the oil herself. She changes her own oil now so maybe she learned on that old '63 ford falcon. As for not much changing since then... I know several kids who in the past few years have past through the 16-18 year range without having a car. These are suburban kids I'm talking about.
Not much has changed since then. We're still an automobile-centered culture. Darn.
Recursive's reply reminded me that a friend who introduced me to cycling for transportation didn't get a car until he was 19. When his car died a couple years later he went car free again for 5 years till he bought a motorcycle. We lived in suburbia too. We graduated from high school in the very early '70s, before the oil embargo. A guy down the street never had a car either. I'm pretty sure several other guys who went to the army or marines didn't get cars until they came back. It may have seemed that all kids got cars but some just drove the family car on Saturday night. I myself didn't buy a car until I left college but my father bought a few junker cars that his kids shared. I drove first the one he bought for my older brother and then I drove one he bought for my sister. These cost $50.00 and $75.00. We could've paid for these but he just brought them home one day. We had to fix them ourselves. It was supposed to be some kind of lesson in wrench turning and dealing with mechanics and junkyards. I think my father and I jointly did the wrench turning for my sister but she also had boy friends to help her out. I'll have to ask if she changed the oil herself. She changes her own oil now so maybe she learned on that old '63 ford falcon. As for not much changing since then... I know several kids who in the past few years have past through the 16-18 year range without having a car. These are suburban kids I'm talking about.