garboplex

Some more "Retro Weirdness": "Ramhorn" handlebars, anyone remember this variation on the classic Mustang style bars? I mounted a pair on my first 2 wheeler when I was 9 or 10 (late 60s).

Yen

Not a bike part, but a stunt..... remember doing wheelies?

Jim from Boston

Mine had yellow and red lenses and they had cloth straps that were hard to tighten.

PatrickJIV

Piece of old leather belt hanging on both axles "sliding" around to keep them clean.

AiredaleII

This reminds me of my friend John Bright from Boston, MA who during the 70's and 80's would do wheelies on a road bike the whole length of my street.

John was an excellent road racer. I remember in the 80's he was riding in a race in Falmouth, MA. Eric Heiden (Olympic speed skater) was also in that race. Eric finished 52nd and my friend John finished 8th. I never forgot that day.

bcoppola

Mine had the white front, red rear, and a squarish yellow lens on top. Think it took two C batteries. Ditto on the cloth strap.

garboplex

The ones you could buy had little round reflectors on them, we called 'em "Hub Shiners".

garboplex

My old black leather "Detto Pietro" racing shoes, they had hard wooden (or leather?) soles that would last about a year. The cleats had to be nailed on...hopefully in the correct position. Then I remember finally getting a pair of the latest Adidas "Eddy Merckx" models with synthetic mesh uppers and a plastic sole, of course the cleats still had to be nailed on.

garboplex

I recall being a bit of a "weight weenie" back then and trying to drill out almost anything to lighten it up, my old Marinoni has drilled out rear dropouts.

The old lower-end plastic Simplex derailleurs were horrible, the black plastic turned white with age and they were the most sluggish units ever. The high-end all alloy Simplex stuff was better though.

Retro Grouch 

To ask somebody to go for a bike ride you'd ask if they wanted to do some "free wheeling".

JohnDThompson 

I'm still using mine:



Not sure why yours only lasted a year, though...

big john

My dad bought me an "English Racer" 3 speed from Pep Boys for $35 in 1965, or so. I broke the frame after a couple years. My older brother had a J.C. Higgens in the 50s and early 60s.
There is a race series here called 'The coaster brake challenge'. Race any bike you want, as long as it is singlespeed with a coaster brake. No front brake allowed. It's off-road and a friend did it last year and won one of the races. It was written up in Bike Magazine and one of their editors did one of the races on a Soft Ride.

zacster

I still have one wool jersey and one pair of wool tights. I don't quite fit into the jersey anymore. The bike that the jersey goes with had all drilled parts, and sew-ups.

I once wore the tights on a river rafting trip. I was the only one that was warm in the water as it acted as a wet suit.

I had an English Racer, a Royce Union, with twist shift 3 speed. It was the coolest bike around. Then I rode my friends 5 speed and was hooked so I bought a 10speed Peugeot with the plastic Simplex derailleur and the rims that hummed when you used the brakes. They didn't stop worth a damn, but the sounded nice.

Do you remember real suede chammies? They turned rock hard when you washed them.

big john

People still do wheelies. Floyd Landis and Robbie McKewen come to mind. I rode with this guy and he popped the front end up every time he saw a camera.

Artkansas 

Yes, but one time my front wheel fell out. That kind of ruined the fun for me.

AiredaleII

Thanks for posting it.

BlazingPedals

Anybody remember those square white plastic headlights that slid into a white plastic receiver that clamped onto your handlebars via a white plastic thumbscrew? I think they were French, and the only place you could get batteries for them was at the bike shop?

tony2v

^
The lights are Wonder Lights with that funky French battery. I think they were a La Vie Claire sponsor.

bcoppola

^
I had one of those, and even wrote up a glowing (no pun intended) review that got published in a "Wraparound" section of Harper's magazine for consumer reviews of products.

zacster

I may still have my wonder light. The batteries didn't last all that long. Or maybe I had a knock-off since I don't remember it being a special battery.

alaska joe

These were called "French armband lights." I still have two of them.

wooljersey

Terms I remember

Trackman's wobble [removing one ball bearing from a hub to make it spin faster]
Drillium
Flickstand
Hairnet [leather helmet]
Skid Lid

JanMM

I had a couple of Wonder Lights. The batteries were quite unique in the States. They did come out with some better (more expensive) batteries at some point.
They weren't Wonderful lights, but the competition in battery bike lights was pretty poor around 1980 or so.

elcraft

Yeah, I remember them! I peeled the cardboard off that encased the battery and discovered it was made from three "AA" cells that were soldered in series. After that, I was able to do the same to make my own replacement batteries. The light output was miserable and the plastic clamp would slip if you ran on a rough road or over a pavement change. But it was lightweight and didn't require a "premanent" set up.

miss kenton

Here's my attempt at a wheelie last Mother's Day. I made my son take me out to teach me. I stayed up like this for,oh,135cm. (It's national metric day)