I rode my first bike with the "butterfly" handlebar during the summer of 1962. Staying with my grandparents in Huntington Park, we visited friends of theirs one evening. Their oldest son let me ride his chopper conversion, a 24"-wheel Schwinn with a sprung fork, that he'd equipped with the "ape-hanger" handlebar and "banana" saddle. It was a difficult bike to control, but it sure looked cool.

When I returned to school in the fall I commandeered my father's Raleigh Superbe Tourist. In the spring of 1963 I first saw images of the Sting Ray in Schwinn ads in Boys' Life magazine. It's wonderful to learn the true stories behind stuff I was only seeing from a distance at the tender age of 10.