In 1967, my parents said I could choose my first "real" bike for my birthday. They took me to the local Schwinn shop, and I looked at all of the great bikes. They were nice but so expensive! Especially for a blue collar household where mac and cheese was in the nightly rotation. I was worried that dad was going to get laid off again, so I didn't get a bike right away, until we were at the Sears store picking up paint about a month later. I always looked at the bikes, and lo and behold, there was the most beautiful 3 speed English style bike. Well, they bought it for me on the spot. It was red and and white and chrome. And cheap. It was also way too big, but I didn't care a whit. When I started to ride it around the neighborhood, everyone thought it was nice enough. But it wasn't cool, because they all had Schwinn Stingrays or variations of these for the next couple of years. I just rode around on this too big Sears bike for about four years until I got my Batavus. I finally grew into the bike and boy did it fly! I guess I'll always remember trying to straighten those beautiful chrome fenders on that poor Sears bike after crashes. I think that's what got me on my red and white bike fetish, and it certainly is not subsiding in any way!