Originally Posted by Bikewer
Comes and goes, apparently. I have a book called Bike Cult, which is sort of a history/encyclopedia of cycling. He has a whole section about bikes in advertising, both for the industry and as part of general pop culture.
Many folks today don't know that there was a "bike boom" in the late 1800s, with literally millions of units sold worldwide. Paved roadways, pneumatic tires...All developed for bikes, not cars. Even Mark Twain had one.
There was a bike boom in the States and the UK in the 1970's also. That's when Schwinn and Raleigh were top dogs and manufacturing was done in places like Chicago and Nottingham. In the States the Schwinn Sting-Ray ruled supreme for the kiddies and the lightweights (an erroneous term at best) like the Varisty and Continental were for the big kids and adults.
It's so sad to see those days go. Those Sting-Rays lasted for years under tons of abuse. Now the best kids have to look forward to is Wally World crap. What went wrong?