alanmcdonley

Wow, It is so cool to see that ad and the green version in the picture.

I arrived to New Mexico State University in the summer of 1970. There was a Sears catalog store that ordered a "5 speed racer with Power Shift" bike for me for a little over $50 before the tax. It looked more like the bike in the ad, but it had the shifter next to the stem like the green bike in the picture. I vividly remember starting out on that bike from stop signs and lights, pausing my pedaling momentarily in the middle of the intersection to force the upshift, and then continuing to accelerate. As a mechanical engineering major, I was so proud of the shifting technology in that bike. That bike took me to eat the 25 miles round trip to a great steak restaurant on "the other side of the world", and the 30 mile round trips to visit a girlfriend. It was eventually stolen, but the memories of my five speed with an automatic transmission have never diminished.