Hey Bull!
Me too, my bike was a pre-war black Columbia with a shock aborbing hub in the front wheel. Did you ever see any of those. My feet couldn't touch the ground, the first time I rode it. It weighed a ton. My friends all had shiny red bikes. I was jealous until we started riding off road, in sandlots and across fields. The big fat tires just motored along where they were sliding all over. This was sometime in the middle of the 50's.