Originally Posted by
Flip Flop Rider
old school (skool) to me merely means old.
this is the way we use to do it, and we're making it work now. It's not a knock, because I'm 55 now.
who among us doesn't look back on the styles we grew up with (bikes, clothes, music, hobbies, TV shows, etc.) fondly and proudly proclaim those things as "old school"
someone said it, and I agree 1000 percent (is that possible
), old school is a state of mind. Looking back and appreciating the harder and sometimes more difficult times we went through to get to the here and now
old school biking for me and those I grew up with was both utilitarian and recreational. Our bikes gave us the freedom to go where we wanted to and to visit friends and make new ones all over town. We didn't keep track of miles, didn't wear Lycra, and dam sure didn't debate the best chain lube, and say "on your left"
3 in 1 oil was good enough if we ever oiled at all. Saddle uncomfortable? Stand up and ride or coast
when we weren't traveling on the bikes we were jumping things with them or riding through things. Sometimes home made ramps, but other times potholes, logs, riding in the snow just for the heck of it
Seeing who could ride a wheelie the farthest. This was important and if you were a contender it upped your respect level in the neighborhood immensely. If you couldn't do it, you were JV all the way
riding with no hands for as far as you could
Playing bike chicken to see who had the most nerve
walking the bikes to the top of a hill and racing down
and one last thing that was the ultimate in old school biking that you don't see today. Skid marks! Purposely skidding until your tires were bald and popped
looking back it was almost like a bike Olympics, a constant competition, and for the most part, the bikes held up fine
those things are old school to me and gone too cause I don't think kids today use their bikes like we used to
I first started riding in the early 60's, and a lot of the above applied.
I'll add a few here, just because I can still remember them:
Standing up on that squishy soft sprung saddle on my teen-sized Raleigh (24 x 1-3/8" wheels) and doing no hands for as far as I dared....
King had nothing on us. Bikes clothes pinned on to the seat stays for boys, and Bee's for girls. That sound actually carried quite a ways.
I actually got tired of replacing rear tires that were balded by coaster brake slam and skiddings. I had quit doing that by age 12 when the price of tires jumped.
My first bike was actually a full sized men's bike with 28" wheels, and about a 23" frame. I had to ride it under the top-tube until my legs grew long enough to use the saddle at it's lowest, and most forward point. Some where along the line, the left pedal blew, and no one seemed to know about left hand threads. I rode it on the spindle until that particular part snapped.
I ended up learning to ride it with one pedal by bringing the left pedal arm down with my heel. I actually rode that thing like that for 15 miles to go and fish out of town, and back.
The rear tire blew before I made it back to town. I walked that one-legged bandit a good 7 miles home, and still loved it.
Dad snuck it out of the house one night, and I found the used Raleigh standing in it's spot the next morning.
Old School? I don't know. I think perhaps in this identity/ego-driven society that we live in today, a little too much emphasis is placed on definitions.
Maybe we need to get back to expressing our care for each other, like we did when we were kid terrors on our bikes.
I like riding my recently acquired "Old School" ten speed- not for any identity it gives me, but for the sheer feeling of it.
Having the slightly dangerous feel of those cloth taped skinny drop bars in my hands, and knowing what me and the bike are capable of is a feeling like no other, even just easy pedalling around town.
-D.S.