At Christmas 1969, my three older sisters each received a brand-new Schwinn Sting-ray Fair Lady. I didn't realize it at the time, but given our financial situation back then this was a huge concession or donation on someone's part. They were ecstatic, and those bikes got used.

As for me, I received... their old beat-up Hedstrom trike, so I wasn't as enthusiastic about the whole deal. I may or may not have reacted poorly.

Fast forward to entering second grade in the fall of 1970, and receiving my very first bike of my very own. It was not a Schwinn like my sisters', but a brand-new American Machine and Foundry Roadmaster Renegade hi-rise banana-seat 20" bike from FedMart. And it had a boy's frame. Good enough for me! I also rode the heck out of that bike, added reflectors and a raised sissy bar that almost fixed to kill me riding under a playground arch, and in '74 or so rattlecanned and retrofit it as a BMX bike in light of then-current trends. My memory is hazy, but that beloved bike eventually disappeared, replaced by bikes obtained from our elderly next-door neighbor who ran a small bicycle-rebuilding operation and was my primary bike supplier up until I bought my first "real" road bike (a Centurion Super Elite) in the fall of 1980.

So +1 for positive Roadmaster memories. But not the Little 500 kind.