Hmmmmm- This sure takes me back. I get my news off the radio and internet these days which is probably why I never see enterpreneurial young boys building character with a sackful of newspapers over their shoulder. I had a 60- customer route for the Greenwich (CT) Times back in '72-75 and I had just gotten my sky blue Schwinn Varsity. At first I wasn't aware of what a cool and powerfu; tool I had between my legs, but I did know that it beat walking. Then I got a stick caught in the rear wheel and broke a few spokes. I took it to the shop where I bought it and they wanted $12 to fix it. TWELVE BUCKS?!?!?! A lousy paperboy can't afford those absurd prices. So I hiked myself down to the library and checked out all the books on bicycling and repair I could get my hands on. I bought or borrowed the necessary tools, even a freewheeel-taker-offer. I was more often than not sitting in the middle of the garage floor with a pie tin of gasoline and a toothbrush and tools and parts strewn widely. I soon learned the limitations of a Varsity so I set a goal of getting a "real bike" someday. I am sure my initial investment was more than $12, but I parlayed that into a career of sorts. Between delivering papers and college and careers as carpenter, short order cook, antiques restorer and shipbuilder I could always fall back on working in a local bicycle shop. That paper route was the beginning of my character building.