Originally Posted by Sawtooth
I am somewhat addicted to the beater bike and have always ejoyed each bike. Although I own both very nice mountain and road bikes, I find myself more likely to ride the beaters I have of each variety. There is something immensly satisfying about being able to outride your buddies on their high end bikes while having fun on your thrift store beater. It is not about the bike.
That being said, there was a point in my life (I was 9) when my cousin got a new Huffy bmx bike that was white with red pads and red mag wheels. He thought he was all that on that bike. That bike made me briefly dislike my no-name bannana seat bike that had a cub scouts hankerchief design on the seat and paint scheme. I made it through those times and ultimately got my own nicer bmx. No question about which of the two bikes I wish I still had around now, however. That cub scout bike would be an awesome thing to have in the garage.
Come to think if it, though. Those bikes in the 70's and 80's were, indeed, quite kid unfriendly. They had miniature cranks and were harder than heck to get up to speed. Jumping a bananna seat bike was akin to a death wish, although we all did it
.
For the life of me, what were bicycle makers when they made those 40-50 pound behemoths for kids? Were they attempting to scare kids to not attempt bicycling and use a car? At least these days if people buy a child's bike from a LBS and not from a department store, the bike sold will be of very good construction and can be resold or given to family assuming its not too badly hurt when the kid tries his attempts at freeriding.