Generation Gap
 

I pull up in front of my shop today with my Super Sport on the roof rack of the '96 Saturn station wagon. I walk in the door and my 24-year old employee says, "Riding today?," to which I respond with a verbal listing of the stuff I have to do, while still trying to get my bike ride in... hence the reason why I'm riding around with a bike on my car roof... and I take care to point out that the bike I'm hauling is a '73 Schwinn. He is not impressed.

"My brother works in a bike shop," he says to me, "and he can get the employee discount. But, even with the discount, the bike I want costs $1500".

"Mine was $75," I say. I decide to not tell him that I spent another $75 on it to have the hubs and BB rebuilt, 2 new tubes/tires and a new saddle.

I had a young man shout something at me this morning as I flew by him on my Nishiki Prestige...I thought I heard "Go faster"...

I was in a road construction area, and was paying more attention to the passing cars than the young man. He ran up to me to catch me at the stoplight, and said "That's a really cool old bike. I'll bet it goes really fast, with those skinny tyres, and it's got neat handlebars, too". I laughed and told him that this was a great old bike, and that he should try to find one for himself when he was a bit older.

I would guess he was perhaps 12 or 13 years old. If I see him again, I will ask him perhaps if he'd like one to ride.

East Hill

I road my Paramout to my LBS (nice guys) to pick up some tire liners for another project and one of the new employees (about 20) asked if my bike "was made of steel and didn't I think it was kind of heavy?":p

I tend to get many comments when riding my drop bar skinny tire bike these days. Most everyone rides mountain bikes, knobby tires and all on the street.

Don

My 13 year old daughter rides a 78 Trek and loves it

Yes, I think that's what inspired the young man's comments. I wonder if he's ever been close to a bike which was not either BMX or MTB.

That's why I think if I ever see him again I will ask him if he'd like to try riding it (I was on my way home from work, and he must have been on his way to school). He really was most taken with my bike :) .

East Hill

I've ended up just the opposite. What looks "weird" to many younger people about old bikes looks normal to me. A bicycle without mudguards/fenders just doesn't look right to me, for example. An English 3 speed looks quite like a nice bicycle to me, but mine seem to draw some puzzled looks on the trails as to what kind of bike it is. I've ridden old bikes all of my life- I started with a '62 Higgins middleweight and moved up from there, so I guess it's a matter of what you're used to. The new, fancy bikes in the bike shops look alien to me though, especially their special wheels.


Don't even get me started about mechanics on this- I've had a bad experience the past few weeks. I wanted my 3 speed hub cleaned and overhauled at a local shop. They said they don't even open those hubs up anymore. The guy said they just throw on a whole new wheel and dispose of the old one. That wasn't an option for me. I eventually worked up the courage to open the thing up myself and do the work. The help I got on this forum (and the helpful member [NLerner] who sent me some parts in the mail) proved to be great. I ended up fixing it myself with no experience in 3 speed overhauls before.

I also took an old ballooner wheel set to a shop up in CT when I was on vacation. Well during the week the oldest mechanic they had quit (30s I think) and all they had left were kids about 16-20. When they finally got to my wheels they promptly broke the first spoke they tried to adjust (those old spokes need more care than adjusting the new stainless ones of course) and said they just couldn't do the work. The wheels are now sitting in the garage under cover, still awaiting repair.

Great story, SirMike. Did you catch Sean Connery riding a well-preserved old Raleigh roadster in the movie, "Finding Forrester"?

On a recent tire purchasing trip to a local shop, I was surprised that the 20-something mechanic showed alot more interest in my Capo than his 40-something boss. This kid knew his stuff and immediately spotted the Brooks Pro saddle, the Ofmega hubset, the Campagnolo derailleurs, the KoolStop brake pads, and the CyclArt paint sticker.