Kenneth Arie

Are there any former newapaper boys out there? How did you attach your bags to your bikes? Did you have special bags or was it a standard carry bag tied to your handlebars? Does anyone have pictures of a front mounted bag on they're bikes.

wahoonc

I had baskets front and rear on my bike and for the times I used a bag it sat on top of the rear baskets. FWIW my bike was a 1972 yellow Schwinn Heavy Duty, the baskets were the Wald 157 on the front and the 535's on the rear.

Aaron

Esteban32696

A LARGE Wald front basket & a shoulder type satchel, that I threw from. Refilled the " throwing satchel " from the basket. Bike was a Sears J.C. Higgins, mid '50' s ballon tire, I think. Papers were 5 cents.

Pompiere

When I was a kid, a lot of the paperboys had Stingray bikes. The common shoulder slung bag was just the right size to hang across the handlebars, so the bottom of the bag hung above the front fender. The strap would go across from handgrip to handgrip and the angle of the bars kept the bag from sliding down.

rhm

Sometimes I used to do my brother's Washington Evening Star route from an old Robin Hood three speed... it was a small route getting smaller, and a newspaper that kept getting thinner, until it went under in the early 70's.

Starting in '78 I had a Washington Post route, but there was no option of using a bike for that. Depending on the day of the week, my canvas shoulder bag weighed between 50 and 150 lbs, occasionally up to 200 lbs (and I was still under 150). Sunday paper was so big I had to deliver half of it on Saturday evening, and Sunday morning might still be a killer. The worst was one of the weekday mornings, though... maybe Thursday morning? The papers were dropped near a house that had a stone wall about two feet high around the front yard, so I'd put my bag on that, then stuff and fold the papers into it until it was full; overflow would be stacked carefully on top. Then I'd put the strap over my shoulder and drag it off the shelf, so all the weight gradually shifted to my shoulder. For the first couple blocks of my route, I walked very slowly.

Even then, people used to ask me why I didn't use a bicycle for my route...

ldmataya 

I started with a shoulder bag which worked during the week but not on Sundays. So I bought a Raleigh 3sp and put baskets on the back.

Homebrew01

Shoulder bag during the week. Shopping cart on Sunday.

sykerocker 

Not a regular newspaper delivery person, I was the backup guy to the fellow who covered our neighborhood. Bike was my Schwinn Mark V Jaguar (nothing like a bling newspaper boy's bike), and my setup was the regular guy's shoulder bag, plus a second bad of papers tied down (no bungee cords back then) to the rear carrier. We're talking early 1960's by the way.

stringbreaker

twin Wald baskets on the back and a front basket. I also carried a regular shoulder satchel to throw from like another poster. Sundays were tough but the weekday I could usually get by with just the shoulder satchel and the front basket. Bike was a Schwinn Tiger

milkcratebasket

I put one bundle in my milkcrate on the back and one in a bag over my shoulder.

sailorbenjamin

Here's a sweety;
https://www.prices4antiques.com/trans...0-D9949961.htm
I just threw the bag over the handlebars of dad's Huffy MTB, one of the first.

I got promoted to a big route about the same time as I got my first Rambler American. Just stuffed the back seat.

sknhgy 

I had a basket up front that clamped to the handlebars and the axle. Once I tried "saddle baskets" which were like panniers but made from metal. They didn't work well because it was difficult to reach back and grab a paper to throw while riding. I would roll up all my papers with rubber bands before going out on my route. With the basket up front I could ride and throw papers onto porches and get done pretty quickly. Maybe that's why it is so easy for me to hit dogs with my Halt spray while I'm riding along.

dck

wahoonc

I used the back baskets just for storage, when the front basket was empty or near empty I would transfer the papers to the front basket. The only reason I carried a bag was to service a couple of apartment complexes, one was actually a small highrise and everybody in the building got a paper everyday! IIRC my route was around 100 papers, they eventually went to car carriers and the subscriptions immediately dropped by over 1/3 on my route because I had mostly elderly folks that didn't want to go hunting for their paper in the trees, bushes or neighbors yard. Some things never should change.

Aaron

Glennfordx4

I bought this Schwinn Speedster from the original owner who bought it new from money he saved delivering news papers in the late 50's early 60's and he used baskets ( the rear one is lost in action).

Grim

Delivered the Detroit News /Free press in the 70's. Used a Schwinn Stingray that became a BMX convert. During the week used a bag over the handle bars. Sunday paper I had a old bike trailer I garbage picked that may dad and I rigged up to pull off the sissy bar. I'll see if I can find a pic.

schwinnderella

I delivered the Chicago tribune and Sun times.I used a large Wald front basket which I bought from the news agency and they deducted over some weeks the cost of it from my pay.I used a bag inside the basket to protect the papers from rain and snow.As i recall i was paid one cent per paper per day.I delivered about 80 papers per day covering about one half of the small town I live in.My bike was a Sears Spaceliner.Unlike today back then kids wanted to have a paper route and I felt lucky to have one.

Rabid Koala

I had a heavy steel rack and a cruiser seat on a beaten up Huffy Rail when I delivered papers. There were hills on my route, the 5 speed gearing was helpful. No pictures, sorry! This was circa 1972.

Guinnessmike

In the 70's I rode a Schwinn Manta Ray with a front rack to keep the bag off the front tire and the paper company SOLD me handlebar horns. You would take your bag and wrap a couple of turns of the strap around the horn and then stretch across to the other horn and wrap that around and then the weight of the bag would keep the paper bag in place. Worked like a charm. Paperboys had to pay for all equipment. Paper bags, rubber bands anything we got from the paper we had to pay for. An early education in overhead LOL. I loved the Manta Ray it was a great bike up until the time one of my customers ran over it. It was ORANGE for God's sake how do you not see this huge bike.

bradtx

KA, In about '63 or '64 I used my Schwinn American with two Wald baskets mounted to the rear fender and axle. I daily delivered about sixty small town newspapers before daylight. The bike wasn't quite heavy duty enough and eventually the rear wheel was rebuilt with heavier duty spokes.

Between delivering in the morning and collecting in the evening my folks ended my newspaper job.

Brad

gna

I used to deliver the Minneapolis Star back in the late '70s. The Star was the afternoon Paper; the Tribune, the morning paper. I delivered the Sunday Tribune, too. I had a cart for Sunday papers, but I remember riding with the shoulder bag on my shoulder, or even with the strap on my head. How I balanced, I don't remember. I had a banana seat, ape hanger single speed bike, and I got a Schwinn Collegiate 5-speed when I was 11 or 12. I had wald double baskets mounted on the rear of that for awhile; I remember loading papers in them.

We couldn't just throw papers on to front steps or porches; we were expected to place the paper between the screen door and storm door, in a mailbox--wherever the customer wanted it. I remember riding up sidewalks, putting the kickstand down, delivering the paper, then riding down the sidewalk to the next house. Faster than walking.

squirtdad

I subbed for friends. when is was bike weather it was a big basket on the front of my coast to coast schwinn clone. In the winter (northern montana) it was canvas paper bags hanging from the shoulder and once in a while for sunday papers a sled.

Little Darwin

No baskets for me, I carried papers in a double canvas sack (front & rear) spinning the sack around when it bacame too unbalanced (i.e. started choking me). On Sundays, I had to make multiple trips, which was OK because the drop-off was near the middle of the route.

My route was over 3 miles end to end, with lots of side streets, so it always took me at least an hour.

I fell asleep once on a long gradual down hill section with no subscribers... fortunately I woke up before road rash became an issue.

fas2c

I had front and rear baskets mounted on a Schwinn too. I carried the evening paper and Wends and Sun were the worst. Sundays were easy 2 trips and during the holidays so were Wendsdays. I think I had at tops about 250 papers.

Growing up on the Chesapeake Bay made it interesting to deliver in the winter as wind gusts were incredible. After getting blown off my bike several times and being forced to ride head-first into gale force winds on ice/snow covered streets would force me to carry in the satchel. Papers were always dropped at route supervisors house for some strange reason forcing me to have to walk forever to pick-up. Did it for 3 years. Worst. Job. Ever. lol

sloar

theres an old man in my town that has a bunch of bikes, he showed me his 1953 western flyer x53 all original that he bought brand new in 53 from the western auto store. theres a big knob on each side of the handlebar by the grips. he told me those were made for paperboys to hang there bags on. very cool.