Do you remember the Wonder Years television series? I loved that show because Kevin Arnold, the lead character, was basically the same age that I had been growing up in the early and mid 70s. I always liked it when they showed Kevin, Winnie, and Paul riding their bicycles through their neighborhood. It made me remember riding my bike around the small village I grew up in. I was usually riding with my closest friend, Jenelle, who lived next door. Those were carefree days, growing up in a village of only about 300 people where everyone knew everyone else and always watched out for the few kids who lived in town. We could often be seen riding around from the park to the church (where we rode our bikes in Evil Knievel style down the stairs) to the grocery store to the school and then to the park. When we moved to a larger city in 1974, I then spent many summer days riding my bike around town with my guy friends.

My parents bought my first bicycle in about 1970. And, might I add, it was a very 1970s bicycle. It was from Sears. We bought a lot from Sears back then. For young families, Sears was the WalMart of today. They sold just about everything. Of course, I don’t remember when they sold house kits but you could certainly buy your kitchen sink from them back then. And bicycles. They had lots of bikes, all carrying the Sears name, sitting in racks back near the automotive department.

My first bike was beautiful. It was a 20” bike, “stingray” style, painted purple and complete with a metallic purple banana seat. Evan tells me that today purple is a “girl’s color.” I am not sure that was the case back then. At least I hope it wasn’t because it was the color I really, really wanted. Perhaps I was more eclectic back then than I now realize. I don’t think I have ever again seen a purple bike. I used to wash and wax it regularly, even before I figured out how to ride the darned thing. I wish I still had it today because I suspect it would be quite the collector’s item but I sold it when I got my next bike.

My parents also bought my next bike and that was in about 1976. It was a used bike from about 1972 and it was one of the most unusual bikes I have ever seen. It was a Schwinn Stingray, painted green and with the high raised handlebars. It came with a green metallic banana seat which didn’t seem to be anatomically correct for my male body so I replaced it with a standard-shaped seat. It was what I would call a “grandma” seat today but no one made fun of it back in 1976. It was sort of a tan color and really didn’t look good on the bike. Anyway, the most distinguishing feature of this bike was that it was a five speed and the shifter was located on the center bar, sticking up and looking much like the gear shift in a car. It was incredibly unique. Again, maybe I was more eclectic than I realize.

I bought my next bike and I traded the green Stingray in on it. This was in 1978 and I used money that I had earned babysitting one entire summer. Actually, I was more like these peoples’ slave but that is a story for another day. Let it suffice to say that I kept care of their kids, did the laundry, cleaned the house, and fixed lunch and dinner for them. I believe the bike cost about $175 less about $15 they gave me for the trade-in. That was a whole lot of money for a bike back in 1978 – pretty much my entire summer’s earnings.

It was a Schwinn Traveler III. Most kids were riding the entry-level Schwinn Varsity 10-speed but my bright red baby was about three steps above the Varsity. It was still just a 10 speed which was state-of-the-art back then. I don’t think I ever used more than 2 or 3 gears anyway. In comparison to the Varsity, it had a better Shimano shifting mechanism and center pull brakes rather than side pull brakes. I still have it and it’s not in bad shape for 28 years old. It has some rust on the rims which happened when I had to store it outside during college and the couple of years Lisa and I lived in an apartment. These days, it sits in the garage. I pull my car in next to it every evening and have to be careful to not knock it over when I get out of the car. It pretty much just takes up space. Every spring I pump up the tires and usually take it for a quick spin but then I never ride it after that. It looks pretty old fashioned today but not enough so to have any collector value.

Remember the unique green 5-speed that I traded in on it though? It is worth about $400 – $500 today. Wow. I should have hung onto that. I will never have that bike again but, if Wonder Years reruns ever come on the television, I sure will be reminded of that bike and the happy carefree days of my youth as a child of the 70s.