Who rode a gas-pipe bike in the 70s?

[Freeman]

I didn't reach cro-mo until 1985

I was lucky, about 1981 I got a Motobecane from a local dealer, the bike was one the dealer's son had ridden a bit so I got it at a discount. It was not a super-special bike but I think it had a Tange butted frame. I got pretty fast with it and would have gotten faster if I knew anything about cycling. I crashed it too in the late 1990s and bent the forks and rear deraulleur hanger, and although I sort of fixed it, I never got the forks straight all the way, so eventually I cut it up with a hacksaw and threw it in a trash barrel in the city park by my house.

 

[ChromeChainstay]

I was lucky, about 1981 I got a Motobecane from a local dealer, the bike was one the dealer's son had ridden a bit so I got it at a discount. It was not a super-special bike but I think it had a Tange butted frame. I got pretty fast with it and would have gotten faster if I knew anything about cycling. I crashed it too in the late 1990s and bent the forks and rear deraulleur hanger, and although I sort of fixed it, I never got the forks straight all the way, so eventually I cut it up with a hacksaw and threw it in a trash barrel in the city park by my house.

sad times, sad times indeed

 

[Nob]

My first road bike was a second hand 1976 Raleigh Europa 5speed which I thought was great but weighed a ton…later converted it to 10speed making it heavier again……

 

[Mkane]

Had a Schwinn Varsity in 69.

 

[ChromeChainstay]

Had a silver Schwinn varsity in Middle School. Itwas a road bike that i also road on the trails near my home. Fond memories

 

[chickendrumsticks]

My first a lady step through complete with basket, shortly followed by Viking Ian Steel in tre tubi 531. As in my avatar.

 

[Freeman]

Had a Schwinn Varsity in 69.

Schwinn may hold a record as having made some of the heaviest drop-bar road bikes in history. I am pretty sure some of theirs were 100% made of steel, even the stem and shift levers. My father had a Schwinn Continental, in fact it is still hanging up in the barn. The poor guy actually ran it in time-trials at one time. I think some of these Schwinn "road" bikes may have weighed close to 40 pounds. And they charged more for them than other heavy USA made drop-bar bikes of the time. Yes, they had better craftsmanship and quality parts and would go forever, but they are anchors. I know where there is a very tall frame Varsity laying in a junk pile right now with badly bent front forks and no front wheel. And about five years ago I pulled a shorter one out of a skip and fixed it up and gave it to a relative who has never ridden it once. They had some beautiful paint on those anchors.

 

[Freeman]

I really want to take issue with your use of the phrase "lower classes", but yours is such a great story that I can't be arsed. For "arsed" read bothered.

In retrospect I should have said "working classes".

 

[Freeman]

My first a lady step through complete with basket, shortly followed by Viking Ian Steel in tre tubi 531. As in my avatar.

When I was five years old, my first two-wheeler was a step-through ladies bike, a hand-me-down that was originally ridden by my mother and her sisters.

 

[Y282]

Pretty much all my stuff is gaspipe.