How many years must pass b4 you’re no longer called a “new member”
- Thread starter White Gas
- Start date
That's a neat snippet of history from your recollection, I enjoyed reading it but can only imagine how it was. I missed the craze but I sort of understand the ride-together group culture in that most every kid had an affordable bicycle growing up and we rode them all the time, so that translates well I think.
All I can say is you kids were SPOILED ROTTEN as minibikes were pretty expensive back then same as now, adjusting for inflation to today's dollars.
All I can say is you kids were SPOILED ROTTEN as minibikes were pretty expensive back then same as now, adjusting for inflation to today's dollars.
I disagree, comparing bicycles to minis is akin to comparing a 50yd dash w/ a marathon. No way you could cover the amount of ground on a bike in a day as you could on a mini. 15mph vs 40mph. I don’t believe there’s a comparison. It’s the reason, as previously mentioned, there were 100+ manufacturers back in the day. They were extremely popular and blew Schwinn, Huffy, and Raleigh away, so much so that the mid 70’s saw real problems for all 3.
And as for the spoiled rotten comment…you gotta’ be kidding. Average bike cost between one or two Benjamin’s. Average blue collar workers wage was around $7.00 hr. It cost dad a half weeks work to buy a bike.
And as for the spoiled rotten comment…you gotta’ be kidding. Average bike cost between one or two Benjamin’s. Average blue collar workers wage was around $7.00 hr. It cost dad a half weeks work to buy a bike.
Disagree all you want but I never tried to make that assertion, dear friend. The mini bike will always win a 50 yard dash (assuming it is operating as intended) in comparison to a bicycle and rider. Maybe you were replying to someone else here or you think I said something I actually didn't say?
Are you talking about bicycles or mini bikes? You seem to be mixing bicycle and mini bike production and sales together. I didn't say they were directly competing with each other (they are two different things in two vastly different price categories) but I suppose it's possible that they were. I am not talking about high end mini bikes and bicycles either, just what was considered affordable by the middle class. I guess I will stand by the spoiled rotten comment and I am not kidding. Mini bikes are expensive now and they were expensive then (see post #26) and you were spoiled to get one for all intents and purposes. I never meant that as a personal insult, by the way.
Inflation exists and provides the basis for all my price claims re: then and now. I'm sorry you don't like it and I didn't mean to trigger you about the current state of civilization and its downfall. We're just having a polite conversation here. Maybe you can take this topic into the Off Topic forum for further discussion?
In any regard, I think you missed my point by a long shot. I was just trying (and apparently failing) to compare the youth group culture, a bunch of kids all doing the same thing, collectively, that you got to experience with mini bikes. Some kids had the fortune (SPOILED! lol) of owning a minibike and some kids just had a plain no frills bicycle, usually a Sears special, maybe a hand-me-down. We rode them everywhere. That's all dead now (and I gloomily lament it) as the youth group culture is video gaming and the current, actual "legal adult" age is somewhere around age 25...or maybe later, an unnatural extension of childhood/adolescence, but I digress....
Are you talking about bicycles or mini bikes? You seem to be mixing bicycle and mini bike production and sales together. I didn't say they were directly competing with each other (they are two different things in two vastly different price categories) but I suppose it's possible that they were. I am not talking about high end mini bikes and bicycles either, just what was considered affordable by the middle class. I guess I will stand by the spoiled rotten comment and I am not kidding. Mini bikes are expensive now and they were expensive then (see post #26) and you were spoiled to get one for all intents and purposes. I never meant that as a personal insult, by the way.
Inflation exists and provides the basis for all my price claims re: then and now. I'm sorry you don't like it and I didn't mean to trigger you about the current state of civilization and its downfall. We're just having a polite conversation here. Maybe you can take this topic into the Off Topic forum for further discussion?
In any regard, I think you missed my point by a long shot. I was just trying (and apparently failing) to compare the youth group culture, a bunch of kids all doing the same thing, collectively, that you got to experience with mini bikes. Some kids had the fortune (SPOILED! lol) of owning a minibike and some kids just had a plain no frills bicycle, usually a Sears special, maybe a hand-me-down. We rode them everywhere. That's all dead now (and I gloomily lament it) as the youth group culture is video gaming and the current, actual "legal adult" age is somewhere around age 25
...or maybe later, an unnatural extension of childhood/adolescence, but I digress....
If mini bikes were only bought for spoiled rotten children; then why were there 100+ manufacturers in the 70’s who damn near put the top 3 bike manufacturers out of biz? If the ambulance chasers had not been on the mini manufacturer’s coat tails; ie liability…minis would still be being produced today and the world would be a better place.
I’m not mixing bicycle and mini bike sales and production together. Do some homework, research the stats of both in the 70’s. The average bike cost of a Benjamin or two comment I made was referring to the cost of a middle of the road mini. To reiterate, I was not a spoiled rotten kid, nor were any of the kids in my neighborhood, or my town, who rode minis. We were just fortunate to have lived at the exact point in time when minis were popular, produced by numerous manufacturers, and everywhere. So popular in fact that there were numerous magazines that ran sales ads and numerous others who laid out blueprints w/ step by step instructions on how to fab your own. We were all middle class kids who had a blue collar father as the only bread winner. Harquebus, let it go already, you weren’t there, you didn’t live it,
I DID.
I DID.