Whenever I see an old bike I can't help but wonder on what sort of life that it might have had.
At one time the bike in the image above would have been brand spanking new...probably sitting in a bike shop somewhere just waiting for someone to come along and purchase it.
It would be just waiting for someone to give it some life.... after all a bike is nothing until it is ridden.
The paintwork would have been gleaming and the chrome would have been sparkling and all shiny and new.
The rubber handle bar grips..the saddle and the tyres would have had that brand new bike smell.
Looking at the bike with it's rod brake levers that would probably have been sometime about the 1950s. So this old bike could have had 60+ years of being ridden along the roads....
That could be many many miles of someone enjoying the pleasure of turning those pedals... and sitting on that saddle and listening to those wheels swooshing along the road....
Now it is being used as an advertising feature outside a shop in the town of Chepstow.....
However with just a little bit of TLC this bike could be restored to a serviceable and rideable condition....
It could still have a good few years of use left in it.
It might not be as quick and smooth as a modern bike and it might not stop as quickly with its old style braking system but it could still do what it was originally intended to do and give someone the pleasure of riding a bike.
I have to admit that I can never understand why a lot of people feel the need to change their bikes every few years when the lifespan of a cared for bike can be many years....
My own bikes are all about ten years old now and each one is still able to give me hours of riding pleasure....
Maybe at some point in the future my bikes could be sitting out front of a shop somewhere being used as an advertising feature and someone else will be wondering what sort of life they have had....how many miles they have done and where they have been...
At one time the bike in the image above would have been brand spanking new...probably sitting in a bike shop somewhere just waiting for someone to come along and purchase it.
It would be just waiting for someone to give it some life.... after all a bike is nothing until it is ridden.
The paintwork would have been gleaming and the chrome would have been sparkling and all shiny and new.
The rubber handle bar grips..the saddle and the tyres would have had that brand new bike smell.
Looking at the bike with it's rod brake levers that would probably have been sometime about the 1950s. So this old bike could have had 60+ years of being ridden along the roads....
That could be many many miles of someone enjoying the pleasure of turning those pedals... and sitting on that saddle and listening to those wheels swooshing along the road....
Now it is being used as an advertising feature outside a shop in the town of Chepstow.....
However with just a little bit of TLC this bike could be restored to a serviceable and rideable condition....
It could still have a good few years of use left in it.
It might not be as quick and smooth as a modern bike and it might not stop as quickly with its old style braking system but it could still do what it was originally intended to do and give someone the pleasure of riding a bike.
I have to admit that I can never understand why a lot of people feel the need to change their bikes every few years when the lifespan of a cared for bike can be many years....
My own bikes are all about ten years old now and each one is still able to give me hours of riding pleasure....
Maybe at some point in the future my bikes could be sitting out front of a shop somewhere being used as an advertising feature and someone else will be wondering what sort of life they have had....how many miles they have done and where they have been...
2 comments:
My first 2 wheeler was an old bike with rod brakes and 24" wheels, which my dad did up. I had that for a few years and it was the bike that really started me off. As a 7 or 8 year old cycling with friends we would ride from Spalding [Lincs] to Boston a round trip of about 30 miles. Cycling in the 50's in rural areas, with very little traffic and Lincolnshire being flat, was great fun.
I too had an old rod brake bike as a kid that my dad made up out of old bike parts.... I rode everywhere on it at the time. It took a morning and an evening paper round plus a Saturday job delivering repaired shoes for a local cobbler over a three year period before I had saved enough to buy myself a more modern and up to date bike.... A bit different to today's ask for it and you get it society lol.
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