In 1960, my folks got me what we now call a single speed bike with a coaster brake. It was a birthday present, it came from the local western auto. Felt like they had given me wings, wings of wheels. I could go all over town, to school with complete freedom. To go somewhere, at the time, one either walked or rode their bike. Parents did not schlep the kids everywhere, we had one car - my father would ride with a couple of other guys to work. My mother, worked for the phone company in afternoon/evening - she usually took the car to work. In 1971, replaced my western auto bike with a Schwinn Surburban. It was a 1X5, because we lived in a pretty hilly area - the bike shop had replaced the standard 45 t chainring with a 39 t, think the cassette was 14 to 32- seems it cost around $90. Color was green. The Schwinn was such an improvement over my first bike- rode it through university, grad school and on into life. Didn't think of the so called 70's bike "boom" as any sort of boom, a bike was how I got around - have been primarily a commuting/utility cyclist most of my cycling life.