livedarklions

Just saw this 1963 bike safety film on TCM, and it's so weird it needs to be seen to be believed. A joyful romp through the carnage of several kids in monkey masks:


I'm putting this in General instead of A&S because I think there's a lot of interesting stuff about the bikes they're riding, especially the handlebars and brake handle placements.

Seriously, if I'd seen this as a kid, I never would've listened to an adult again on the subject of bicycling.

PickleRick

HA!!....actually ran across this video about 10-12years ago. Someone had put Boards of Canada (a Scottish techno-ambient band) music to it. Very surreal.
-Shared it with my nieces and nephews who were in their tweens at the time - it freaked them out. None of them ride bikes now, don't know if the vid had anything to do with it.

One Got Fat to Boards of Canada Everything You Do Is A Balloon

101stairborne

God that sucks at so many levels.
I am 72 years and we got a good dose of this type moralizing back in the 1950’s.

rumrunn6

re: 5:53

I did see a woman fly straight up once. when I was a kid, some friends & I were riding bikes down a hill & one of them, waaay ahead of the rest of us, I forget if he was on the sidewalk or what, but he struck a woman & from way far back I could see her fly straight up. I don't remember what happened after that. if I turned off on another street or what. think I was in 6th grade. I don't remember who the friends were, just kids in the neighborhood I think

TheDudeIsHere

I was born in 1963 so I didn't start riding till 1967 at 4 years old.

I saw the hub cleaner strap on one of the bikes. Wow, in 1976, I thought that was something new. Guess I was behind the times with my POS bike.

livedarklions

Is that what that was? Were dirty hubs a real thing?

dmark 

They had a reflector hanging on them. I still have one in a parts box in the garage.
PS: Found both; I have to remember to resize before upload.

TheDudeIsHere

Yup! I remember I had a blue metallic with white stripes and the reflector. I had the worst POJ bike on the block but the shiniest hubs!

Yeah hub shiners, you can have an old used beat up one for only $1750 today!

I-Like-To-Bike

They were on the S-A 3 speed hubs that had an oil filler hole drilled into the hub. Over filling was common (especially since they hardly needed more than a few drops every decade or so), and the excess would eventually leak onto and coat the outside of the hub with a thin film of whatever oil was being used with an attraction for road dirt that would stick like flypaper.

I-Like-To-Bike

My German City Bike( now semi-retired after 20 years of road salt wear) came with a hub shiner wrapped around the Sachs Torpedo hub in 1999, but not the hi-tech leather type with a reflector available from E-bay for $17.50. It still serves its intended purpose.

02Giant 

That video explains a lot.

TheDudeIsHere

Holy cow Man!

My bike is a 1997 still with Shimano 600 hubs and components, 21 years old. Still riding on a regular basis. Remind me not to move into your neighborhood WITH OR WITHOUT HUB SHINERS!

Still 1997 components other than the rear derailleur, it's only 15 years old.

I-Like-To-Bike

I'm not complaining, this bike which cost 268 DM new (about $135), has over 50,000 miles on it, almost all from 10 years of all weather year round service of daily 22 mile R/T commuting as well as weekend chores. Almost no OCD-type TLC care, just get on and ride every day, oil the chain every now and then, and replace tires when worn out; wash it down with all natural rain showers in the spring and summer. The frame is pretty beat up and I use it now for going to sporting events like minor league baseball and high school football games, and other places where it will be left for several hours where rowdy people might congregate. My experience has been that I hardly ever see anyone park "pretty" bikes outside where they will be left unattended for very long.

TheDudeIsHere

Oh, all you had to say was, " I use it like The Dude's truck!".

I-Like-To-Bike

I concur that it is easier to maintain a bike's prettiness by using it for regular riding when the weather is dry, temperature is above freezing so that it can be frequently washed, and the roads are free of snow, rain, road salt and grit and mixtures of the same, and to use an alternate choice of transportation whenever the conditions are less favorable for keeping the bike clean.

livedarklions

Keeps me pretty too!