Forty some years ago, during the summers of my sophomore and junior years of high school, I’d ride a bike exactly like this from the time I got up in the morning until Star Trek came on after the 10:00 news. I’d ride every brick and pothole riddled street of my little town or the county roads to a couple of other small communities. Occasionally I would throw it in the back of my car and take it to ride a bike and running trail that led to this very duck pond. And a picture of me riding it through the halls of my school made it into my senior yearbook.
During a city wide cleanup about 30 years ago, I decided it was time to be done with it. I didn't have time to ride it with a young and growing family of three boys, and I couldn't even afford to put tires on it. Looking in my rear view mirror I saw a city worker pull it off the pile I had just put it on at the dump and I immediately felt regret. A few years ago I started checking facebook marketplace and Craigslist for another one. And I acquired two nice old Takaras from the same timeframe as the one I had, and while nice, just not the same.
But a few weeks ago, I found a bike exactly like the one I had in high school. A burgundy Takara 960 Deluxe Touring with all the original parts. I don’t think I will be riding it down any school hallways, but today I test rode it after a complete rebuild to the duck pond I would ride to four decades ago. I almost felt 18 again.
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"It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels." -- Heinz Stücke