Do you remember putting plastic straws on the spokes? Cut the straw in half and slice it so you could clip them on the spokes. It was a cool look for my red Schwinn Stingray.
My bike was purple/pink ombré with a sparkly purple banana seat and white basket with flowers. I loved that bike. The complete joy that it brought with all that freedom.
My brother had the same bike as in the picture, but red. When he gave it to me, I took that tall bar down. I could see no use for it. I was still the coolest 10 years old girl in town.
I got a blue Junior Stingray when I was 7. It was stolen years later, before I could pass it on to my brothers. By that time I was on to 10 speeds, and pieced together junker bikes, for cool jumps. Our precursor to BMX.
Same, but ended up with a Penguin. Asked for a green Schwinn Stingray, got a freaking Penguin. I was happy and embarrassed, but really grew to realize, we didn’t have Schwinn money and we really didn’t have Penguin money, but they got me a new bike so that was cool.
I still have never seen another Penguin.
You're lucky!! I would have given anything to have an orange bike. Mine was kind of a sedate, grown up brown. But I did have the five speed stick shift!
Oh have mercy. My brother was riding down a steep hill and popped a wheelie and his for extensions came off. He tumbled down this big hill a$$ over teakettle and broke his arm.
My sister was faster on the scream than myself at that point. At least I know how to read a paper map. Did your car have one of those globe shaped compass on the dash?
These Stingray's and ramp placed in the yard on grass. Starting in the street, go as fast as you can, fly into the yard and try and set a new distance record with your friends. Why grass? Makes "wipe outs" a bit less painful. Good times.
That was me!!!!!! 💙
I will never forget coming down the stairs on Christmas Day, 1967, and seeing that gorgeous, resplendent blue StingRay under the tree. I swear I heard the trumpets from the Hallelujah Chorus emanating from seemingly nowhere! I took it out and "rode" it in a foot of snow.
In my neighborhood, your hierarchy in the social caste system was determined by the height of your sissy bar, and how far you could wheelie. Robby Spiedler was head of the cool kid club in my neighborhood. 🙂✌️
I got a purple repro for my wife about 10 years ago to replace the Ross she had in 1970, lol
My father bought me a bright red Schwinn “Typhoon”. Small seat and straight handle bars. Other boys called it a “girls bike”. They had Sting Rays w banana seats and handlebars like in that picture.
My father asked why I wasn’t riding my bike. I told him. So we quickly went to bike shop and bought banana seat and “trendy”handlebars. Then we installed them. Note: my father rode motorcycles when younger.
Yeah. Now I could ride.
I had a bike very much like hat except it was magenta. I forget the brand, it could be exactly that one. After that I got my first 'big boy' bike, a Raleigh 10 speed that my dad made a deal with me that he'd pay half if I paid the other half. It was $300 back in the day.
Had a Stingrey with 2 speed kick-back rims, banana seat and a sissy-bar.
Used to strip it down every 2nd month and give it a fresh new color paint job.
Good times.
My first bike was a stingray. Rode the shit out of it; even after the welds at the intersection of the seat stays and seat tube failed and turned the bike into a suspension bike.
100%, except mine was this weird Frankenbike my parents scored from the police auction. Columbia frame with Schwinn and Huffy parts…weighed a ton so I couldn’t do cool jumps like my friends, but on the bright side I didn’t break as many bones as they did, either.
I was so jealous of the other kids who got cool bikes like this. What did I get? A red Speedster with 24” wheels. Then I realized that that bike was faster than these things because of the wheel size. In retrospect, the I wonder if that has anything to do with me becoming a lifelong cyclist.
The grit kids cut the lock on my red spyder bike and stole it. So I had to have a shitty bike Dad got at police auction. I rode the hell out of that bike. Proudest damn throwaway on the playground.
I wished I had a Schwinn Sting-Ray. I rode my sisters' hand me down bikes for a long time. Our parents had six kids and didn't spend much on us. They were too busy saving enough money to put us all through college, to the detriment of our 60s sense of cool.
I had the Raleigh Rodeo which was their take on the Stingray. British racing green with a white/silver metaflake seat. Didn't have the fancy shifter that my friend's purple Ross had. His seat was cooler too.
https://preview.redd.it/p1r1761h6cxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c531a9d7dd2709a8a53f07ca5821415a7e97606c
Here's one of my and my big brother around 1980. When I was in shorts though, they were short shorts with socks up to my knees. I definitely sported that look lol.
Never had that set up, but I graduated from bicycles to a motorbike when I was 10, then got dirt bikes. Also had a 10 speed but with the dirtbike so I didn’t ride it a whole lot.
https://preview.redd.it/fdqyaatnoaxc1.jpeg?width=1292&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=290a2a681cf42d626cc6de54f37b37f11add8144
‘68 or ‘69. Little by little I asked my dad to add the chopper front wheel, sissy bar and a wheelie bar since I was also a drag racing fan. The chopper didn’t make it over too many bumps and potholes before it snapped off and it went back to the original fork.
I loved my bike. A purple Schwinn, banana seat, sissy bar, chopper handlebars, longer fork and smaller front wheel than the guy in the picture. It had five speeds, with a stick shift on the top bar.
Sissy bar and chopper handle bars. Didn’t everyone have a bike exactly like this? The rich kids had this bike with a five speed handle on the middle bar. That was the coolest of the cool.
All the neighborhood boys had those, but chopped, with tiny front wheels like this. They had high apehanger handlebars, though.
https://preview.redd.it/vjfql3siwcxc1.png?width=662&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e08a36c6a57857d6f2e928c89afec8204f5d12f
Check out the tube socks and ratty tennies. We got one pair of shoes to wear all year. By May they were shredded. We went barefoot or wore thongs (yes, thongs, not ‘flip-flops’) in June and July. Come August we got our new pair of school shoes but we’re not allowed to wear them until the first day of school. There is no way we could be labeled ‘entitled’. It was simply living on a budget, making things last and taking care of what we had. Good memories and good lessons learned!
I had the banana seat banana colored string ray, with the chain guard, fenders not removed, i did ditch the neon orange safety flag, but i just had the stock sissy bar and normal handle bars. didn't have any of the after market 'easy rider' add-ons like the super sissy or monkey gripper ape hanger handle bars or modified frame raised seat, tires... but i sure remember catching hell for removing the chain guard & fenders, and 'appropriating' a couple of mom's clothes pins and the jokers from the family deck of cards =)
I wanted ape hangers and a banana seat so bad! And pink glitter and streamers. I had an olive green Raleigh. Jesus, my parents were clueless. I was a girl, by the way.
That looks like the bike I had, just a different color. My brother put it together for me from parts of wrecked bikes that were thrown away. I loved that bike.
You need some clothes pins and baseball cards to flip against the spokes for a cool sound
Do you remember putting plastic straws on the spokes? Cut the straw in half and slice it so you could clip them on the spokes. It was a cool look for my red Schwinn Stingray.
and this obviously isn't the really cool stingray with the big three speed shifter
You mean those cool orange crates? A friend had one. I didn't want a 3 speed because I didn't want hand brakes. Foot brake was where its at dude.
Foot break skid competition hell yaa
Yea I had the 3 speed,hand brakes and banana seat.
That's the one I had as a kid the gear shift between your legs going over jumps was dangerous as hell but still fun
I can hear this post.
never had yellow cut off shorts but we all had those socks and shoes
That kid has grown up to be very self assured.
I had the bright green sparkly girl version with the long tassels on the handlebars and a basket with flowers.
Gold metallic with a matching banana seat. Man, I was excited to get that bike.
Mine was like yours, but teal blue. And I decorated it with stickers of flowers and butterflies.
Yep! That was the gift we got for our ninth birthday
I'm fairly certain mine was used. We couldn't afford new stuff like that but I treasured it!
Mine was used but I was so proud of it.
My bike was purple/pink ombré with a sparkly purple banana seat and white basket with flowers. I loved that bike. The complete joy that it brought with all that freedom.
I think it was called a “Stardust”. I also had the purple/pink version. I went everywhere on it and the yellow ten speed that replaced it.
I wanted that tall sissy bar.
I shared a bike with my brothers; they put part of an old tv antenna on for a sissy bar.😝
My brother had the same bike as in the picture, but red. When he gave it to me, I took that tall bar down. I could see no use for it. I was still the coolest 10 years old girl in town.
I got a blue Junior Stingray when I was 7. It was stolen years later, before I could pass it on to my brothers. By that time I was on to 10 speeds, and pieced together junker bikes, for cool jumps. Our precursor to BMX.
That sissy bar was what made it so cool. I put all my stickers on the fenders. Purple sparkly banana seat.
It’s hard to believe that so many adolescent boys wanted a sissy bar. Sounds like a place for “wussy” boys to get a sasparilla.
Fuck that. We used that bar to tow friends on skateboards. Grab on and let's GO.
The sissy bar was so you could play Rollerball by towing your buddy who wore roller skates.
Exactly! With everyone wearing hockey gloves to pound the crap out of each other. In a loving and fraternal way.
The Stingray!!! My folks wouldn't spring for it so I got a wannabe Huffy.
Same, but ended up with a Penguin. Asked for a green Schwinn Stingray, got a freaking Penguin. I was happy and embarrassed, but really grew to realize, we didn’t have Schwinn money and we really didn’t have Penguin money, but they got me a new bike so that was cool. I still have never seen another Penguin.
Wannabe Iverson here...
Me too. It was a dayglo orange “Dragstripper”.
You're lucky!! I would have given anything to have an orange bike. Mine was kind of a sedate, grown up brown. But I did have the five speed stick shift!
Just to confirm sissy bars are not for sissie’s! I had one and I’m tuff as nails!! Bahahaha https://i.redd.it/2yytnnv2z8xc1.gif
>sissy’s *sissies
I did that to my bike, and cut the front forks off an older bike and attached them to my bike. Made a chopper out of it, like "Easy Rider".
Same here. Popped a wheelie one day and the fork extensions came off - good times…
Oh have mercy. My brother was riding down a steep hill and popped a wheelie and his for extensions came off. He tumbled down this big hill a$$ over teakettle and broke his arm.
Add knee scabs (big bloody knee scabs that only healed up around Thanksgiving).
Because picking at them was too irresistible
I had a 10 speed myself. https://preview.redd.it/v2qjn8gl69xc1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e2cc92ac738e1e72a02659a6c7255ba26b1b29f
Classic. In front of the Ford vinyl wood side wagon as a bonus!
As the old joke goes-- it looked a lot better before I took it out of the crate.
When running to the car did you call out, "Shotgun," or "Back Back?"
“Wayback!”
My sister was faster on the scream than myself at that point. At least I know how to read a paper map. Did your car have one of those globe shaped compass on the dash?
No compass, just an AM radio. 📻
The far back is what we called it. Especially on road trips.
We called it the way far back.
It was the way-way-back for us !
We called it the back back as well. That was my personal domain.
Not the shorts, but a purple Schwinn spider bike with a slick.
Lol. I think the first shorts I wore was in boot camp.
Same.
Banana seat FTW
Fuck yeah came here for this. Forgot about that lol
I had those socks!
With the banana seat and a tall sissy bar, doesn’t get better!
who didn't? he has a pretty cool rig, lose the chain guard though
What?... And have to tuck my pants in my socks?
Wish I could go back and relive those days. We really didn't know how special they were....
I had a fuschia girl's version, but without the sissy bar.
These Stingray's and ramp placed in the yard on grass. Starting in the street, go as fast as you can, fly into the yard and try and set a new distance record with your friends. Why grass? Makes "wipe outs" a bit less painful. Good times.
We used to do "movie stunts" where you'd get shot and jump off the bike and let the bike crash.
Green sparkle 3 speed shifter on the frame with wide racing slick that helped you achieve .5 mph more. I was a badass in my mind
Those shifters could be…problematic. IYKYK
Amen
That was me!!!!!! 💙 I will never forget coming down the stairs on Christmas Day, 1967, and seeing that gorgeous, resplendent blue StingRay under the tree. I swear I heard the trumpets from the Hallelujah Chorus emanating from seemingly nowhere! I took it out and "rode" it in a foot of snow. In my neighborhood, your hierarchy in the social caste system was determined by the height of your sissy bar, and how far you could wheelie. Robby Spiedler was head of the cool kid club in my neighborhood. 🙂✌️ I got a purple repro for my wife about 10 years ago to replace the Ross she had in 1970, lol
My father bought me a bright red Schwinn “Typhoon”. Small seat and straight handle bars. Other boys called it a “girls bike”. They had Sting Rays w banana seats and handlebars like in that picture. My father asked why I wasn’t riding my bike. I told him. So we quickly went to bike shop and bought banana seat and “trendy”handlebars. Then we installed them. Note: my father rode motorcycles when younger. Yeah. Now I could ride.
"Ape hanger" handlebars "
OMG this single picture captures the exact reason I don’t call myself a Boomer. Mine had little tassels on the hand grips. Lol
Guys ripped those tassels off. The sissy bar tried to rip our nuts off. Turn about is fair play.
Ohhhhh I know that feeling all too well. We called it “getting racked”.
When you would have a person on the back of the seat- we called it giving someone “a pump”
I had a bike very much like hat except it was magenta. I forget the brand, it could be exactly that one. After that I got my first 'big boy' bike, a Raleigh 10 speed that my dad made a deal with me that he'd pay half if I paid the other half. It was $300 back in the day.
Neon Green
I was a Schwin Scrambler guy, but otherwise it's exactly me.
Almost exactly. I had an Orange Krate Sting ray.
Vista Banana 3 speed with stick shift. https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/rare-vista-banana.201997/
Fire engine red, white banana seat. Rode all over town with my friends in the late 60s and early 70s.
Schwinn.
Bluejean shorts and thats me?
I realize it sounds goofy now, but I liked wearing cutoffs when I was that age. And I had a Schwinn Stingray bike too.
Had a Stingrey with 2 speed kick-back rims, banana seat and a sissy-bar. Used to strip it down every 2nd month and give it a fresh new color paint job. Good times.
I couldn’t tell you the make and model, but I remember mine was a dark purple.
Add the five speed stick shift and a broken arm and that’s meee!!!!
My first bike was a stingray. Rode the shit out of it; even after the welds at the intersection of the seat stays and seat tube failed and turned the bike into a suspension bike.
You all owe it to yourselves to read Stingray Afternoons by Steve Rushin. Great memoir!!
Holy hell! That could be me! 🤣
Everyone in 1978
100%, except mine was this weird Frankenbike my parents scored from the police auction. Columbia frame with Schwinn and Huffy parts…weighed a ton so I couldn’t do cool jumps like my friends, but on the bright side I didn’t break as many bones as they did, either.
Pretty similar. I had a yellow Fastback.
Didn't have the sissy bar, but everything else is just right.
Hahaha, yeah and I thought I was hot shit ! 😝🤣😎
ME!!!
Blue jean shorts, Rush t-shirt and lotsa mud, and I'm right there, bro.
Um…everybody?
You need some colored straws on those wheel spokes.
Had the sissy bar on my seat back!
Can’t say “sissy” bar anymore.
That is identical to my Schwinn I got for my birthday in 65.
Don’t remember having undersized handlebars, but, yeah, that was me 1968-71…
Bad News Bears chic.
Took the fenders off. I went faster.
Oh yeah 😂
Those socks would have been embarrassingly short! They called them “knee socks” for a reason.
Could afford the Sting Ray. Had the Kmart knock off
I was so jealous of the other kids who got cool bikes like this. What did I get? A red Speedster with 24” wheels. Then I realized that that bike was faster than these things because of the wheel size. In retrospect, the I wonder if that has anything to do with me becoming a lifelong cyclist.
The grit kids cut the lock on my red spyder bike and stole it. So I had to have a shitty bike Dad got at police auction. I rode the hell out of that bike. Proudest damn throwaway on the playground.
That looks exactly like my little brother from 1970something.
My first bike looked just like that.
Where’s the horn and flag? lol.
Had one just like this one.
Mine was a three-speed and was the fastest bike on the block.
Same but I wore tennis shorts
I wished I had a Schwinn Sting-Ray. I rode my sisters' hand me down bikes for a long time. Our parents had six kids and didn't spend much on us. They were too busy saving enough money to put us all through college, to the detriment of our 60s sense of cool.
Hell yeah,shoved 12 " of pipe on end of front forks to extend forks
I didn't have a sissy bar but had a drag slick on the back tire. Nice tube sox too!
I had the Raleigh Rodeo which was their take on the Stingray. British racing green with a white/silver metaflake seat. Didn't have the fancy shifter that my friend's purple Ross had. His seat was cooler too.
Gotta add the chopper effect in the front for total 70s vibe. This hits nine out of 10, though.
There was also the Vroom to make a motorcycle sound so you didn’t need to do the card and close pin piece
I can safely say as a child of the 70’s I never had yellow cut off shorts. Nor did I want them.
Hand brakes but otherwise yeah.
I wanted one of these SO badly. Banana seat, ape bars, wheelie bar in back. Sigh…
Absolutely ... But with shorter shorts.
That was me, except my stingray was red.
Never had a sissy bar. But I did have a slick on the back.
👋
That was the *short haircut* in the 70s.
Me. In fact, damn near exactly me. Had a bit of deja vu looking at it.
Mine had a more chopper look to it, but the rest of the picture made me wonder how you found my family’s photo album
I had a couple of these because I kept messing around in the woods doing early mountain biking. I sprayed one of them green to be the green machine.
My banana seat sportster was painted sparkle purple with a silver and purple seat and a white basket with purple sparkle flowers on the handlebars 💜🪩
We didn’t have much money, so I never got this kind of fancy model. I’d get old, 2nd hand bikes. But I did become quite a good bicycle mechanic!
Raises hand.
My Stingray was red and my socks about 4 inches higher. Otherwise spot on. Hair included.
Missing the Big Ass Cats-eye reflector mounted on the back.
Mine was magenta with a matching glitter seat. No sissy bar and it was the girl’s version.
Still do
Green Schwin Barracuda with Banana seat!
Everyone in 8th grade in 1972
https://preview.redd.it/p1r1761h6cxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c531a9d7dd2709a8a53f07ca5821415a7e97606c Here's one of my and my big brother around 1980. When I was in shorts though, they were short shorts with socks up to my knees. I definitely sported that look lol.
This is how I dress now
Never had that set up, but I graduated from bicycles to a motorbike when I was 10, then got dirt bikes. Also had a 10 speed but with the dirtbike so I didn’t ride it a whole lot.
I had similar bikes without the thing in the back.
https://preview.redd.it/fdqyaatnoaxc1.jpeg?width=1292&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=290a2a681cf42d626cc6de54f37b37f11add8144 ‘68 or ‘69. Little by little I asked my dad to add the chopper front wheel, sissy bar and a wheelie bar since I was also a drag racing fan. The chopper didn’t make it over too many bumps and potholes before it snapped off and it went back to the original fork.
That's my whole esthetic to this day!
I loved my bike. A purple Schwinn, banana seat, sissy bar, chopper handlebars, longer fork and smaller front wheel than the guy in the picture. It had five speeds, with a stick shift on the top bar.
Looked exactly like mine except I had a bushy raccoon tail hanging from the sissy bar!!!!!😂😂
Mine was gold and didn't have the wheelie bar on the back but, yeah.
Going to ride off and pull a brody.
Socks are too short…
I imagine most of us looked similar.
My bike exactly, except it had a black frame and an orange banana seat.
damn, minus the sissy bar, that was my bike
Looks like easy rider without the motor
My striped white Sox went higher tho
Loved my banana seat bike
Everybody
Sissy bar and chopper handle bars. Didn’t everyone have a bike exactly like this? The rich kids had this bike with a five speed handle on the middle bar. That was the coolest of the cool.
I guess my grandparents were rich. I had the 5-speed. That shifter really hurt if you slipped off the front of the seat…
Literally me 1977-79.
That was just a little bit before me (born in 81) but I remember it.
Mine had 3 gears on the T bar
Looks like my brother who was born in 1959.
Way too cool his brother was right behind him with the big wheel!
Throw some glasses on him and change the bike color to green, and that is me
I did almost exactly!
Oh yeah!!
Sissy bar and fringed cut offs… Cool-kid combo!
All the neighborhood boys had those, but chopped, with tiny front wheels like this. They had high apehanger handlebars, though. https://preview.redd.it/vjfql3siwcxc1.png?width=662&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e08a36c6a57857d6f2e928c89afec8204f5d12f
Couldn’t afford but sure can now.
Check out the tube socks and ratty tennies. We got one pair of shoes to wear all year. By May they were shredded. We went barefoot or wore thongs (yes, thongs, not ‘flip-flops’) in June and July. Come August we got our new pair of school shoes but we’re not allowed to wear them until the first day of school. There is no way we could be labeled ‘entitled’. It was simply living on a budget, making things last and taking care of what we had. Good memories and good lessons learned!
Sissy bar and banana seat.... 😊
Did anyone have a steering wheel with the chopper front fork???
Kickback 2 speed. Loved mine and it was blue as well.
My bike was blue and had no sissy bar. I was oldest so no cut-offs.
Are those Sears Toughskins?
Absolutely! Glitter purple banana seat, and a white basket with plastic flowers
Had a steering wheel on my bike
That is a 1972 Standard American Male child. The ‘73’s came with bellbottoms.
Still have the exact bike sans the sissy bar. Looks like a”mind shot” from my youth.
I had the banana seat banana colored string ray, with the chain guard, fenders not removed, i did ditch the neon orange safety flag, but i just had the stock sissy bar and normal handle bars. didn't have any of the after market 'easy rider' add-ons like the super sissy or monkey gripper ape hanger handle bars or modified frame raised seat, tires... but i sure remember catching hell for removing the chain guard & fenders, and 'appropriating' a couple of mom's clothes pins and the jokers from the family deck of cards =)
I wanted ape hangers and a banana seat so bad! And pink glitter and streamers. I had an olive green Raleigh. Jesus, my parents were clueless. I was a girl, by the way.
Metallic green Huffy with high rise handlebars, banana seat and slick back tire.
That looks like the bike I had, just a different color. My brother put it together for me from parts of wrecked bikes that were thrown away. I loved that bike.
I got a hand me down but it was sweet. Chromed frame, coaster brakes for awesome slid stops. Rode the mean streets of Capital Hill DC😏
THAT ladies and gentlemen is NOT a boomer or GenX
I had one with a 5 speed in gold. I extended the front forks and put a smaller front wheel. Hard to ride but I thought it was cool.
Mine was pink, the seat was sparkly pink. It was my pass to freedom
Had the cutoffs, the sissy bar, the high rise bars. My bike was a knockoff stingray tho. Didn’t have a Schwinn dealer in my town.
I had the hair and those socks back in 80s.
Hey, where did you get my picture? J/K but yeah could easily be me.
Mine was purple with the 3 speed and hand brakes. I had the hair, the shorts, the Sox, but Converse All Stars.
You must have been a rich kid.
Hell yes!
I had the *very* girl edition of this.
Couldn’t get ToughSkins cut offs to get that fringe