My Schwinn Tornado
Was watching the Andy Griffith show on TV land and it brought back memories of my Schwinn Tornado. Now that my friends was a bicycle.Rock solid construction.Nothing fancy about it just good solid transportation.Coaster brakes and that was it. I rode many miles on that freedom machine. I cruised the neighborhood checking out the chicks and leaving strips of rubber everywhere. I put the baseball cards in the spokes to sound really cool too ! Once I even taped a transistor radio to the handlebars ! Worked best sitting still though because you were always losing the station.
At this age I wasn't allowed to take my bike to town.That was a three mile ride and on a major highway. Highway was two lanes with a speed limit of 50 and paved with concrete. A real superhighway where I grew up.I can not begin to tell you the abuse this poor bicycle endured. Riding through all weather conditions over all kinds of obstacles and just being thrown down when I was done. Used to yell at my own boys for that. One of my favorite stunts was to ride as fast as possible under a low limb,grab it and let the bike keep going ! My Tornado could handle it !
Later on,when I was about 16 I think ,I got a Spyder Bicycle. They were all the rage then. Banana seat,high rise handlebars,t-bar shifter and the rear tire was a cheater slick ! With five speeds and dual grip handbrakes it was an engineering marvel. This one I could ride to town. And ride to town I did. Now I'm cruising Main Street baby ! It was a sweet ride for sure but just couldn't hold up to the abuse that I handed it. It did not last long before it had problems and was retired.
 |
| Mine was purple ! |
Following this,as is usual,I got my driving license and bicycles no longer entered my mind. I have no idea whatever became of my Schwinn Tornado or Spyder Bike. More than likely hauled off to the landfill.
I did a little looking around on various websites and was amused to discover that both of these machines are vintage. The Schwinn Tornado in good condition is worth about 600 dollars. My Spyder bike would be valued at about 800. Amused and Amazed.
 |
| The Schwinn Tornado ! |
Did you ever ride it in the Memorial Day parade with red, white and blue streamers in the spokes? I loved doing that! Marley's had all the supplies and they were opened in the morning so we could get them! (We had to share because none of us could affor a whole roll of streamers ouselves but if we pooled our coins we were good!)Then we'd all meet at the flagpole and ride along with the marchers along the side of the street. Great memories of a small town childhood...
ReplyDelete