Roaring Wheels

I always enjoyed bikes and got my first one when I was about eight. It was a purple fixer upper 20 inch with a standard seat and straight handle bars. I saved some my money and ordered from the Sears catalog a leopard print banana seat with a sissy bar and butterfly handle bars. I thought it was pretty cool.
The four younger neighbor boys across the street then one upped me that Christmas by getting the Schwinn Krate bikes. They were the Apple, Orange, Lemon and Lime Krate bikes with bright metal flake colors. Those bikes also had a chrome springer front fork with a small tire that gave them that easy rider look.

Mark got a bike too and we formed the Roaring Wheels Bike Club. We rode around the dairies acting like we were a pack of Hell’s Angles. There were miles of dirt roads to ride on and we covered them all. We put playing cards attached with clothes pins into the spokes to make that motor sound. It was fun! There were competitions to see who could make the longest skid, the longest jump, the curviest brodie and ride the longest wheelie. I was never too good at the wheelie, but the jumping got me interested in motor cycles.