The other day, and the day before that, I wrote about vintage bike parts that were (and, in some cases, still are) elite, if not sublime.
Now I have to balance it out with the thoroughly ridiculous. Also, I feel an obligation to show that not all crazy, impractical ideas are being conceived and carried out (of what?) today.
Specifically, I am going to write about a totally ridiculous shift lever. Having been a cyclist for four decades, and having worked in bike shops, I've seen some doozies, including ones longer and wider than railroad spikes--mounted on top tubes, no less. (Could that be a cause of the decrease in fertility?) They are in the category of, "They don't make them like that anymore--thank Goddess!"
So is this shifter I found on eBay:
I mean, in what universe is a shifter shaped like that? Or, for that matter, in what reality does one combine it with a speedometer.
I'll tell you what milieu I'm talking about, because I spent part of my childhood in it. It's the decade or so--roughly from the mid-1960s until the mid- or late 1970s--when bikes were designed for boys who, from atop their banana seats and behind their "ape hanger" bars, dreamed of driving "muscle cars" on the Daytona flats.
Said bikes were designed by like-minded boys, some of them in the bodies of 40-something men. And the boys of that time are now the 40-, 50- and even 60-something men who still are driven (pun intended) by such fantasies.
I'll bet that someone like that will buy the shift lever/speedometer I found on eBay. I mean, who else would?
When I was very young--which, believe it or not, I once was--bicycles with small-diameter (usually 20 inches) wheels and "banana" seats were popular.
The models oriented for girls were usually white or pink or lavender and had flowers, rainbows and such painted on them. But the ones for boys sported racing stripes and other things meant to evoke racing.
One example of a girls' bike was the Schwinn Lil' Chik. For boys, Schwinn made the "Krate" series (apple, orange and pea picker) while Raleigh offered the "Chopper".
Schwinn, Raleigh and other companies seem to have stopped making those bikes some time in the late 1970's. If I recall correctly, the Consumer Products Safety Commission published a warning about them, or banned them outright. I also heard that Schwinn, Raleigh and other companies that made such bikes were facing lawsuits from the families of kids who were injured when the bike toppled or, more commonly, when the struts of the banana seat broke.
It seems that nobody was even making those bikes or seats until a few years ago. I don't know whether the government changed its regulations or whether the struts are better-designed or made with stronger materials than the old ones. But, somehow, they are recapturing a part of the market and showing up in what would have been the most unlikely places:
I'm guessing that the banana seat on the back of this Trek hybrid is intended for a passenger. I've ridden bikes with 15 to 25 kilos--about the weight of a young child-- loaded on the rear. However, my loads--which usually consisted of clothing, camping and hiking equipment, notebooks and such--were packed into pannier bags attached to the sides of a rear rack. Weight carried in that position is more stable than the same amount of weight fastened to the top of a rack--or on a banana seat.
I wonder what the safety record is for today's "banana" seats, especially given that increasing numbers of them are being attached to bicycles like the one in the photo.
Yesterday's post turned into a capsule history of the banana seat. I hadn't intended that; somehow, while under the influence of a Dunkin' Donuts dark hot chocolate, my mind drifted in that direction.
I was thinking about banana seats because of a bike I saw yesterday:
It was parked outside the main building of Borough of Manhattan Community College. The school is located, literally, in the shadow of the site of the World Trade Center; for a few years after 9/11, I could only pass through that part of town. However, yesterday, I had business down that way, and spotted the bike--just as its owner showed up to unlock it.
I didn't get much of a chance to talk with her. Her name is Julie, and she's a librarian at the college. I would have loved to ask her whether she bought or received the bike in the state I found it--or whether someone converted it for her.
I know enough to realize that her bike is a Raleigh "Sports" three-speed from the mid-1970's. The particular shade of blue (with a silver panel on the seat tube) was offered around that time, which is when I first began to work in bike shops.
Probably the only more elegant "Sports" models were made in silver-gray. The paint and panels are, I think, tasteful without being overly formal: It's not difficult to imagine students as well as professors--or librarians--riding it.
Like many Raleigh three-speeds ridden by commuters, it has a basket fitted to its handlebar. However, it has another modification that the chaps in Nottingham never envisioned: a banana seat! At first glance, it looks utterly incongruous. However, as most people who ride the Raleigh Sports--or other English three-speeds--want a comfortable ride, and the banana seat is indeed the idea some people (particularly those who ride short distances) have of comfort, there is a certain weird logic to installing one on such a bike.
The rest of the bike's eqipment seems to be original, except for the tires: a white/cream Schwalbe on the front, and a whitewall of some sort on the rear. The white/cream Schwalbes look great on Raleigh three-speeds; I installed them on the last such bike I owned. I guess two white walls wouldn't look bad, either.
I'm guessing that Julie has a bike that suits her purposes, although I would never install a banana seat on a Raliegh Sports (or almost any other bike, for that matter). Anyway, I'm glad she's riding to work.
If you are around my age, you may have ridden a bike with a banana seat. If you didn't, then a friend, neighbor, sibling or classmate did.
They were popular with pre-teens during the 1960's and 1970's. The bikes that were equipped with banana seats seemed to be designed for one of two purposes: doing "wheelies", or emulating motorcycles or race cars.
During the banana seat's heyday, every American bicycle manufacturer offered at least one model equipped with it. Some, like the ones found on Schwinn's Sting Ray series, sported racing stripes, while other bikes--particularly those made for girls--were adorned with colorful, and even wild, flower prints. And, of course the Raleigh Chopper was a "banana" bike.
More than one reason has been given for their disappearance during the 1980's. Some attribute their decline to the rise in BMX bikes. Doing wheelies had become "old hat", so kids wanted to do more original, sophisticated and riskier maneuvers. They found that the tighter geometry and lighter weight--along with the smaller seats--of BMX bikes made their stunts easier, or even possible.
What a lot of people forget, though, is that the Consumer Products Safety Commission set its inspectors loose on various products (and lawyers on the companies that made those products). They took the accidents and product failures that resulted from the most unlikely or egregious examples of misuse to rationalize removing those products from the market, or forcing redesigns of them. In one of the silliest examples of mandated change, the CPSC said that Campagnolo "umbrella" pump clamps could no longer be sold in the US unless the "umbrella" cutout was closed or narrowed. Apparently, someone got his finger caught in one. I never heard about how he managed to do that. So, the importer began to retrofit the clips with a ring inside the "rose window".
And so it was with banana seats. As I understand, the CPSC forced them off the market because the rear braces failed on some of them. The CPSC claimed that the design was inherently unsafe. I'm no engineer, but I would expect the braces to be structurally sound, as long they aren't made of substandard materials and the attaching hardware is properly attached. The real problem, I think, is two or more kids often rode on one seat. Even if the braces are strong enough to carry their weight, I would think they would still incur extra stress as a result of the extra twisting and swaying that would result from having two kids on the seat.
Some kids may have wrecked their banana seats due to carelessness or from doing one too many wheelies or other stunts on their bikes. However, I don't think very many of them could have done so. Plus, kids on BMX bikes are performing even more stressful (to their bikes) stunts than we did back in the day on seats that make most track saddles seem plush, perched atop skinny seat posts.
Lately I've seen a fair number of banana seats for sale. Some are vintage; others seem to be reproductions. I imagine that the latter are made in China or some other foreign country. But I wonder how retailers are able to sell them in the US. The CPSC still exists; I wonder whether it has relaxed or otherwise changed its policies on bicycle parts.
If you are of my or Steve's or Gunnar's generation, you probably remember when bananas were "energy bars." That's what we ate during rides before there were Power Bars, Clif Bars and such.
If you're of our time, you might also remember the movie "Bananas." That came out a couple of years before a Presidential adviser tried to tell people that a dip in economy was a "banana."
But if you're a cyclist of our generation, apart from the association with the original cycling snack, you probably connect the word "banana" with "seat."
From about the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, banana seats were found on a variety of kids' bikes on which kids did "wheelies". I'm thinking of the Schwinn Sting-Ray and Apple, Orange and Lemon Krates as well as the Raleigh Chopper and other bikes.
Those bikes, and seats, had all but disappeared by the early 1980's. There are several explanations as to why. There were rumors circulating (Remember, this was before the Internet!) that there were lawsuits involving people who got hurt when seat struts broke. That seems plausible enough, given that, as often as not, those seats were carrying two kids at a time, and those seats weren't designed for that.
But the more widely-believed reason for the disappearance of banana seats were the rise in popularity of BMX and, later, mountain biking. Smaller seats and lighter frames are better suited to those kinds of cycling, for a variety of reasons.
Also, the kids who rode those bikes simply got older. Some of them moved on to road or mountain biking, but most put bicycling aside altogether once they got their drivers' licences.
I understand that banana seats are enjoying something of a resurgence in popularity. Today I saw one where I wasn't quite expecting it:
Susan says she "loves" the banana seat on the rear of her otherwise utilitarian Giant hybrid bike. I can only imagine what it's like to pedal from back there. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I'd want to. I also don't think I'd want to pull a "wheelie" on that bike!
Anyway...I've seen bananas at the end of Christopher Street--just not banana seats!
