One Christmas, I (or one of my brothers--or my brothers and I) got a Spirograph set.
If you're of a certain age, you might remember it.
A set consisted of interlocking wheels, bars and gears and pens. Using them resulted in some interesting shapes, patterns and designs--if, at times, inintentionally.
One of us came up with a design that looked something like this:
For years, I thought the rose windows in the great cathedrals of Europe were drawn with a toy my brothers and I fought over.
We came up with other designs that looked like various wheeled vehicles:
I wonder whether any bicycle builders drew their inspiration from one of our favorite childhood toys.
P.S. Last year, Hasbro, the company that made the original Spirograph, made a new drawing kit with the same name. Sadly,that is about the only thing it and the original have in common.
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.
In the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar, Madonna recounts, among other things, some terrifying experiences as a 20-year-old native of Rochester, Michigan living in New York.
OK, I'll admit it: She's one of my heroines. If I could have been born female, I would want to be like her. Whatever you think of her singing, her "material girl" persona, love life or study of the Kabalah, you have to say this for her: She follows the beat of her own drummer. She's daring and, at times, courageous in ways I never could have been.
Anyway, I also know she's done some cycling over the years. Here she is preparing for a ride in Malibu in 1989:
And, more recently--this past August, in fact--she was seen pedaling with her adopted daughter on la Cote d'Azur:
Somehow it doesn't surprise me. After all, she and I are the same age, and we both come from similar milieux. I continued to ride my bike as my peers abandoned theirs the day they got their drivers' licenses. And she was, well, Madonna. Neither of us could help but to be who we are; both of us ride bicycles.
