This is same one I had except mine had those mini fenders, and of course the generator light and a speedometer. BTW, nothing wrong with being ancient! Proud to be born in 1952!
Boy, what a fantastic childhood memory this thread brings up. Had this bike @1964. 3 speed. Santa brought it. (My tail light generator was mounted on rear)
Mine was mounted on the front wheel. I never had a problem with wear. If I remember correctly, the one I had was adjusable as far as alignment. BTW, I used to live on my bike. I went everywhere with it.
I remember those lights. I also remember that the way the generator rode/ground on the sidewall offended my young engineering sensibilities. I don’t know how I worked that out; I guess I probably saw a bike fitted with one with obvious sidewall wear.
I also remember being horrified by how much resistance they added. That was enough to put me off.
When I got a bit older, maybe junior high or highs school, I wanted one of the bottom bracket based dynos (it looks like they were made by Sanyo and Soubitez), but not quite enough to buy one. At about the same time, I got a touring bike that had internal wiring for one.
I didn’t actually get a bike light until I was in college. My parents sprung for what must have been an expensive ($50-100 at the time) rechargeable one as a christmas present. It had a housing like a standard bike headlamp, but rather than mounting on the bike, it had a bracket that allowed quick installation and removal from a helmet. The NiCd battery pack was dipped in black Pasti-Dip and connected to a lead from the light using RCA connectors. It was impressively bright for the time. Unfortunately, I think I only had it for a year before managing to loose the battery pack. By then the company might already have been out of business (maybe it was on clearance when my parents bought it). I looked into building a new pack, but the cost of the cells was probably about the same as two weeks of groceries.
I haven’t ridden my bike in years, though I did make some progress in refurbishing it over the last couple years. I still need to install the new brake cables I bought, and get new tires. Once it’s operational, it’s going to be lit up like all get-out!
In my house there is one, but it belonged to my grandfather, around 1930; a new piece that never replaced; It’s from the Alumag, I think French. I was about to throw it away many times knowing that I would never use it, but stayed with us; in the end they are memories
I rode bikes since I was about 5 years old up until I was 40 in 1997. The reason I stopped was my mother, who meant everything to me, passed away. I was in a bad way for the longest time. I just never got back into it. Back in the 90’s, I was a kick ass mountain biker. I was in the best shape of my life.
Thanks to this thread, I’m thinking about getting back into it. Here’s a picture of me around 1995 at a race somewhere in New Jersey.
Oh yeah, I forgot to meantion I came in 3rd place out of 100 racers.
That's the bike I had and I was the only one around my block that customized it with a banana seat, sissy bars and ape hangers. Most everyone else had the smaller wheeled ones with the sissy bars, but my one with the larger wheels would speed by them every time.
Good pic, you looked in shape back then. Getting back into bikes is fun. Mountain bikes and motorbikes are a great way to take in nature. I live on the foot of a mountain so within minutes I can get away from everything by riding to top at 7,000 feet.
They were pretty popular with the older guy’s… some would have to wheel some miles to see their chicks! Me and my brother got a couple Solex motor bikes, mopeds, 9th grade, we traveled from Fraser to Detroit on the weekends to see our chicks and to go fishing at the foot of Alter road, Angel Park at the Detroit River! Leave Friday after school come home late Sunday evening, it was a wonder we didn’t get killed! Had some close calls….
I remember them but never had a set on my bike. I tried a friend’s and didn’t care for the amount of drag those old dynamos added. The amout of light they put out was pitiful.
I had a 2 cell battery light from the local bike store.
Later I had a smallish gel-cell lead acid battery on a luggage rack hacked into a reflector light with a 6V bulb. It was heavy.