Bike memes #4

Never forget...

It's my opinion that bicycle trick riding began about ten minutes after the first guy learned to ride the first bike, when a cute girl walked by.  Just an educated guess.  This is a circus rider from about 1890, or so.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This was about 100 to 110 years ago.  Look at the size and shape of this loop.  Then think about the fact that the guy was riding a mild steel bike, possibly a fixed gear (but probably not).  There are a few photos of this loop, some are of the guy practicing (note the crash pads), and a couple photos are of this loop set up for a circus or demo.  Seriously, this is Mat Hoffman level crazy for its day. 

Ow.  Yeah, it's completely impossible, too.  But just... OW.

This photo was in the archives all by itself.  I have no idea what the hell he was trying to land on.  But  a huge crowd showed up to watch him figure out that kink was a killer. 

This photo just makes me laugh.  We all know that feeling.  The stoke is real. 

This chimp doesn't seem particularly happy about being dressed up and posed on a bike.  That's where this caption came from.  

As hard as it may be to believe, I was actually factory sponsored for about a year.  Raleigh was a huge company, BMX was a tiny thing to them, but some marketing person came up with this odd, and totally cool, retro ad, while I rode for them.  The two man team of David Morris and me didn't do much as a team, except one photo shoot for Super BMX, and demos at the annual bike trade show in Long Beach.  David did shows up in the northwest, I believe.  I actually did really like the bike, seriously.  It was a double top tube, Torker/Haro freestyler design, with Hutch Trick Star geometry.  But to hit the mass market price point, the down tube was mild steel.  And so were the first handlebars, which I found out the hard way when a pair snapped mid-air, during a bunnyhop.  If the bike had been 100% chromoly, it would have been one of my favorite bikes of the 80's.  But I think I snapped 7 of them in a year. 
 

I think this photo is actually dated 1905 or 1910.  Think about this, it took 100 years AND Morgan Wade, to do this trick again.  This guy was fucking nuts.  Also notice the flat spot in the rim.  

I forgot this one.  OK, now all of my current BMX memes are on this blog.  There are a 3 or 4 memes from my own photos about 2 or 3 posts before these vintage meme posts.  Enjoy... share as needed. 

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