I had the ugliest bike in Chilliwack

Growing up in Chilliwack..........1943


My first bike...

When I was in my late fives I learned how to ride a bike at the front of our house on South Fletcher St........Mum and Faye took up positions and I was urged to ride from one to the other until I got the hang of it....It was my sister's bike..so no problem with a bar for a little guy....at the start of grade two Dad presented me with a cool red boy's bike...it was used of course..most things were.....that's the way it was done...great.....I gotta bike..but I got trouble ..the bar is to high ..the bike is to big ...but hey.....it is my bike ...it's cool...I will ride underbar....I seen other kids do it...that's ok.......but dad could see that was a bit of a struggle ..so he had a brainstorm...he was a mechanic..he could cut the bar off and move it down 4 inches...wel,l yeh..I guess..so he cut it and braised the bar on lower...and the seat was mounted on the back of the bar...well, it worked...hmm looked a little funny though ...but it worked...ok,.... next day I ride it to school, much to the delight the boys hanging around the bike stand...oh, how they tormented me...I had the ugliest bike in Chilliwack..ha, ha, it didn't even look like a bike...how could I ride that thing...I was devastated..I was embarrassed riding it home...when dad came home I pleaded with him to make it like it was....I can ride under bar...well, he was puzzled.....it worked fine...but after me chirping away at him...he took it to the shop the next day and put everything back where it was........hey, thanks dad......what a relief....I could ride it to school sort off..and not have that terrible humiliation when I rode in to the bike stand area, nothing much was said..my bike did not look goofy anymore...in fact it was kind of cool because it had weld marks on it..like a scarred battle tank .....it was not an event anymore...the problem went away......whew...I rode it underbar for a few weeks and dad traded it off for another but smaller boy's bike..............kids.