My earliest ride

[427TJ]

Yep, I had a Schwinn Scrambler (1975 version of the Sting Ray) when I was 12. I remember my Mom and Dad taking me to El Sobrante Schwinn (CA) to buy it. My Mom was a little put-off by the price tag of $125 but she could see that I was excited and my Dad said okay. Soon, I had swapped on Ashtabula forks, MX handlebars from the local motorcycle shop (Cycle Gear), and real motorcycle handgrips. The Scrambler had beefy spoked wheels stock but I traded for a black five-spoke mag for the front. I kept the banana seat because my paper route bag sat nicely over the seat and I could reach down on the fly and grab papers to throw. Neighbor's dad disassembled it one day after school and painted it a nice shade of Rustoleum red with his spray gun and compressor and we put it back together after dinner. That was a wheelie machine. Alas, it was stolen in late 1976.