Lowriders - What is The Attraction?
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I was just a small kid in the late 1960s, when the Tv show The Munsters was on the air in Prime Time Television, young adequate to really feel that Eddie Munster (the werewolf son) was my preferred character on the show. I do not remember him riding the "converted Schwinn Stingray" which was apparently the initial lowrider bike...
The lowrider bike craze sweeping the urban United States is energizing the inventive impulses of young adults, as they express their personalities on comfy bikes.
I was just a little kid in the late 1960s, when the Tv show The Munsters was on the air in Prime Time Tv, young enough to really feel that Eddie Munster (the werewolf son) was my preferred character on the show. I do not don't forget him riding the "converted Schwinn Stingray" which was apparently the very first lowrider bike featured on Tv, and which began the craze for the lowriders during the late 60s and 70s.
I do bear in mind that I wanted to sleep in a bureau drawer as he did - I felt that would be nice and snug!
What I most keep in mind about the show, in the technology department, was the vehicle they drove - the converted hearse. Now that was a vehicle!
Anyway, that is just a bit of historical interest. Most kids right now have by no means even heard of the Munsters - or if they have it really is the remake accomplished in the 1980s which had none of the charm of the original - give me Fred Gwynne, Yvonne DeCarlo and Al Lewis any day of the week!
It wasn't a Television show that brought the lowrider back into favor in the late 1980s, nevertheless, but merely the concerted creativity of men and women in the Chicano neighborhoods of Los Angeles, who began exercising their creativity by tricking out their bikes with chrome, paint, and all sorts of accessories. The hobby caught on and has spread through urban places throughout the United States.
Lowrider bikes are not built for speed - they are built for leisurely rides along the beach (hence the fat tires), or by means of the neighborhood. The riders want to "see and be observed in style."
Lowriders are generally considered to be among the spinning bikes most comfy of bikes. The "apehanger" handlebars extend up so high that riders are perforce forced to sit up straight - minimizing the tension on the back which is 1 of the chief causes of biking discomfort. The tires are cushiony, the seat, whether banana or some other sort, are roomy and comfy. Most of them have only 1 speed and a basic coaster break, so they don't break down that typically.
With the new area age supplies of which bikes are produced, these bikes are not as heavy as you could believe, so if you're thinking of finding a new bike, and like to indulge in schwinn spin bikes your creativity, you could want to think about acquiring a low rider. (Even if you don't want to trick it out, or "pimp it" as the slang goes, it is still a classic "retro" style and a fun ride.)
But if you do want to trick it out (a term I favor to "pimp" frankly, as I would believe that word would have unpleasant connotations) there are a lot of stores, both bricks and mortar and on the web, where you can acquire practically any accessory you can believe of - from gold and chrome mirrors, rims and spokes, to hand-painted murals on the frame, to rows of mirrors on every side, to spinning bicycles a child spare tire mounted on the back!
So verify out your neighborhood store or surf the web, and have some entertaining!