cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20900834
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20896812
"Special purpose" is unsettling.
this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024
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Nostalgia
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I thought it was pointing to the seat, which kinda made me chuckle, but then I saw the lone actually goes over the seat and is pointing at the kid's crotch
Not the crotch, the top bar padding which protects that crotch
Loads of boys bikes in the '80s had that padding
The plot thickens!
Wish they were more specific about the Special Purpose.
That shifter is wild
Yeah ... Wtf
Ok.....I remember 10 speed bikes. I DON'T remember a stick shift.
It looks like they took an old friction shifter and made it look like a shift for a car for novelty purposes. I don't recall seeing any either but they probably weren't all that popular.
Found the uncool kids ... don't worry, I never saw the stick shifters either ... so I was uncool too :(
🤓
They were likely trying to give some kind of visual reference and more lever length for a kid to make a friction shift without indexing. There was only a short time when downtube/lever shifters were indexed and it was really only mid tier and up. All the low end stuff was friction only. It is unlikely that most kids grasped when to shift the front versus the back, as this is a 2 × 5 speed. Most kids are doing pretty good if they can remember to brake mostly with the rear to avoid going over the bars.
Braking mostly with the rear brake is not good. Learn proper brake modulation and your front brake will be used much more often since it has a lot more stopping power. You won’t go otb if learn to brake properly and learn body positioning.
Obviously it is more complicated. The first step is simply "don't hard pull the front brake in panic." For a small child, complications beyond "squeeze this and that to stop while maintaining scary balance" is already complicated at first.
I'm a former buyer for a chain of bike shops. You have no idea what I've seen. Kids can be incredibly stupid. They are generally fast learners, and it is easy to forget the earliest learning steps. I'm very familiar with the earliest learning steps. Even adults are not much better in many instances where they never learned to ride a bike. Coordination and understanding of many systems at once is a challenging mental and physical task at first.
Growing up in the 2000s a friend of mine got a bike with fake suspension. It was just plastic coverings on the front forks made to look like springs.
I got a soft spot for stupid gimmicks on childrens products I fell for most of them lmao.
Yeah. I felt the same as a kid, and officially I've grown out of it.
Except, in my heart, I know that if they would sell that kind of thing and more for modern adult bikes...I would be out a lot of money.
I would gladly carry an extra 20 lbs of cheesy plastic on my bike if it looks cool enough.
Not to ignore the funny, because I had a special purpose in the same place.
But the line is supposed to be pointing to the pad on the bar, which has the special purpose of protecting your special purpose.
It's funny in its own way tbh.
Man, ads like this worked SO WELL on me. I was sure having the right stuff would make me extra cool just like the commercials. Pretty messed up when you think about it, those things had a country of little dorks like me sitting around fantasizing about being liked, haha.
But we were kinda poor, and whatever cool toys I did manage to acquire did not make me any cooler, lol. Drugs, on the other hand...
my socks were neon green tyvm
My socks were flouro. I glowed under the UV lights at the skating rink
Dandruff was worse than death under UV
The 10 speeds is important, so that, after being inexpertly assembled by a big box store employee, at least 4 speeds will function!
What is the foam padding on the crossbar for? Is it seriously meant to cushion between the legs if you slip off of the seat?
That's what it was for. But really it was to make boys feel safe from that possible but unlikely falling mode