Popular Vintage Bicycles: 1940s

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about what bicycles were important in different eras. 1940s...1930s and 40s was the era of the balloon tire bicycle. And here we have one. This is a 37. Bikes back then, people looked at them like motorcycles. And later on I'll talk about motorcycle companies making bicycles over the years. But you'll notice some outstanding things. For example this tank, they call this a tank. They put these on these bikes to make it look like a motorcycle gas tank. It serves almost no purpose although there is a horn in this tank. There's a button on the other side. So it does serve a little purpose but it’s mostly just for style. Think of today’s bicycles. Everybody makes you know, they take off the kick stands, they take off chain guards, fenders; everybody wants a bicycle that's as light as possible. These bikes in the 30s, 40s and up to the mid 50s were heavy, big huge steal fenders, big fat balloon tires. Things like this; this is called a train headlight. Things like this headlight, that thing weighs five pounds by itself. These are truss rods, all steal. But these bikes were ridden on dirt roads and bumpy roads and you needed the big fat balloon tires."