We used to have popular bicycles called pushbikes before, though most people out there would wonder why they are called pushbikes. I guess the most logical reasoning would be the fact that these bikes had to be pushed uphill when you had to negotiate a hill before gears were introduced for bicycles. Today we have mountain bikes, and some of the best mountain bikes out there include Mongoose mountain bikes, which are probably amongst the most popular bicycles in existence today. Mongoose bikes are well-known to be durable and effective, and thus are highly sought-after in today’s world.
In the times before gears were introduced, bicycles were either racing variants or the basic run-around bikes that were popular amongst the younger generation. The bicycles usually had straps on the pedals so that you could keep your foot on the pedal whenever you were riding. Some of them even had baskets fitted at the front or rear of the bicycles that allowed you to carry essentials and go for a picnic trip in the countryside. These bicycles were called choppers, and were extremely popular back then when baskets were part of the bicycle world.
But those were the days when cars were rare, and bicycles were the most popular mode of transportation, both for work and pleasure. There were plenty of bicycle trips back then, but today, suggest a cycling trip to the countryside and you would get a retort that says why not drive instead? Such is the scenario now that driving has become the easiest mode of transportation today, and very little people still do cycle around, unless you live in the countryside.
I guess most of us remember how many times we used to crash our pushbikes and had to take it to the bicycle shop to shape them back into shape. The scenario back then differs completely from what we have today, when we take the mountain bikes to the shop, where there is no more reshaping work, instead a new piece is fitted to the defective area. Some of us back then had the ability and tools to reshape our bicycles ourselves, something that would be extremely foreign in today’s world.
Cycling was also the romantic way of travelling together back then. A lot of couples used to explore the countryside, lakes and reserve forests on bicycles, and a lot of relationships were fostered through the times that were spent on the bike. Today, people would probably laugh at you if you said you were taking your date on a bicycle! Times have changed so much over the last 30 years or so, and although life does seem a lot more convenient today, we are missing some of the more finer aspects of life that were available back then in the 1960s and 1970s.
Well, in 1974, Mongoose bicycles were introduced, with 8 different types of bicycles and over 40 different models were unleashed on the population. And the cycling world was transformed immediately, as pushbikes started losing their popularity to these new bikes that had gears. These modern bikes were capable of taking up the hill simply by changing to a lower gear, and I guess that was the turning point when pushbikes were no longer in fashion. They did exist until a few more years, but eventually everyone saw that mongoose bikes were far more practical, thus today you hardly see a pushbike on the road anymore!
Source by Alex Brandon