You know you're getting old when ...

When you got a Raleigh chopper in 1973 and thought you were invincible, but....

"The original Chopper is fondly remembered, though it was not without problems: It was less stable than a conventional bicycle, and trickier to ride. It was slow and heavy, the wide tires creating significant rolling resistance; the Chopper was not suitable for long distances. At moderate speeds it suffered speed wobbles.[11] After several reported accidents, it was attacked in the press as a dangerous toy. The long seat lent itself to giving lifts to others,[12] and accidents were not uncommon. It could perform involuntary wheelies readily, again a frequent cause of accidents. The position of the gear lever could also contribute to injuries sustained in a crash."
 

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4dabush

Likes Dirt
ha...I had a second hand dragster and then got one of these... I reckon about 74/75??? about 3 years later sold it for BMX and never looked back...funny, now i am on full suspension all over again.
WHAT a POS...heavy as...crappy 3 speed grip shift rear hub that lasted about 3months a time before rebuilding. What i do remember is Dad could barely get those 2 rear coils to move, but the forks were awesome. I still have fond memories of riding through G outs in creeks trying to bottom out the tyre on the front fender (mine had a front fender matching the black back one) - used to get there once and a while too.
 

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Big JD

Wheel size expert
my first job in 1976 at age 6 was cleaning the sleaves at the corner store. they paid me $1 and it took around 2 hours. lollies were 5 for a cent so 1 buck would keep you stocked up all week. i would on sell bags of lollies for a tidy profit

my second job was to sweep the veranda of the local pub after school. it took me 30 minutes and I got 5 bucks. then i figured out that if i clear the tables and did table service - the tips were out of control - i was 12. the best customers were bikie gangs - they like kids and have heaps of cash. i then set up a bike wash and racked it in with two other kids working for me. It all went down hill from there -after getting caught running black market porn mags through primary school.
 

c3024446

Likes Bikes and Dirt
my first job in 1976 at age 6 was cleaning the sleaves at the corner store. they paid me $1 and it took around 2 hours. lollies were 5 for a cent so 1 buck would keep you stocked up all week. i would on sell bags of lollies for a tidy profit

my second job was to sweep the veranda of the local pub after school. it took me 30 minutes and I got 5 bucks. then i figured out that if i clear the tables and did table service - the tips were out of control - i was 12. the best customers were bikie gangs - they like kids and have heaps of cash. i then set up a bike wash and racked it in with two other kids working for me. It all went down hill from there -after getting caught running black market porn mags through primary school.
That's awesome! It's a shame kids nowadays could never do any of those things in this current bubblewrap society.
 

casnell

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Now I feel old, dragsters were for young kids, I had a 26" SS...

I remember getting 10c chips, a potato cake for 3c and a steamed dimmy for 5c.

And a Donald Duck X-29 icy pole for 3c for dessert !

And I got threepence for losing my first baby tooth!
 

Norco Maniac

Is back!
I remember when Cobbers were three for two cents and Musk Sticks were five for three cents. Hell, you're old if you remember one and two cent coins, let alone one and two dollar notes. I remember the very first BMX bikes hitting Wollongong in about 1976 and skinny skateboards giving way to the plywood decks with the kick at the rear.
 

mars mtb

Likes Dirt
4 aniseed balls for 1 cent
you could buy actual cigarettes in singles in the same cabinet as lollies for 5 cents
skinny skateboards were branded Condor and you got the from Clarke Rubber
small toys attached to the lids of Big Boy Lemonade
big fatty boomba salad roll with extra onion 20 cents
 

slowmick

38-39"
i got a bit misty eyed in the general store at Forrest on a bike weekend. Shop smells like an old milk bar and they sell loose mixed lollies. Old mate even counts them out with his bare hands. Reliving the 70's dream one big boss cigar at a time.
 

Pebble

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Having had worked as a cleaner cleaning other peoples houses I came to the conclusion that you're definitely old when you start using talcum powder after a shower (or whatever it is old people do with it when they get it all over the bathroom).
Although I did mention it to my Father In Law once and he reckons it's more of a generational thing, so it may not be a 100% accurate definition of old, but I've only come across it's use in either babies or old people! So yeah.
 

rone

Eats Squid
Commodore 64, while the size of a car, was actually a video game console. .

Had the graphics capability of a steel rim though
If he was really old, he'd have known that. And it was a 'personal home computer', not a console.

commodore64.jpeg
 
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pile_driver

Likes Bikes
ah the tape deck, now that was fun waiting for the game to load (that awesome colour changing screen)

The best part was you could also get a disk drive for it (5 1/2 inch) and it took cartridges in the back of it. Le-Mans was awesome with the paddles!!
 

carpetrunner

Likes Dirt
Cassette tape is not old.... paper tape - now that's old

cassette loader - luxury!
... load around 100 instructions by setting 16 switches and pressing the step button, then, as long as you got it right it would run the paper tape reader, then a few yards of paper tape later the 8" (hard sectored) drive would spring into life... then you could load the supervisor program from the disk drive... and then the mighty ASR33 teletype running at 110 bits per second could talk to the mighty computer and you could do stuff like adding two numbers together.

along a similar line; How to boot a Steam Locomotive
 

Big JD

Wheel size expert
Having had worked as a cleaner cleaning other peoples houses I came to the conclusion that you're definitely old when you start using talcum powder after a shower (or whatever it is old people do with it when they get it all over the bathroom).
Although I did mention it to my Father In Law once and he reckons it's more of a generational thing, so it may not be a 100% accurate definition of old, but I've only come across it's use in either babies or old people! So yeah.
it wasnt talcum powder buddy - these oldies are coked to the eye balls and running swingers clubs across the country.
 

mars mtb

Likes Dirt
it wasnt talcum powder buddy - these oldies are coked to the eye balls and running swingers clubs across the country.
Close JD, that is one use as they have two powders, the other is in fact talcum used to find the moist wet spot through the creases of fatty boomba flesh after years of hot dogs and donuts for love making purposes.

Talcum is the old people's KY spot finder.
 

wotsis

Likes Dirt
ah the tape deck, now that was fun waiting for the game to load (that awesome colour changing screen)

The best part was you could also get a disk drive for it (5 1/2 inch) and it took cartridges in the back of it. Le-Mans was awesome with the paddles!!
I have friends who used to own C64s who used to insist that they could tell whether a game was going to load properly by the sounds coming out of the tape. I never tested this as we'd always go out for a swim whilst waiting for a program to load.

Those were the days.
 

Cave Dweller

Eats Squid
I loved my Amstrad 464. I used to happily wait 7 1/2 mins for a tape game to load. Now I get frustrated at only having a 5 meg download speed. How times change......
 
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