Beaver Cleaver's Bikes

10-02-2004, 08:37 AM

"Leave It To Beaver" re-runs are being shown on cable, and I ran into two
episodes about bicycling while channel surfing.

In one episode, Beaver wins a new bike at a movie theatre when he's supposed
to be grounded at home for misbehaving. The bike is "a real English racing
bike" that he eventually donates to charity.

In the other episode, Beaver wants to ride his brand new bike to school with
a couple of friends. His parents think it's too dangerous. His father tries
to dissuade him by pointing out that taking the school bus would be faster
and much more comfortable. They finally give in and let him ride to school.
On the first day, he lets another kid try out his bike which has "hand
brakes, a gear lever to make climbing hills easy, and real racing tires."
The kid takes the bike for a ride "around the block" and never comes back.

What's amusing to me is what was considered a "racing bike" in that era
(circa 1960). Both of the bikes had upright bars, wide saddle, etc.

Art Harris