Am I the oldest?

Just so the record is straight i'm still one of those kids ,sort of ,at 42 and a few new members at least the old guys stoped calling me "the kid"!
I paid attention is shop class (back when they taught one)and always had older friends who taught me stuff cuz i listened and practiced what i was taught. Keeping your yap shut is a skill and lots of folks dont teach the kids around them that fact !
Via the old guys they seen it all and back again and will tell you all about it if you listen.

"the prussian" Shop Dogs said:

Just so the record is straight i'm still one of those kids ,sort of ,at 42 and a few new members at least the old guys stoped calling me "the kid"!
I paid attention is shop class (back when they taught one)and always had older friends who taught me stuff cuz i listened and practiced what i was taught. Keeping your yap shut is a skill and lots of folks dont teach the kids around them that fact !
Via the old guys they seen it all and back again and will tell you all about it if you listen.

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Why you're just a lad, barely out of school! Just kidding. As a sometimes observer of our dominate culture here which I think is media and market driven, old people are denigrated, made fun of and generally discounted. Microphones are thrust into the faces of beautiful starlets or handsome 20 year olds and asked seriously what they think about this and that issue of the day. This is assuming in their vast experience that they do think. I have met a number of young people who do not know who our vice president is. What the United Nations is. And I admit I knew a whole lot less at twenty seven (even though I thought I knew everything worth knowing) than another forty years of living has taught me. When we see in movies and television shows how old people are portrayed as opposed to the with it young it is clearly in opposition to traditional cultures who valued the cumulative knowledge and wider perspective of their elders. When I attend an event at one of the local Indian reservations when it is time for the feast the order in which people are served is telling. Elders are served first and children last. And that attitude of respect extends through the culture. In such a setting "wise elder" has meaning. I suspect this is true in other parts of the world among indigenous peoples. It stands to reason that living life should teach us things and those things should continue to inform us as we get older.

Happily on this forum things are invisible and sometimes we do not know (or care) how old or young the speaker is. It doesn't matter. What matters is whether or not they know what they're talking about. I am constantly amazed at the knowledge and skill of many of our members, of all ages. If you weld for a living for forty years there's a good chance you know something about welding. Or retired after owning a small engine repair shop, or turned wrenches for decades and put the kids through school doing it. There's room for all of us here to share back and forth, the young learning from the old and the old learning from the young. What a great forum it is made all the richer by our elders.
SB

Nicely said SB!

Dan

As a group, we're probably the oldest bunch of kids on the internet.

biknut said:

As a group, we're probably the oldest bunch of kids on the internet.

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Me I'm not old... only 47 years young and still a kid at heart many times. Though I will admit that I still can learn a thing or two from those that older years young than me .

Well i still like cranking up the old Whizzer at 79 so i'm right behind you Bill.

Geo.

thimmaker said:

Well i still like cranking up the old Whizzer at 79 so i'm right behind you Bill.


Geo.

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Welcome to the forum, Geo. Got a whizzer, eh? Lucky boy!
SB

I'll be 53 yrs Young this comming Thurs 12-13-12 and everything seems like it just happened yesterday, I was watching an old Peanuts Christmas cartoon and withen a few mins into the show I was 6yrs old again and remembering my first Schwinn Stringray that I got that same Christmas the Peanuts cartoon aired.
Kinda cool having yer Birthday in Dec,like having two Christmas's
Happy Birthday!!!!

truckd said:

I'll be 53 yrs Young this comming Thurs 12-13-12 and everything seems like it just happened yesterday, I was watching an old Peanuts Christmas cartoon and withen a few mins into the show I was 6yrs old again and remembering my first Schwinn Stringray that I got that same Christmas the Peanuts cartoon aired.
Kinda cool having yer Birthday in Dec,like having two Christmas's
Happy Birthday!!!!

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But not so cool if yer birthday comes right after Christmas. Jan 8 for me. I'd get a Christmas gift and it would say " this is for Christmas and your birthday". So the birthday was a non event. Besides everybody was broke and burned out from Christmas. Sniff.
But happy birthday (ya lucky bum).
SB

silverbear said:

Welcome to the forum, Geo. Got a whizzer, eh? Lucky boy!
SB

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Its a 48 J engine on a 1945 Monark that iv'e had since my Dad bought me the bike when it was new. Put the engine on it a few years back
Geo.

thimmaker said:

Its a 48 J engine on a 1945 Monark that iv'e had since my Dad bought me the bike when it was new. Put the engine on it a few years back
Geo.

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Wow,
What a combination. There could not have been many Monarks made in 45. Very few bikes were made for the public in the war years. Post a thread over in the Whizzer section if you haven't already. Love to see pictures...
SB

60 next birthday, and there will be a grand hoolie to celebrate. My friends race motorcycles or play music. And there may just be alcohol involved.

Ludwig II said:

60 next birthday, and there will be a grand hoolie to celebrate. My friends race motorcycles or play music. And there may just be alcohol involved.

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If the alcohol is used in the race bikes, this oughta' get interesting!

No, for performance on track, methanol, off track ethanol.

Ludwig,
I'm thinking for off track a really fine single malt scotch with at least 30 years in the cask and preferably 50 years since one only turns 60 once and a really fine locally crafted beer for the quieter moments.

Everyone else can bring what they like.

Steve.

Happy Birthday! Thanks for the mention, I look forward to seeing what you've built.

64 and looking forward to retirement so I can build some motorbikes.

Amazing, 87 y.o.!

You were 32 when this motorized bicycle was brand new from the stock!




Bicycle Riga-16, with one of the first engines mounted. Made in Riga, Latvia, Soviet Union, 1957.



People, lets ride! Indeed, we are so old, as we feel ourselves.

I love it, how much do these sell for in Latvia?

"In galaxy far, far away", in 1957 Soviet Union its price was appr.150 roubles - twice as middle worker month salary. The cheapest motorized vehicle.

Nowdays - this one was collected by parts, restored carefully, it took me about two years searching parts and appr. USD 800-900 to parts, materials, paint, galvanic coating, decals etc.


It is not "everyday use" stuff, more like showpiece.

Vintage rarities like this cannot be bought on market - those ones, who are interested enough to collect and restore such - are not interested to sell, most of all. I know 4 of similar Riga motorized bicycles in Latvia - one in state museum, one in private museum, one in local motor club, and mine No more.

This one closer, yet without chain: