Historic Family Bike Pics

My cousin Alison has been scanning family photographs and posting them on her flicker site. We got our grandmother a Ceiva photo receiver that has been really really well received and Alison has been adding the historic family photographs to the mix. It is a great way for my grandmother to get tons of photos from her far flung children and grandchildren. Anyway, a couple of the photos contain my mom as a young'n and her sister and their bikes. These are in the 1946-1950 range.






Click both for bigger images.

See the nice family stationwagon in the second upon clicking.

My mother's recollection is that really really wanted a bike as a little girl, but was unable to have one due to wartime metal restrictions. When the war ended she and her sister got refurbished bikes. She thinks the bikes pictured may have been in 1950 and may have been NEW bikes. I will try to get more info from my grandmother on this interesting family development.

My grandfather was a spectacularly inovative man and creative engineer, but he apparently never had really noticed that modern bikes had derailers until I rode my bike from my house in central jersey to his house in south jersey in the 1990's. I am guessing he only had experience riding cruisers and one speeds in his youth and the cruisers of his kids.