Riv-like Rides in Boy's Life Magazine

[Keith P.]

Maybe pushing it for a post on this forum, but I bet others will get a kick out of these Boy's Life magazine images I came across of some beautiful steel made, rack kit'ed, bikes of the 60's:

Good paint jobs. Good headlines.

k.

[Doug H.]

I had forgotten about Boys Life magazine! Thank you for posting these pages. Riding bikes in regular clothes was all we did when I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s. The surf board carriers in the beach photo is fantastic. 

Doug 

[Dorothy C]

The Goodyear ad could almost be a Clem

[Bob R Kenyon]

Those front two bikes on the cover look like Schwinns to me. I had a 10 speed Continental as a kid and it had those big stainless steel pie plates on it. 

Bob

On Jul 22, 2025, at 06:36, Dorothy C <doroth...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Goodyear ad could almost be a Clem

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[Brian Turner]

Very cool. It left me wanting more of this ride report from Duane and Scout Troop 227!

Brian

Lexington KY

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[ascpgh]

I rode my Motobecane Mirage on trails, paths and streets all over my childhood area north of St. Louis. It was a bike so I rode it and it was after breakfast so I was dressed, in street clothes. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

On Tuesday, July 22, 2025 at 12:32:30 AM UTC-4 Keith P. wrote:

[Russell Duncan]

My Dad helped me rig a canoe hand truck into a trailer rig for my Schwinn clunker 2-speed kick-back in the early seventies. Wish I had photographs. I also rode my late 70s Schwinn Paramount with tubulars off road back in the day, down a trail along a railroad bed in my neighborhood and on USFS roads. I learned to repair tubulars or sew-ups, and I still ride tubulars on a regular basis. Thank goodness for tubular rim tape and sealants. 

Russell Duncan

Connecticut River Valley, Massachusetts
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[Jim Kerrigan]

That’s brought me back to the 60’s when my Boy Scout troop bicycled 70 miles to scout camp. In Texas. In the summer. I rode it on my single speed Rollfast cruiser that probably weighed as much as both of my Rivendells put together. “Ten Speeds” were too exotic for us. Nobody told us it wasn’t supposed to be as much fun as it was. 

[John Dewey]

Indeed! In the late 50s / early 60s we often rode our bikes to and from weekend Boy Scout camping trips. These experiences shaped our lives and prepared us for so many crazy adventures yet to come. 

From age six or so we lived on our bikes. From early morning until lights out. And constantly fiddling with set-up, this is where wrenching began. 

Now all these crazy years later, still at it. Same joy, same attention, nothing has  changed really. Not even the bikes quite truthfully. How much different are the bikes I ride now from that Raleigh Blue Streak that turned my world upside down? (Thankfully got double the gears and grateful for that.) 

Wouldn’t change a thing and would do it all over again

Jock

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[Nick Dabagia]

To add a few decades to that, some of my fondest memories of Scouts in the early aughts are the impromptu and organized rides with my buddies. Similar to you, Jock, have been living on bicycles since I got my first, and forced my dad to ride with me and my brothers every night until the training wheels came off.

THE most important thing for our scout campouts were our bikes, certainly. Some things never change...

Nick

Gothic, CO

4,985 ft A.S.L.

[Craig Montgomery]

To this day, in my touring Dopp kit, I have still my Official Boy Scout mirror du toilette and signaling. Horrible thing. Shiny stainless steel (with bits of rust everywhere). Reflects like the ones in a carnival fun house. But I keep it because I know some day I'm going to crash in the back country and won't be able to get up or out. Then I can gleefully use it to signal the helicopters that come looking for me. At least that's what I've been telling myself for the last 60 years. 

Craig "Sorry Ma'am, no luck" in Tucson

[Chris Jones]

You can read the archive mag here. I would have loved to own one of those Orange Krate Schwinn's when I was a kid

https://books.google.com/books?id=4uXmJMVNScoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Tim Tetrault]

Funny, I just bought my dad a copy from this era as a father's day gift; he was born in '54. I might snag a hard copy off of ebay.

Tim

[Keith Paugh]

Chris, that's where I pulled these images from.

Quite a rabbit hole to fall down. 

Was tempted to buy the hovercraft plans out of the back, all over again.

Really fun to read everyone's Scout Bike memories!

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[Craig Montgomery]

Zowie Keith, thanks for the blast from the past. I probably had that issue having quit Scouts about that time. Wasn't cool in high school. It was thru Boy's Life that I learned and became with enthralled with 3 speed hub gears. I ended up with a JC Higgins from Sears, which was an Austrian made Steyr I believe. Let me tell you I was not cool with my Stingray buddies. But that bike was a gas. You could go some distance. Went camping on it once. Out in the orange groves of Southern California. They were every where back then. I remember riding thru smog so thick it would act like fog (smoke and fog!) wisping all around you. The hindsight of History makes you a wee bit queasy thinking about it, but we didn't know any difference back then. The magazine is thick. They expected you to read back then. What a concept. 

Craig in Tucson