The first luxury item you bought?

[gsganzer]

Small world, my first good bike was a Fuji. I also rode it to work which I bet was a similar distance, about 8 miles.

Same here. A Fuji Royale 12 speed. It got me through part of junior high, high school and college. In fact, I only recently (like 2 years ago, got rid of it). It was kept in my parents' basement all these years in MA. When I was up there moving my mom to TX, I packed the bike too. It sat in my shop here in TX for probably an 10 additional years.

Then one day, I heard one of my mom's caregivers lamenting about her son's bike getting stolen and she was having to drive him to/from school and band practice as she saved up some money to buy him a new one. I hauled my old bike to a local bike shop to have new tires and all the things checked and gave it to him. You never saw a kid with such a beaming smile!!

 

[dodge man]

My Fuji was a Special Road Racer, 10 speed. When I bought my e bike the bike shop owner said Fuji still makes bikes.

 

[gsganzer]

When I brought my Fuji to the bike shop to get checked out, they commented about how good of a bike it was for it's day. Chrome moly frame, alloy rims and good quality components.

There's no telling how many miles I put on that bike. When I was in high school, I did a 200 mile ride through the White Mountains in NH with full camping gear. We'd do 50 miles/day. I remember skinny dipping one night in a little mountain stream with a gal I met at one of the campgrounds. Man, was that water cold!

 

[gsganzer]

When I brought my Fuji to the bike shop to get checked out, they commented about how good of a bike it was for it's day. Chrome moly frame, alloy rims and good quality components.

There's no telling how many miles I put on that bike. When I was in high school, I did a 200 mile ride through the White Mountains in NH with full camping gear. We'd do 50 miles/day. I remember skinny dipping one night in a little mountain stream with a gal I met at one of the campgrounds. Man, was that water cold!

 

[Camofurever1]

"I remember skinny dipping one night in a little mountain stream with a gal I met at one of the campgrounds. Man, was that water cold!"

Nah, you can't bait us with that story and not tell the rest of it........even if it turned into a George Costanza event......

​

 

[gsganzer]

Nah, you can't bait us with that story and not tell the rest of it........

If I remember correctly, she was from California and had the whole "valley girl" vibe. She was very attractive. You know when you were teenagers and some girls just matured and filled out more than the other girls? That was her. She filled out a bathing suit beautifully. She filled out nakedness even better! Probably a good thing for me that the water was so cold.

 

[gsganzer]

I just remembered, that her dad drove around the campsite and caught us in the stream. I grabbed my shoes and clothes and took off running. Unfortunately, I ran right through some wild blackberries barefoot. My tent mate had to pick all the thorns out of my feet, so I could bicycle the next day.
That made me chuckle remembering that.

I also remember we had a kid "Wally" that was with us. Wally was sort of special needs, but not entirely. Wally had this old Sear's bike that must have weighed 2x what the rest of our bikes weighed and always got hung up when shifting, throwing chains and such. I think everything Wally had was old school and weighed a ton. But Wally was always out front, even on the steepest hills.