1950's Bicycle Photo

[MattTuck]

For those of you looking for bicycle art, figured I'd share this with you.

You can buy a print of this from North Light Editions in White River Junction, VT. (http://www.northlighteditions.com/)

http://www.northlighteditions.com/artistInfo/biggest/Northlight-Editions_256.jpg

Pricing is on the steep side, but it's a nice looking print, IMO. I just saw one in real life, probably the 30x40 version, and it is something I wouldn't mind hanging in my home or office.

[killacks]

I get lost in old photographs like that, imagining what life was like back then.

Very cool.

[Earl Gray]

..imagining what life was like back then.

Very cool.

...that compared to today, for most folks it pretty much sucked.

[toosahn]

Haha, key word is "most"

[Louis]

...that compared to today, for most folks it pretty much sucked.

I'm not so sure about that. Granted, the "good ol' days" aren't quite as idyllic as folks make them out to be, but I don't think the 50's were that bad compared to today. Europe was still recovering from WWII, but the US economy was just cranking up. It's not obvious how to objectively measure super-general stuff like overall happiness over time, but I wouldn't say that for most folks "it pretty much sucked." (I'm talking about our reference frame, i.e. Europe and North America in the 50's. All bets are off for places like India, Africa and China, where I agree, it sucked, and in many ways still does.)

Sixty years from now, I wonder what folks will say about our times?

[Fixed]

Music
Jazz ruled
classical piano ruled
The arts ruled
Better maybe
For some things
Cheers IMHO

[rustychain]

Read up on the history of our sport my friends. Some of those old guys were hard. Real six day races, a racing schedule that few today could muster. While the 50's in the US were "not so much" fact is your typical cat 3/4 rider is no great shakes today. No disrespect but just sayin that not much has really changed. How many of todays riders could hang with Major Taylor???

[chwupper]

Looks like two of the guys (front and 3rd rider) are wearing proto "helmets." That's kind of surprising to me. Any of you guys know when helmets like that actually came into being?

[fiamme red]

Looks like two of the guys (front and 3rd rider) are wearing proto "helmets." That's kind of surprising to me. Any of you guys know when helmets like that actually came into being?They're leather hairnet helmets. They had already been around for a number of years. Here's a photo of Coppi from 1940:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10703870@N06/5211012756/

[Jaq]

They're leather hairnet helmets. They had already been around for a number of years. Here's a photo of Coppi from 1940:

Oh, man. Check out the bike-stand in the photo next to Coppi.

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4110/5211014954_84e17cfe38.jpg

[benb]

I'm not so sure about that. Granted, the "good ol' days" aren't quite as idyllic as folks make them out to be, but I don't think the 50's were that bad compared to today. Europe was still recovering from WWII, but the US economy was just cranking up. It's not obvious how to objectively measure super-general stuff like overall happiness over time, but I wouldn't say that for most folks "it pretty much sucked." (I'm talking about our reference frame, i.e. Europe and North America in the 50's. All bets are off for places like India, Africa and China, where I agree, it sucked, and in many ways still does.)

Sixty years from now, I wonder what folks will say about our times?

Polio, Measles, Hib, etc.. all still prevalent, no vaccines for many of them yet..

Everyone smoked like a chimney, pollution was worse. Chemicals everywhere. (we are probably paying for it now)

Health care sucked. Life expectancy much lower. Lots less quality of life in later years.

Not nearly as much rights & freedom for women & minorities.

Cold war fears. Duck and Cover. Korean War.

Yah it ruled.

Seems like you pretty much gotta be an old rich white man to be nostalgic about the 50s.

[fiamme red]

Polio, Measles, Hib, etc.. all still prevalent, no vaccines for many of them yet..

Everyone smoked like a chimney, pollution was worse. Chemicals everywhere. (we are probably paying for it now)

Health care sucked. Life expectancy much lower. Lots less quality of life in later years.

Not nearly as much rights & freedom for women & minorities.

Cold war fears. Duck and Cover. Korean War.

Yah it ruled.

Seems like you pretty much gotta be an old rich white man to be nostalgic about the 50s.Hmmm. Sounds very much like 2012, except the cigarette smoking and polio vaccination. Just substitute "Islamic terrorism" for "Cold War" and Iraq/Afghanistan for Korea. :rolleyes:

Most people are nostalgic for the time when they were young and carefree. You don't have to be rich to have nostalgia.

[killacks]

Didn't mean to be overly romantic about the good ol days.

I just meant that whatever highs, lows, and in-betweens that are documented in the photo, real or imagined, are interesting to me.

[redir]

I love old pics like that too. I clicked on the website but I really don't see too much there???

So either the guy on the front is leading out a huge attack or they really didn't draft in those days :D

[MattTuck]

yeah, the website is not very good. If you click on samples, and then scroll down, you can find this one. They are a small shop, I don't know if they have any other cycling specific ones. This one came from a photographer's collection, who had been traveling through France.

[Louis]

Seems like you pretty much gotta be an old rich white man to be nostalgic about the 50s.

Nothing specific to the 50's about this statement. It's just as true today as it was back then.

[killacks]

Shorpy (http://www.shorpy.com/)

A pretty cool site for images. They're usually not directly related to cycling, but worth a look.

[rwsaunders]

I called my parents to get their personal perspective regarding the 50's.

Early 50's...my Dad was humping a field radio as a Marine rifleman in Korea. He concurs that this was not a good time.

Mid-50's...my parents were newlyweds, starting a family and taking advantage of the GI Bill to better both their educational and financial status in life. In their opinion, hard work during this phase of their lives paid dividends down the road.

Late 50's...a bit of financial turmoil in the world, Cold War in high gear, babies everywhere. The pace at which their lives were moving was really starting to ramp up. They were nervous about another world war and the economy. Again, they put their heads down, worked hard and moved on with their lives.

Other than that, they both offered their opinion that life was simpler then.

[christian]

Nice photo. The TA peeking in on the right does a nice job of anchoring place and era.

[Polyglot]

Oh, man. Check out the bike-stand in the photo next to Coppi.

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4110/5211014954_84e17cfe38.jpg

I have a friend in Italy who has replicated these stands. He was getting something like 120 euro each.

[Merlmabase]

Babies everywhere.

[redir]

Babies everywhere.

And now there are zombies every where.. go figure.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9OH6fcEcHeQ/S34NGXo4WXI/AAAAAAAAAS0/KmNEkwN7QrI/s640/zombie_wallpaper1.png