Of all the toys I had as a kid in the 70's, my Big Wheel was far and away my favorite. My friends and I would cruise up and down the sidewalks in our neighborhood on our Big Wheels for hours. I can still remember the cool "KA-LOMP, KA-LOMP" sound the plastic wheels made as they hit the cracks in the sidewalk. Plus the "spin-out brake" was awesome! (The Big Wheel had a competitor, the Hot Cycle, but in my opinion it wasn't as good.) Alas, one of the saddest days of my childhood was the day I finally outgrew my Big Wheel and the plastic frame cracked just underneath the handlebars, and my dad had to haul it off to the dumps. I actually cried, it was almost as if I lost a friend. I was 6 or 7 years old, and even at that young age I felt as if a cool stage of my life had ended. Man, I loved that Big Wheel. Surely I'm not alone here.

awwwww well i didn't have a big wheel :-\\

When I first saw this post I thought it was an odd way of starting a Lynyrd Skynyrd music poll !

You remember...

Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin...

No Skynyrd, just AL-B reliving some early transportation memories. >:(

AL-B, you need some '70s travelin' songs for that, how about

Roll on Down the Highway - BTO
Midnight Rider - GregG Allman
Radar Love - Golden Earring
Autobahn - Kraftwerk
Carefree Highway - Gordon Lightfoot
Britzkrieg Bop - Ramones
Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson (I liked that Gwyneth Paltrow & Huey Lewis remake)
Country Road - James Taylor
Lowrider - War

;)
;D

Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson (I liked that Gwyneth Paltrow & Huey Lewis remake)


I like it too. :) 8) I wonder where I can find a recording of it...
By the way, I've never heard the original (Smokey's version, that is).

Wasn't that "Sweet Home Alabama"? ???


Howard

Wasn't that "Sweet Home Alabama"? ???

Howard


Is the Pope, Catholic? ::)

I don't know where you live, but where I do, I hear that song at least once a week!
To some people its opening guitar solo is the most recognizable song beginning of all time...or at least for a '70s song.

;)
;D

I had one when i was very young. I don't remember much except falling off a few times :\'(

So Big Wheel was another song made by Lynard Skynard?


Howard

So Big Wheel was another song made by Lynard Skynard?


Howard

You're messin' with my mind, right?

Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin...

are the first lines of Sweet Home Alabama.

You're messin' with my mind, right?
;)
;D

You're messin' with my mind, right?

Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin...

are the first lines of Sweet Home Alabama.

You're messin' with my mind, right?
;)
;D






Yeah,I was just messing with you zcrito. ;)



Howard

When I first saw this post I thought it was an odd way of starting a Lynyrd Skynyrd music poll !

You remember...

Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin...

No Skynyrd, just AL-B reliving some early transportation memories. >:(

AL-B, you need some '70s travelin' songs for that, how about

Roll on Down the Highway - BTO
Midnight Rider - GregG Allman
Radar Love - Golden Earring
Autobahn - Kraftwerk
Carefree Highway - Gordon Lightfoot
Britzkrieg Bop - Ramones
Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson (I liked that Gwyneth Paltrow & Huey Lewis remake)
Country Road - James Taylor
Lowrider - War

;)
;D



Actually I have most of those songs in my CD collection. I used to drive a truck cross-country, so I know a thing or two about road trip music. :)

You're not alone. I grew up in Philly and every one I knew at my age had one. I remember racing down the street and locking my legs and skidding out. Doing some wicked turns. AHH, those were good times.

Tim
RATT-n-ROLL 

I started out with a "Little Wheels" which was just a smaller version on the Big Wheel and then I graduated to the Big Wheel with the spin out brake.   

I know this will probably sound nuts but we used to flip them over and pedal the pedals with our hands and play "Ice Cream Man"...I guess we were churning ice cream.  :-\\ LOL!! 

I started out with a "Little Wheels" which was just a smaller version on the Big Wheel and then I graduated to the Big Wheel with the spin out brake.   

I know this will probably sound nuts but we used to flip them over and pedal the pedals with our hands and play "Ice Cream Man"...I guess we were churning ice cream.  :-\\ LOL!! 


You know it's funny, but we used to do that too!

I had one , then  I got a Green Machine and tne Big Wheel went to the shed . You could do better spin outs with the green machine .

I started out with a "Little Wheels" which was just a smaller version on the Big Wheel and then I graduated to the Big Wheel with the spin out brake.   

I know this will probably sound nuts but we used to flip them over and pedal the pedals with our hands and play "Ice Cream Man"...I guess we were churning ice cream.  :-\\ LOL!! 


We used to do that too, with our bicycles! Now that I think of it, WHY?? :-\\

I had one , then  I got a Green Machine and tne Big Wheel went to the shed . You could do better spin outs with the green machine .

Yeah, I had one too, the Green Machine was the upscale version of a Big Wheel. It did cooler spin outs but, man driving/steering one with just the two levers was pretty hairy as a kid.

I remember having more wrecks on that thing then the big wheel...it was kind of a death ride for the more advanced big wheel rider. ;)

South Park did a spoof on the Green Machine (same "fake commercial" as Alabama Man). You die-hard South Parkateers will know what I'm talkin' about.
I used to drive a truck cross-country
Me too.

I was 20 in '76 so I was a little old for Big Wheel but I remember my younger brother wearing 2 or 3 of them out (flat spotting the "tires" with those spins).

I got my first one for xmas when I was abt 1 & 1/2. I just was going through pictures last night & saw it. Funny coincidence. My fav. thing about them was to 'peel out' with it, I would go forward then quickly go backward & forward again, this was the biggest fun when I was younger. Lol, memories are flooding back......

I had one of them too.  I rode that thing until I wore it out.  I used to do the Ice Cream Man thing too!  I guess it was a universal kid thing or something  :D ;D

oh yea? Well MY bigwheel had the spring thing on the wheel that made all the racket when you drove it around.  I too had the spin out bracket and the bare spots on the wheels from all the skidding.

awwwww well i didn't have a big wheel :-\\
Hey...I HAD the red on that was shaped kind of wierd, i think it was called spin out or something, that was THE greatest christmas toy i can remember from my child hood, id love to find one for my daugther! are they still around?

Yay! IceCream Man!!! I KNEW there were other's who did this!!

I googled "IceCream Man BigWheel" and found others!! My fiance thinks I am nuts  :D- but this is all the proof I needed!

Thanks!!
8)

  Heh...

  Ice cream..?  Why didn't I think of that... ???

  I remember the thin plastic wheels wearing thin with repeated skidding on the pavement...

  When the wheels were completely worn, we went back to riding our Tonka dump trucks down the street...

All the kids in the neighborhood had a Big Wheel.  We would ride those things until they fell apart, jump curbs, spin out, anything we could think of.  We also did the ice-cream thing.  :)

Every year, about a few weeks ago, people are encouraged to Bring Your Own Big Wheel to the windiest street of San Francisco.  Not the one you see on the tourist brochures, I'm talking about the street that's windier than that.

3vNI3ElN0mM

Yeah, really.

GkXT1YBhqPM

Footage from BYOBW: 2011, and yes, it's real.

We used to do that too, with our bicycles! Now that I think of it, WHY?? :-\\


We were a liittle different--we used to play School Bus Driver(when the bike was on its side, the pedal resemnbled the handle the driver used to open the door).

Alas, I never had a Big Wheel...*sigh*

I think they're still made, but without the spin-out brake(can't have kids getting hurt, after all  ::))Also, I've heard that the new ones have replaceable front wheels. Back In My Day(TM), once the wheel wore out, you were SOL!

The GREEN MACHINE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygcConBiLV8

WHAT A RIDE!

I never had a big wheel.  I had the Krazy Car:
http://www.feelingretro.com/toys/images/krazy-kar.jpg

I never had a big wheel.  I had the Krazy Car:
http://www.feelingretro.com/toys/images/krazy-kar.jpg

Is that a Schwinn Sting-Ray in your avatar?

Is that a Schwinn Sting-Ray in your avatar?


http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=43818.0




Dan

Is that a Schwinn Sting-Ray in your avatar?


Yep, it's the Orange Krate.  I wanted one of those so bad...I think they finally did away with that shifter because too many kids ended up with that thing in their groin.

I never had a big wheel.  I had the Krazy Car:
http://www.feelingretro.com/toys/images/krazy-kar.jpg



I had a Krazy Kar!!! 

They are selling them again. 
http://www.backtobasicstoys.com/item/productid/2178/txt/Krazy_Kar_Ride-On

Cool, I may have to get one for my nephew.  I used to spin around in that thing until I got sick. Eventually the wheels wore through and cracked in half...

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/4397_9080532146.jpg

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/4397_9080532555.jpg

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/4397_9080532318.jpg

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/4397_9080532205.jpg

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/4397_9080532227.jpg

Big Wheel for adults lol




Dan

How can you even see where you're going?? That's awesome though.

Big Wheels ruled!! I thought I was so badass pulling the brake ...

I had a big wheel in the early 80s when I was in kindergarten, I think that it was a pink and light green.  Those were fun.  I used to ride around the block in Philly.