this green machine and i appropriately had an almost identical one in blue called the blue max. we wore through the wheels. skidding and sliding all over the place. we would tie a jump rope to a bike that our fiends would pedal hold on, go fast and spin 360's.
i was probably seven and my bro was about ten... we spent all summer outdoors.
just going crazy the streets, creeks, tree's and the pocketable candy at the 7-11
all got tested. hope kids still do that kinda shit.
22 comments:
Some of the best times I had as a kid in the summer months were sitting atop my green machine bombing the huge hill in front of my parents house.
Good Times...
I've hardly broken into my 20's and I've started to notice how much kids aren't allowed to be kids anymore. I rarely see kids runnin around creating havok, they're all stuck beside they're parents who are holdin the sterilizer making sure they don't get dirty at all. I hate seeing kids that can't go out build rope swings, dirtjumps, and sketchy Dr seus style skate ramps. I know I did all those things when I was little, and theres no way I'm holdin my kids back.
Ha! then after you wear a hole in the front tire and it rolls kinda funny, you end up with gravel rattling around in it. I had a steep driveway when I was runnin bigwheels and the best thing was to roll down backwards then crank it and spin around at high speed. Why doesnt somebody make an adult size plastic one? doesnt have to be all high tech, just shitty durable plastic....I think the most fun I have ever had was rippin around on one of those things.
I was a Big Wheel kid myself. Blasting the hill we lived on scared the shit out of my very spun hippy uncle!
Huffy's making an updated version now, from what I've read, adults fit on it, too.
http://www.huffybikes.com/Products/Product.aspx?p=34&cat=2&subcat=10
look out the window. my kid is lurkin' on his little mermaid. purple flake with white 12"s.
my boys on u-tube doing no handed 180s on my buddies daughters green machine. weight limit on the new ones are 180 little brats wouldnt lt me ride
Fuck, those things ruled. There's nothing like getting flat spots on wonky-ass plastic wheels.
If you had a green machine you were def bad ass.
no, kids today are too afraid of getting ouchies or catching swine flu. I bet there hasn't been a kid in 15yrs that has taken a drink from a sprinkler or a neighbors water hose..especially when it's hot as fuck and the first 5 mins of water that comes out of the hose is piped directly from the center of the earth and melts your face. That my friends is being a kid. Say no to hand sanitizer.
For my 8th or 9th birthday I wanted a Green Machine more than anything. My parents bought be a skateboard instead. Sigh. How different things could have been.
I pulled one of these out of the trash about a month ago, sold it to a guy in a bar a week later, but not before my son, 4, bombed it down the drive way behind our house, got bucked off went flying down the rest of the hill in a bloody scabbed knee mess. He was a little stunned, but any tears of pain or from being scared turned into anger when I wouldnt let him do it again, at least not until his mom was gone.
video games and soccer practice have turned kids into the pussies we would have spit on or knocked off their 10 speeds. my wife wont let me lock them out of the house like my mom did, but we never really wanted to come home anyway.
this over protective shit is breeding asshole kids, precious little commodities that have to be tethered to their parents out in public with leashes, I say bring back jarts & clackers, call it natural selection.
I had one of these when I was, like 7 or 8. I covered it with STP, Ben Pilla Speed Shop, and HiJacker stickers with the rabbit on it before I knew what that shit even was. All I knew was every cool car had them. Hard to imagine kids today being into as into cars when as soon as their born, the parents buy minivans.
parents couldnt afford one, but i did destroy plenty of the regular big wheels. i cant believe how old these things are, im 33 and when i was 5 there was one of these rotting in the field behind my house. the other day i saw a kid down the street with one, still a solid machine haha
They still make the green machine and my son has worn the shit out of his over the last 4 years, and yes, adults fit on them now too. They are stronger with an actual rubber tire on the front. My kid plays ice hockey which his mom is none too happy about. Last week he got punched in the face and thought that was the high point of the game. He even asked the kid if that was the best he could do. Pussy parents raise pussy kids.
Man o man, had one of them...friggn lock into sideways skiddy's all day on that thing!
when i was 10 i fought a kid cause he stole my green machine from my front yard... i walked in his house yelled at his parents and punched the kid grabbed my shit and left.
around age 8 got bucked off my General Lee big-wheel mid downhill 180 slide and launched straight into a massive cactus bush. worst part was that this being in the early 80's I was only wearing OP cord shorts. No Shoes or shirt. Spent an hour on the butcher block in the kitchen with my dad picking needles out of my entire body one by one. Was worth every ounce of pain! Big Wheels were my life!! With each needle pulled he would ask if I learned my lesson and I responded the same way every time, "yeah, I need to learn how to control my slides."
too much fun
Wow!! I remember those.. way crazy.. I just got stuck with the regular big wheel.. and the snow sled with the hand grip brakes.. I guess that was kind of cool..
Yup, Big Wheels were the jam before these suckers hit the streets. Never had one. Rode my Big Wheel down Revere Street where I was born. Moved to Walnut Creek and rode that thing until the frame snapped in half at about age 4 1/2. Got my first bike after that, a purple Royce Union. We all know from there it is FTW.
This post really dusted off a few cobwebs for a few of us it seems, I like it!
Ditto to everything said above. Always wanted the Green Machine but I had a Big Wheel already. Flatspots, 360 slides and riding it down my hill in the snow are some of the best memories ever. My first fight was with Steven Dale cause he stole my Big Wheel. I was 7. My dad just sat there and watched. We became best friends afterwards and he got a Green Machine for xmas. I hated him all over again.
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