Bicycle Ads – Sept. 1966

Before we were old enough to drive, bicycles were how we got around. They were our ticket to freedom, enabling us to go anywhere we wanted to go (locally, that is). Even when we did get our driving temps, there wasn't always a spare car available to borrow on the Brady Used Car Lot (consisting of our garage and driveway). So we rode our bikes.

My friends and I rode our bikes all over Lorain and beyond. I've written before how we went to Mill Hollow a few times. My first visit to Dog N Suds was on my bike. I even remember going over the High Level Bridge on my bike (along with my girl friend at the time) to go to James Day Park in Sheffield for a picnic.

We rode our bikes past the houses where the girls that we 'liked' lived. Once in a while we even ran into them on their bikes. It was a real heyday for bikes.

I rode my bike to the library a few times on a Saturday afternoon. One bike was stolen right from the rack outside (the thief cut the chain). On another trip, I was going down Oberlin Avenue and some big kid on a bike (from Lorain High) came up behind me and grabbed my bicycle chain (which was hanging around my neck) and towed me for a while. I didn't wear my chain around my neck after that.

One good friend – Scott Welko – loved to tinker with bikes. We seemed to always be taking ours apart, painting them, etc. That meant lots of trips to see Bicycle Bill at the Lorain Schwinn Cyclery on Oberlin Avenue in the same shopping strip as Willow Hardware and Whalen Drugs.

Times have changed. I rarely see kids – or anyone – on a bike. When I do see one, it's been modified with a motor so no pedaling is needed!

I have to chuckle whenever I go into Lorain these days. West Erie Avenue (US 6) was modified a few years ago, adding a bike lane, a center turning lane, and making the highway two lanes with no passing (even though it was a big deal when it was widened to four lanes in the 1950s). I have yet to ever see anyone riding a bike in the bike lane.

Anyway, bikes were part of everyday life in 1966. Remember that I mentioned "Bicycle Bill" Schetter? He didn't have his Schwinn store on Oberlin Avenue yet; he was still managing Atlas Cycle on 28th Street. Here's an ad that ran on the Journal business page on September 12, 1966.

Bikes were even promoted as a way to get to school back then. Here's a Sears ad from September 14, 1966.

The ad is downright quaint with its depiction of a suburban utopia. But it's not really that unrealistic.

I tried riding my bike to school a few times. All I remember was that I got grease from the chain on my pants, and I was always worried about the bike getting stolen.

Bicycle Bill Schwinn Ad – Sept. 1971

Do today's kids ride bicycles as much as we did when we were younger?

I don’t think so. In fact, I can’t even say that I've seen an actual kid riding a bike in a long time, at least in my travels in Lorain and Vermilion. The bikes I do see are ridden by adults, and often are equipped with a small motor so that they don’t need to be pedaled. (So much for the exercise factor.)

But bikes were pretty important to us when we were not quite old enough to drive, but wanted to see our friends or go somewhere. In those days, you weren’t shuttled around by your parents in an SUV.

I remember roaming far and wide with my friends on our bikes, even as far as Mill Hollow. Once, we went to Dog ’N Suds on our bikes. And many times I rode my bike to the Lorain Public Library on Sixth Street.

Scott Welko and I spent a lot of time fooling around with our bikes too – taking them apart, painting them, etc. So naturally that meant many trips to the Schwinn store operated by Bicycle Bill Schetter in the small shopping strip that was also home to Willow Hardware.

And speaking of Bicycle Bill, here’s yet another of those articles that ran in the Journal that were basically advertisements. It ran in the paper on September 27, 1971.

What’s kind of nice about the photo is that it includes Bill’s sister, Rachel, who kept the business going after Bill’s passing in 1986. Today, Rachel Schetter McNeely and her husband operate Bicycle Bill’s LLC in Vermilion. (Click here to visit the website.)

"Bicycle Bill” Schetter Article – October 1975

Here's a great "Bill Scrivo's People" feature that ran in the Lorain Journal on October 5, 1975. It profiles "Bicycle Bill" Schetter, the well-remembered man behind the Schwinn store in the Oberlin Avenue shopping strip where Willow Hardware was located.

I've featured Mr. Schetter a few times on this blog, including this post spotlighting a 1971 article.

****

I’ve mentioned before on the blog that my high school pal Scott Welko liked to tinker with bikes (this was before we were old enough to drive). We would take them apart, paint them, etc., necessitating many trips to Bicycle Bill’s store. I remember Bill’s pretty sister Rachel (mentioned in the article) working there at the time, and she was a little intimidating to a couple of goofy high school kids like us.

Today, Rachel and her husband Ted own and manage Bicycle Bill’s in Vermilion. Here’s the link to their company website, as well as its Facebook page.

Atlas and Fredericks Cycle Shops

1961 Lorain Phone Book ads

The comments left on my blog post about Bicycle Bill Schetter back in October made me realize that I'd better go back and revisit the city directories to establish some sort of timeline for the earliest bicycle stores that predated the Schwinn store on Oberlin Avenue.

From what I could see, it was just Atlas Cycle & Supplies on E. 28th Street in the late 1950s (it was the only company listed in the 1957 book.) It was briefly joined by Fredricks Cycle Supply Company at 916 Broadway for a few while, but by 1963 it was just Atlas all by itself again.

Bicycle Bill's involvement with Atlas seemed to start around 1965, and he even lived at that same address for a while. When he opened the Lorain Schwinn Center on Oberlin Avenue in the early 1970s, Atlas was a sister store. (See ad below.) 

1972 Lorain Phone Book ad

Here's what the Atlas Cycle Shop building on E. 28th Street looks like today (below).

I'm not sure why the sign is upside-down. But the recently redone sidewalk on that side of E. 28th Street looks real nice.

Reminder Bicycle Bill and his Schwinn Store?

Last month when I was blogging about Oberlin Avenue businesses in the old days, I forgot to mention one that was pretty important to kids: the Lorain Schwinn Cyclery run by "Bicycle Bill" Schetter. It was originally in the strip of stores between Whalen Drugs and Willow Hardware.

Here's one of those vintage ads (above) that resembled an article that ran in the Lorain Journal on June 7, 1971 that features Bicycle Bill himself before he starting wearing his trademark black cap. It gives a nice little background about the store. (Give it a click for a larger, more readable view.)

The photo brought back a lot of memories. I spent a lot of time in that store, since several of my boyhood chums really enjoyed working on their bikes – fixing them, painting them, etc. We were in there a lot buying parts or accessories. Mr. Schetter was always nice to us, even though we didn't always buy something; sometimes we were just there to check out the latest bikes.

Of course, my parents bought our Schwinn bikes there; our "bike" Christmas – when we received a new Schwinn 5 or 10 speed – was a big one in our house.

Our bikes were pretty important back then. We rode them all over Lorain and even out to places like Mill Hollow or James Day Park. It's probably why I was thin up until I went away to college!

Anyway, the Lorain Schwinn Cyclery first appeared in the city directory in 1971. In the early 1980s, it moved down the street next to Big Town.

Here's an ad from that era.

1981 Lorain Phone Book Ad

"Bicycle Bill" Schetter passed away in 1986. His sister took over the store and even opened another store in Vermilion.

1990 Lorain Phone Book Ad

Today the Vermilion store remains. You can visit the company website by clicking here. It has a nice history of the store and even mentions that Bill Schetter got his start by purchasing the old Atlas Cycle Shop in Lorain.