Nigel,
I think Peter was pretty close. Quite simply, it was a lot of people of the right age, with enough disposable income (either their own or their parents'), and a ready supply of bikes that weighed about half of what might already have been in the garage.
Prior to the boom, it was rather uncommon for someone here to have a true lightweight. There was no way that the children born in the most prolific years of the baby boom (1956-1961) were gonna get stuck with the 42 pound three speed when they were ready for an adult-sized bike, when the 20-something pound 10-speed was sitting next to it in the bike shop at just a few dollars more. Plenty of adults put their old "tanks" out to pasture then too.
Regards,
John Barry
Mechanicsburg, PA
> What I would like US CR'ers to tell me is what drove the US boom.
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