Single-Speed Coaster - July 7 2025

 

Single-Speed Coaster

July 7 2025



We never locked our bikes.

Dropped them on the ground

outside the everything store

in the low-rent strip mall

where we got our sugar highs.

We measured out exact change

which was all we really had;

pushing nickels

one-by-one

across the glass-top counter

  —  which are bigger

than a 5-cent coin should rightly be

but never mind,

pinching out dimes

squeezed firmly

between finger and thumb,

and parting with quarters

like giving blood.

Back when a dollar went a long way

and we were good at saving-up.

The bikes were freedom machines.

The privileged kids

with their fussy 10 speeds,

and the rest of us on single speed coasters

made of thick tubular steel

that were indestructible

but weighed a ton.

We were free range kids

in the middle of the 20th century

who didn’t know how lucky we were

in those analog decades

of shared prosperity

and suburban smugness;

when the only change, we were sure

would be for the good.

I always bought a Sweet Marie

which I’m sure you’ve never heard of,

chocolate and peanuts

around caramel fudge.

Worth every cent, if you ask me.

Or was

back when a dropped penny

was worth stopping for.

The Sweet Marie,

a confection

made only here,

and discontinued

the year they retired the penny.

2013   . . .

which should mean something

but really doesn’t;

just another year,

just rounding up or down,

just that things change

and sometimes for the worse.

Did at least my rugged bike survive

the march of obsolescence,

abandoned

flat tires and rusting chain

in the back of some garage?

Almost as old as me

and already an antique.

My riderless steed,

yearning for some free range kid

to come and rescue it.

Pretty much it. My first bike (see below). A vintage CCM (“Canadian Cycle and Machine”, which hardly sounds like the manufacturer of sleek cutting edge racers!) Except that the fenders on my first bike were white, not chromed.

The Sweet Marie was like an O’Henry, or down-market Snickers. I also favoured Eat Mores, which were what it sounds like: they were super chewy and took a long time to eat. A good penny-stretcher for a frugal kid.