School me on "muscle"

[MattiThundrrr]

The era was before my time. I've never sat on a banana or grabbed an ape. I'm not sure I understand. Some of the bikes look cool, some, some I just don't get. I don't want to go into the vote with such ignorance. So I need some explanation of the whole thing, what is the idea, how did it all happen, what was the point? Why are they mostly 20"? Are they toys? What the deal with grown ups making such small things?

 

[handyandy1100]

I think they are sort of like muscle cars, you had to be around when they were to understand. Not every old car with a hot motor was/is a true muscle car. Not every bike with apes and a banana was/is a true muscle bike. Heck, I grew up at the tail end of both eras and I am not all that sure about either muscle vehicle.

 

[bear bear]

20inch because kids used to modify their uncool too small for them 20inch cruisers into muscle bikes because it was cheap. there now called "pig bikes"- heres mine (ive changed it a bit)

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I tried to build one once out of my brother in law's kid bike, but it didn't turn out, at least in my mind. I couldn't even ride the thing half way across town. Now I'm thinking that it did work out, I was just thinking about it wrong. And my fat butt bent the heck outta the seatpost. Is rideability a requirement? Especially asking @hamppea here, his end game seems to be performance

 

[bear bear]

i like them because there fun to ride, they turn well and are fun to do tricks on, but they are a bit small. there not meant to be able to ride long distances comfortably.

 

[handyandy1100]

I think by the age of 7 or 8 kids are supposed to graduate from their old 20 inch to their older sibling's 24 or 26 inch bike. Or get a job and earn the money to buy/build a bigger bike. Or wait until Christmas for Santa to bring a new one.

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[Bike from the Dead]

Matti, as someone who wasn't even born until 1993, I can understand... not understanding the appeal of something that was before my time. Heck, there are things from the 1990s and later that I just don't get!

That being said, I think part of the appeal of muscle bikes and muscle cars, from a retrospective point of view, is that they stand out among the crowd now as much as they did when they first came into being. Before the mid-60s, cars and bikes were... cool, but kind of mellow, at least when talking about factory-built cars and bikes. Cars and bikes alike were mostly pastel-colored, kind of slow and leisurely as far as performance goes, still pretty flashy in some respects, but they didn't do a lot of "tricks."

Then around 1963/1964, you had the Pontiac GTO and bikes like the Huffy Penguin and the Schwinn Sting-Ray, and BAM! They were unlike anything that came before them, and in many cases, unlike anything that came after. They came in a wide variety of loud, in-your-face colors and graphics, with equally bold names to match. Muscle bikes and muscle cars were about being bold, and showing off doing tricks of all sorts. Muscle cars went fast, had enough power to pop wheelies, came with a stick-shift and a tachometer, could do burnouts for distance and donuts for days, and they were every bit as crazy as the 1960s were. Likewise, muscle bikes came with the option of additional gears for more speed, they had stick-shifts, you could pop wheelies on them, and in the case of the Swing Bike, you could even turn on a dime or "drift" down the cul-de-sac.

And even today, if you see a vintage muscle car or muscle bike, it looks nothing like what they make today. Sure, Dodge has been bringing muscle back, and even Ford and Chevy did for a while, but they can't replace the raw, gritty, and just plain crazy vibe that those 1960s and 1970s originals had. Likewise, there have been some updated reproductions of vintage muscle bikes, but they aren't quite the same as the old ones. Plus, given how most of the bike market is focused on high-end high-performance bikes, with electric assistance, heavy-duty suspension, new lightweight materials, all typically wrapped in the same tried-and-true diamond design, those old muscle bikes from the 60s and 70s just pop! Sure, they may not make great daily riders, and they may not go as fast as bikes can today, but they offer a glimpse into a decade that, in my opinion, is the crazy, loud-mouthed, party-going, somewhat scary but still incredibly fun uncle of the 20th century family.

So, yeah. That's kind of my take on muscle bikes/cars and why I find them appealing even though they were before my time. They're different, they're weird, they're crazy, they're unlike anything made today, and they're awesome because of that.

I didn't expect to type this much, but I like discussing these kinds of topics.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I think they are sort of like muscle cars, you had to be around when they were to understand. Not every old car with a hot motor was/is a true muscle car. Not every bike with apes and a banana was/is a true muscle bike. Heck, I grew up at the tail end of both eras and I am not all that sure about either muscle vehicle.

Yeah, I missed both eras too, but I've driven a 72 Chevelle with the big 454. My brother had a Dodge Dart street racer. I get the brutal aspect of it. That is definitely not present in the majority of the muscle bikes I see. Maybe it's akin to the Mopar style, but kids didn't need the go, just the show

 

[handyandy1100]

I was born in '63 and got my first two wheeler at age 5. It was a red 20" Huffy convertible we found at a yard sale. Dad took the removable top bar off while I learned to ride. Once I had mastered it, he put the top bar back on. Then we went to the hardware and got a set of high rise handlebars and a blue nanner seat. Technically it would have been a "pig" bike, not a muscle bike, but it was mine, I could ride it, and I thought it was cool.
We lived in kind of a lower middle class to poor neighborhood. Older teen guys fixed up old cars and kids like me fixed up their bikes. No store bought muscle cars or bikes for us! I guess it was more of a hot rod (possibly early rat rod) neighborhood. LOL

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[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I think part of the fuel for muscle bikes becoming popular here in the states might have been the lack of infrastructure (in cities especially) for adult cycling (cars are king in America), so the cycling companies invented other ways for revenue (Columbia even made school furniture). Other countries were busy during the oil embargo setting up infrastructure for bicycle commuting so their bicycle companies were making money on adult bikes.

 

[Short Stuff]

I was born in the early 50s and had a 68 or 9 Mustang Mach I fastback with 428 Cobra Jet motor and what they called factory Drag Pack. All factory but with cheater slicks on the back, she was a monster on the highway. There was a rear spoiler only and that's important later here. But it had a "shaker" hood scoop with a 750 CFM AFB carb. The scoop opened up under lots of engine vacuum, gettin' on it, and the air would go straight into the carb. I tried to get it pegged several times and with no spoiler under the front bumper, somewhere over 120 MPH the front end would get light and start wandering on it's own. Not good on the interstate and worse on single lane. I decided to not die that young and have been giving the authorities fits ever since. Remember born in the EARLY 50s. Harassing the authorities for a long time. Haven't had a moving violation, speeding ticket for many years, over 30. Maybe I'm just a chicken. But I sold the Mach I before killing myself. A truly fun ride but not subtle. I also in 70 had a 67 Mustang 2+2 with a 390 4v and a C-6 auto trans. That was subtle. A decent looking muscle car with enough oomph to challenge most takers. Most just thought it a toy with maybe a 289 under the hood. That 390 engine would get it and was quite factory. I sold it to a college kid who tore it up fast then tried to get his money, Momma's, back. I look back and see I was more than lucky to play with a few classic muscle cars. I once traded for a two door Pontiac Le Mans that looked like a GTO. I got rid of it as the PO had a ring problem and it ate oil bad. Shoulda' kept it and made a goat forgery from it. Meh. I like bicycles and guns mostly now. That and a cute bride under my arm. She has been my reason to stay alive for over 49 years. But she hasn't kept me from one motorcycle accident and two bike accidents. Bikes are still as far as I would go these days. I am going to need to sell some toys one day. Ya ever not want to sell something but really need to? I got a few motorcycles. Some haven't been started for years now. My kids may have to deal with them. Be Well, SS.

 

[sovericoool]

I think everyone kinda nailed the "why" I was born in 69, So growing up my older brothers both had muscle cars, 69 firebird, 72 Chevelle SS 454, Roadrunners, Z28's, 64 Falcon, 70 Challenger, 69 Barracuda, 64 impala SS 409, the list goes on! Both my brothers were always selling and buying the next car. (we were dirt poor btw and all worked to buy our own toys) I was in awe of the fat tires, loud exhaust, smoke shows. As far as bikes, they were the "Schwinn generation", my first bike was a metallic gold Kent banana seat bike, then a Huffy Thunder trail Monoshock and finally the bike I still have today and built part by part myself, an 82 PK Ripper looptail. As a kid these bikes were our lives. Out at daybreak, gone into the woods building jumps, cruising the neighborhood in packs. Hours spent learning the latest tricks, bunny hops, jack knifes, and my signature trick the frame stand. Eventually we'd come rolling home exhausted, long after the street lights came on. Everybody was making modifications, upgrades, turning wrenches on our own rides. I was probably trying to emulate my older brothers and their muscle car mods. It just felt like a freer, simpler time. So for me it brings me back, puts a little smile on my face and makes me forget about my endless to-do list and thankless 9-5 job. I hang in my garage, turn on some old school metal and build, no rush no stress just me and the bike, like the old days. I'm gonna add some picts of my PK, I restored it to exactly the way it was in 82, anodized parts, polished the frame in some ways it looks better than it ever did! My wife still doesn't quite understand why its in the spare room and not in the shed or garage. But she also doesn't understand why my newly acquired 65 galaxy convertible is in the garage every night. She says it stinks up the house. I just tell her: "dear thats the smell of 60's muscle". And that does nothing to clear up the confusion on her face. But then again, my Brooklyn girl didn't even know how to drive a car until she met me. Rock on my Rat Rod brothers!

 

[Fv2]

Muscle bikes and lowrider bikes both stem from kids wanting their version of the cars at the time.
Whether it's a car that parents had or someone in the neighborhood had doesn't matter, kids built their version of it.
Being kids, their version was a bicycle that mimics the cars.
With muscle bikes, much like muscle cars. The rear wheels were bigger than the front to give that jacked up look. The banana seat was basically laid back custom upholstery. I think the ape hanger bars stem from artwork or "comic" cars of the era. (Think about the Rat Fink super tall shifter) But also some muscle bikes were multi speed with frame mount shifters, to mimic the transmissions of the cars. So it's 2 parts for one idea.

That said. When it comes time to vote, just ask yourself one question. Would I ride it?

If you think you'd atleast try to ride it, then consider it for a vote. If it doesn't look rideable, then ask for a ride video. Then vote from there.
Cars or bicycles, are built to suit the needs or wants of the builder.

Sometimes though, they get a bit out of hand. Which is why a lot lowrider bikes aren't rideable, they become art.
Do a web search for muscle bikes, then another for lowrider bikes. Compare the pictures and designs.
Generally a muscle bike will almost always be rideable, but lowriders may not.

This is all just based on my understanding of what a muscle was/is, and my opinion.
Personally, I'm not big into muscle bikes. But I dig lowriders. Though they are similar in parts, it's all about the appearance for me.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Muscle bikes; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelie_bike

Wiki nails this one. Antiestablishment handle bars, wheelie seat and a stance that says, "badass!"

 

[Bob E.]

Because

 

[Couch tater]

Any bike can be a muscle bike if you bolt an Arnold Shwarzenegger to it

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Must be pre aluminum and carbon, he needs a weight belt to lift it!

 

[handyandy1100]

Must be pre aluminum and carbon, he needs a weight belt to lift it!

It's a seat belt! LOL

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[kentercanyon]

Keep in mind "muscle cars" were a consumerist, corporate reaction to "hot rods" and the difference was that one was DIY and the other was an option you checked at the dealer when buying a NEW car. The classic road movie TWO LANE BLACKTOP pits a primer grey '55 Chevy 210 two door sedan that is heavily modified for quarter-mile drag racing with a factory GTO in a cross country race for pinks. The car doesn't even have a heater in it, and the windows are plexiglass, the doors, trunk and hood are fiberglass all to save weight. The '55 is driven by young rock stars playing a pair of existentially silent-type gear heads and the GTO is piloted by Warren Oates, playing a middle-aged lost soul who may or may not have been a former advertising executive who believed a little too much of his own ........ and now is a wanderer trying to convince himself of his relevance and potential for salvation by talking a blue streak to mostly indifferent hitchhikers. The whole thing indicts both aspects of the male psyche somewhat, as no one wins the race and the real "prize," a woman billed only as "the Girl" ditches them all when they start to bore her. All she really wanted was to see the Grand Canyon.

I was born in 1963 and by 1969 I had my first used Schwinn Sting Ray and was noticing the other kids' bobbed fenders and motorcycle styled rear shocks etc and wondering what it was all about. And then we all watched Even Knievel on tv and went out and broke our arms launching off makeshift ramps, lol. Then we watched ON ANY SUNDAY and BULLIIT wanted to be Steve McQueen, too.

Don't get me wrong - I love Muscle cars and the muscle bikes too but in reality the difference is "built not bought" is what I decided to live my life by. Southern California CUSTOM car culture was an eventual big influence on both hot rods and muscle cars, with an emphasis on individual style, personal modifications and unique stylings. Groovy sculpted flair was a fashionable thing for bell-bottomed pants legs and rear spoilers, too. But a lot of that was fake .... built for the movies, like the Monkees GTO convertible with the trunk removed and made into a way back, way-out lounge seat.

Hot Rods represent the folks who wanted to go fast and push the limits of whatever machine they could get their working class hands on, starting usually with a Model T or Model A Ford. But even before that, men like Eddie Rickenbacker, who first raced Indy race cars and then switched to a WW1 fighter plane simply because he wanted SPEED and that was the way to go the fastest, were American heroes to young boys who usually wanted to go fastest as a good metaphor for wanting to leave their provincial hometown far behind, if only for a brief moment. So they did what they could with whatever they had. And as such, Hot Rods came by a lot of their now-appreciated beauty simply as function over form, the stripping off of nonessential parts, like fenders, hoods, roofs, etc and the channeling and lowering, etc for streamlining purposes.

Every kid finds their own way into what a bicycle means to them but in my case we were skateboarders first, and had a rule in our gang that it was acceptable to have a bike for transportation but if you paid more than nine dollars for it, you were clearly announcing that you were not totally committed to skateboarding somehow, lol. This all started when we found a great old junkman on the Black side of town who was happy to sell us rusting old balloners for the aforementioned nine dollars, along with whatever we could fill our arms with in the way of seats and sprockets, etc laying around. (damn do I still dream about his yard filled with prewar bikes.) We'd immediately strip off the fenders chain guards and tanks etc and try to find some motorcycle handlebars to make a bike that was rugged enough to go fast and put up with our brutal treatment of them. But of course we quickly turned the bike thing into another obsession and wanted to at least have the coolest bike "we didn't care about" as a sign of our personal swagger. My brother went for the Schwinns (lucky him) and I decided to concentrate on the odder department store specials like Western Flyers and such. We all learned that the forged Ashtabula forks and cranks were toughest, and that the longer cranks gave you more power, and that Schwinns in general seemed better, and lo an behold all those old men who complained about the cheap quality of post-war crap had a valid point. All of this action brought us from c1975-1979 or so and then the twin influences of (soCal influenced) BMX and (NorCal inspired) Klunker/ pre MTB advancements wised us up that we were not alone in trying to make our 26 wheels do things on the dirt with some sense of purpose. It's endlessly fascinating to see how we're all arrived here, now in a melting pot of influences.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Man, that Monkee Mobile was a Barris. Hot rod legend. You can't say George was clicking a box down at a dealership. He invented techniques that didn't exist for complete custom builds. Not fake, just made for tv