Triumph of bicycle during School Days

The reopening of schools in June would usher in children having mixture of emotions visible on their faces as they arrive at school every day morning and during my school days for most of them Cycle rickshaws was the main medium of transport while some students living in the nearby vicinity commuted on bicycles. Having a spacious parking stand for bicycles our school always conducted its Annual Sports Day by the end of July and there used to be two events associated with bicycles the slow cycle race and the speed race, lets devulge into those details on another occasion but for now among the teenage students after a great struggle in getting parental permission for commuting to school on bicycle there was much more fun elements in store, bicycles was meant for performing never ending stunts like wheelie, carrying doubles or triples has payloads and promoting group rides. The cycles mostly used were SLR (Sports Light Roadster) and few other small framed adult bikes who's brand names I do not remember but one thing coming into aid of memory is the advertisements of Indian Cricketer Kapil Dev with the BSA SLR bicycle during the early 1980's in the Tinkle magazine for children. In the late 1940's Raleigh Bicycles became famous for its lightweight Sports Roadsters since these bikes were considerably lighter and quicker than the other heavy forms of Roadsters the multipurpose utility bike, soon these bicycles were exported from United Kingdom to many parts of the globe. Around the same time Schwinn Bicycles came out with a few notable being Black Phantom having balloon tire, head lights, tail lights and other ingredients it was a sensation among the boys in USA. During 1970's the iconic and all time famous Raleigh Chopper which I missed to mention in my earlier rhetoric titled "Tribute to Summer Vacations"  (Vol: 2) took on the center stage but to what extent these bicycles would been used for commuting to school is a paradox to answer. In India apart from TI Cycles Ltd who brought in the first BSA SLR for teens in 1980's, Hero Cycles also came up with  junior bikes in 1990's, references available towards this end is scarce and from nearly a decade till the recent times there seems to be preference for MTB and its variants among the student community. School life is remembered till the end of our lives, trust this rhetoric would be a catalyst for recollecting your memories of cycling during school days, till next time ...

My School