“Hello sunshine, goodbye rain”
Yes, these days are truly happy days. Being a child of the 70s and early 80’s, i can fondly remember the appeal of that hit show, HAPPY DAYS. A show from the 70’s that took place in the hip and cool 50’s. For some reason, my generation spent a lot of time looking to the 50’s for good times and fun. We all were immediately in awe of this lone biker dude . FONZIE!
We wanted to be able to snap our fingers like Thanos and have all the girls flock to us. To pound on the juke box one time and have it start playing our favorite song. The very image of cool. This, for many of us, was a validation of a desire to be …...A BIKER.
Days of Future Past
Being midlife, i find myself ever so drawn to cool moments and things from my “happy days’. Only a couple of years ago did i jump on a motorcycle and live that Fonzie dream after all those years. The story of how I jumped into the motorcycle life is chronicled in earlier posts here.
Being like many in the era, i was left alone at home and with a limited exposure to the outside world. Small town, very few stations to watch , and the only exposure to a motorcycle life was what i saw on TV. ENTER THE FONZ.
The old school, basic styled bike that he rode symbolized the lone simplistic life of a biker . Basically a standard bike.
Fast forward to 2018, these standard , old school bikes are common place . Old school, heritage models (from Triumph, Honda, Ducati, Yamaha, and others), that appeal to us midlife folks that have a soft spot for Fonzie.
We are so drawn to this icon, that this year, a basic Triumph TR5 bike from the show is slated to sell for over 175K. That’s a lot of money for a less than 500cc four stroke twin.
It is remarkable though, the bike I enjoy riding so much, is similar in specs..
It represents what is cool about a bike though. That’s why Fonzie had it right??
Take pride in being part of that generation. The Fonzie generation. We are cool and we ride!
“These happy days are yours and mine” (theme from Happy Days; Songwriters: Derek Allen / Bobby Brown)
Next time you’re out riding, dont forget to be cool… like the Fonz.
Check out old episodes on Amazon!