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Its interesting to get a more European perspective on the post-war teenage off-road bike phenomenon as apart from the VCCP, I only know about what happened in Britain.The French, Dutch and English built specialized off road bicycles in the late 1940s and 50s but as soon as the war recovery kicked in and they had money they bought scooters, MX bikes and cars. It was short lived phenomenon and only lasted about 10 years before dying out. They were a combo of kids and young adults that built theses bikes. I was in Europe in the mid 60s riding motorcycles everywhere and I saw urban and road bicycles, scooters, motorized bicycles, motorcycles and tiny cars. No off road bicycles by then. Car, motorcycle and road bike camping seemed Ike the big adventure everyone was on everywhere I went. My sister toured Europe by bicycle a few years later. She said she never saw any trackers either. She did England and the continent as far as Greece, south into Italy, Spain, Alps and the Low Countries. Wales and Holland were our favorite places.
In the UK it began with teenagers riding their bikes on cleared bombsites and ended up as the popular sport of Cycle-Speedway short-track racing. A few years later there were Cycle-Speedway clubs in most towns and national competitions were being held. Many towns built stadiums as it became a popular spectator sport and even the Duke of Edinburgh was said to be a fan.
The other influence was motorcycle-scrambling now known as Motocross. Young people could go with a dad or older brother to motorcycle-scrambling meets, along side which bicycle events were held to see who could; jump the furthest, hold a wheelie longest or ride the fastest around a course. Things really took off in the 60s and 70s when motorcycle-scrambling began to be regularly shown on Saturday Sports TV programs. Teenagers would fit knobbly Avon 'Skidway Gripster tyres, wide cow-horn handlebars to an old bike they could afford to ride to destruction. Then they would head off with their friends to a local wood or inner-city waste land where they would emulate the antics of the scrambler motorbikes they had seen on TV.
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