Bike built from spare parts in 1969 keeps on chugging . . .

My bicycle, which I built from spare parts in 1969 to commute six miles round-trip to high school, had succumbed to washboard and potholed roads from downtown construction.

Some key welds on the 1950s frame broke, so the back wheel would no longer turn without rubbing. Welds on this bike had broken before, but for a few bucks some muffler shops in south Kansas City got me back on the road.

But the new breaks required neater welds because they were where the wheel connected to the frame. Sarah Gibson, co-owner of Acme Bicycle, took in my heavy, hulking bike.

I had ridden the one-speed in college and even from Columbia to Jefferson City and back. For the last 30 years, I have ridden the same bike mostly on downtown assignments within a 2-mile radius of The Kansas City Star. I can get to places just as fast as driving, and I don’t have to fret over parking. It also enables me to keep my downtown carbon footprint small.