photo credit: jing jie | flickr creative commons

My first bike was actually a tricycle made of plastic. It was a Big Wheel. The genius of Big Wheel was in transforming a thing that should have been baby-ish—a trike—and making it seem tough and manly by virtue of handlebars that recall a Harley’s.

 

It looked better than it performed, though. As anyone who has ever piloted a Big Wheel knows, the slightest incline could cause the plastic wheels to lose traction and spin uselessly as you slid back down the hill (is that a metaphor for life? God, I hope not). And you had to be careful not to jerk the handlebars while turning, or you’d dreidel right out into the street.

 

But it did make a tremendous rumble going along the pavement, and made a skinny five-year old feel like a badass.