Vagabundo, the legendary Mexican bicycle that taught us to travel

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In 1967, Vagabundo bicycles emerged in Mexico, a model that imitated chopper motorcycles related to long road trips.

That there are currently thousands of Mexicans who firmly believe that traveling is one of the keys to happiness, it is an achievement that we must attribute to the books of explorers, to the magazines that have made us dream of reaching remote places, to films of the road genre and even bicycles, specifically the Vagabundo.

Yes, these bikes with a banana-shaped seat and disparate-sized tires, put their grain of sand so that the generations of children of 1960, 1970 and 1980 would love to go out and explore the unknown of our environment, for years after wanting to do the same On a larger scale, if anyone does not believe it, continue reading below.

The Vagabundo was manufactured by the defunct company Windsor from Mexico in 1967. It was intended to be a commercial success as they were in the UK its predecessor’s twins, the Raleigh Chopper, manufactured by Raleigh company in Nottingham, England

To invent them, the Raleigh company sent its employee Alan Oakley to the United States to understand the tastes of American youth, during the 14- hour return flight he drew, behind an envelope, the design of that bicycle that would be the pop icon of A whole generation

After selling millions of Raleigh Chopper in England and the United States Oakley would admit that his model was based on the motorcycle that actor Peter Fonda used in the Easy Rider movie, a tape of the subgenre road movie in which the protagonists cross much of the American union to explore the country.

Under that context, the Windsor of Mexico almost copies the Raleigh Chopper model to create the Vagabundo, although it does add Bendix 76 counterbalance brake, two bars where metal springs are placed that simulate shock absorbers and Tornel wheels with honeycomb drawing.

Anyway, in itself, the Vagabundo was an invitation to Mexican children to go out and explore the surroundings with friends, feeling that they were riding a motorcycle like those of Easy Rider but also already feeling like one of the protagonists of the youth tapes Americans in which the Raleigh Chopper already appeared.

With the disappearance of the Windsor of Mexico, it will be difficult to know why they named their bicycle “Vagabundo”, but it is certainly a word that evokes those who choose to travel the world, a word that certainly invites you to travel regardless of anything else.

By the second half of the 1980s, Vagabundo bicycles were discontinued, probably because they were losing the commercial battle against other bicycles created for children and teenagers, such as Rudge, Schwinn, Sting Ray or Cross.

Source: mexico desconocido

The Mazatlan Post