The phrase “ruining my childhood” comes to mind.
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I knew someone else was going to make that search, and I’m pleased that it was you. And of course you found the one thing I was super hesitant to post due to motor. 
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Thank you. 
I saw the thread late and instantly thought of the Green Machine. My buddy Clint had one, along with a Big Wheel with loose steering, and we’d ride them down his steep and curving driveway after Cub Scout meetings. I always drove the Green Machine because it was so much cooler, but it seemed slower. So the one time I took the Big Wheel down, the loose steering betrayed me and I went over the side of the driveway and down the embankment. Got my Scout uniform all kinds of dirty.
And my buddy Tom had a version of the Green Machine called the Blue Maxx. It was blue. Haven’t seen another before or since.
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Looks like Tom’s folks sprang for the deluxe that year.
And on a related note, looking at what those cost I cannot believe my parents got my brother the green machine and I a big wheel the same christmas.
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Bloody hell, me and a time machine are totally buying at least 10 of these next time I get my hands on that time machine. A few green, mostly blue.
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My sister had the Galloping Horse. My god, those springs could pinch your legs…
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Well, maybe you shouldn’t have tried to re-enact the bull riding scene from Urban Cowboy, eh? 
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Pick me up a green, will you?
Before I came along my brother had one. As the family story goes one cocktail party when he was about 4 he went around sampling everyone’s drinks on the sly, and then climbed aboard his rocking horse. Apparently he was having a grand old time until he flipped over the horse’s head into a wall and landed in a giggling mess.
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Inorite? They’re like $150 now!
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I just cringe, thinking about how relatively hairy my legs are now compared to then. Yeowch!
I kinda found my first bike, too, though mine was the boys’ version of this rainbow-fade $68.99 Awesomemobile, and my banana seat and handgrips were black.
But of course, the one I coveted, the one I couldn’t talk 'em into getting for me, was the chopper at the bottom, complete with fake gas tank.
God, the 70s.
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It’s steep now, but I’m pretty sure the two toys about equaled the mortgage payment that December back in '77. I am not buying my kids anything that equals the mortgage payment. My kids are free from the worry that comes with scratching new things, if you get what I mean.
ETA: Total brain failure. I was thinking about the adjusted value today and comparing that with 1977 dollars. Doh.
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This was my first bike.
and was replaced by this:
These are the right colors, too. I remember the Grifter had a nice habit of disengaging the gear when you were pushing hard in the top one. Like, say, when you were standing up on the pedals.
I liked the backpedal brake on the Strika…
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Flat tires (I mean tyres) and all?
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I’d pay $5 to see evidence that any kid ever in the history of the USA ever thought to mount this basket on this bicycle.
'Cause that kid would be awesome.
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Crap, I’d pay stupid money for that Pink Panther bike! I hate the color pink, but have had an unreasonably soft spot for the Panther my whole life.
My first bike was a Schwinn Stingray (little kid version with back-peddle braking), with a blue metal-flake banana seat and handle grips.
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Oh my god, I didn’t even notice the seat on that Pink Panther one! That seat alone is suitable for hanging on the wall above the mantle!
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Aw. Too bad I’m on a phone right now instead of a computer. The Stingray had a basket on the handlebars not terribly different than the one in your picture. To this day, I have no idea what my parents were thinking by slapping it on.
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I thought the Blue Maxx was just a suburban legend.
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Seemed like it. I really only ever saw the one.
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It’s so painfully awesome because we can’t get our hands on it now without coughing up the kids’ college fund. 
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