Custom Deluxe
Loon Lake, Ontario - 2007

Long before computer games, DVD's and jet skis at the cottage, children had one primary tool to fight off boredom... imagination. An air mattress could become a pirate ship, a jar and a lagoon became a great scientific expedition and a simple bike could become a valiant steed or a jet plane. When I saw this old Ross bike left to rot I couldn't help but wonder how many children over the years jumped on it and furiously peddled up the road on take-off to fly a supersonic jetliner to a far away destination, or how many times this bike became a white stallion carrying a prince or princess through their forest domain; or long before it became a "cottage bike" who was the child who received this bike brand new and took pride in showing it to their friends on it's maiden voyage.

The "toys" we buy our children are vastly more sophisticated that anything I could even imagine as a child. Yet children of today are increasingly unhappy, bored and constantly seeking out the next technological gadget that will "make them happy", and at the same time their imaginations are being eroded into oblivion. Hopefully this bike still has memories of better days when it was shiny and new, or a mighty horse, or the world's fastest race car, or a custom deluxe supersonic jet streaking through the sky skillfully guided by a brave young pilot.