Thoughts on 6699: Cycle Fix-It Shop

     This is set 6699: Cycle Fix-It Shop, and I'd like to talk about it.

Can he fix it? I hope so, it's a repair shop.

    Set 6699: (very nice) Cycle Fix-It Shop (also known as Bike Repair Shop) is a set from 1987 and is part of the Town theme.

It features these two fine gentlemen (presumably gentlemen, anyway,) the shop mechanic and a motorcyclist, one in some smart denim overalls and the other in racing garb, emblazoned with an S and two angular stripes.

What the S stands for is inconclusive, possibly "Speed," or perhaps "Super," it could be for "Salmon" for all we know, the driver of the fine red motorcycle isn't gonna give us any clues.

Both figures have some very nice headgear, the mechanic sporting the still-in-use element #3901 from 1979, the first masculine hairpiece to ever be produced, and the only masculine hair as of 1987. In fact, the options for mens' hair wouldn't expand until the very late 90s, it's no wonder manly minifigures were largely hat-wearing men. The other figure is one such man, cycling safely in the classic helmet piece, #3842a (it should be #3842b but I didn't realize until after photography, whoops) that would be superseded the very same year by piece #2446, which has remained in production and use ever since (barring the modren version of the classic helmet, #50665, which appeared in 2019's 70841: Benny's Space Squad, and has remained the helmet for new Spacemen.)

    Onto the shop proper (the proper shop) and I find it just adorable. The yellow and black color scheme with red highlights and the blue interior features is very nice, and it's built on one of the lovely old 8x16 baseplates, element #3865. 

    The back is open and ripe for play opportunities, it's a bit cramped with all the furniture but it's still possible for figures to walk from the garage portion to the shop portion, unimpeded by any additional wallage.

I have a particular love for these old window and door pieces, elements #4347 and #73194c01, they feel perfectly scaled to minifigures, even if the connection of the door is somewhat fiddly, using only one stud and one anti-stud and demanding it be held in tension by the base and the brick above. I find them more appealing than their modren counterparts, parts #57865 and #60616b which rely on part #60596. More versatile, maybe, but #60596 is notably a brick taller than these old elements, it necessitates taller buildings overall and makes them feel just a little more out of proportion.

But adding to the style of the storefront is how the window and door are recessed by a stud behind the rest of the brickwork, a very nice touch. The display behind the window is also quite cute, featuring an antenna, alternate taillight and white helmet for sale.
Our mechanic here doesn't just do repairs, he does upgrades.

Even nicer than the front of the store is the top, a very nice 6x16 plate, piece #3027 that spans the entire building, but of special note are these gorgeous printed signs, pieces #4864apr0014 and #4864apr0015, which are exclusive to this set.
Making smart use of the white background as negative space for the bicycle's wheel spokes and motorcycle's details, these prints are absolutely perfect. 

Moving back inside, we've got a reasonable question to answer when it comes to whatever this thing is. 
Two 1x2 bricks and a 2x2 plate stacked on top of each other, what could this possibly be?  

A very tall side table?

An unstable single-shelf bookcase?

The remnants of a started-but-abandoned countertop project?

A lowercase letter R?

The surprisingly sensible answer to this abstract structure's use is...

A bicycle repair stand.

Crazy, right?

It utilizes the stand that keeps the bike upright, even with a rider, which fits snugly in-between the studs of the plate, raising it up just the perfect amount for the mechanic to fix all the fixable bits, like if this bad boy had any gears or chains, you bet he could replace 'em.
Believe it or not, the bicycle piece, #4719 hasn't changed significantly since 1985, only receiving an incredibly minor revision in 2012 as piece #65574 which changed the stud above the rear wheel from a solid stud to a hollow one. The wheels, part #92851, however, have never been altered in any way.

Now let's take a good look at the repair bay.

It's got pretty ample space, though it occupies a really strange five studs of width, not counting the roof supports and the tool rack. The tool rack (part #4083) includes the tools of the time, the wrench (#4006) and hammer (#4522), the latter of which doesn't seem like it'd be much use in cycle repair, but it'd be eight years before a wider and more appropriate array of tools would be available. 

The lump of bricks there, comprised of a 2x3 brick, a 1x2 jumper plate and a 1x2 slope brick, doesn't look like much, but it's another simple but effective build.

Viewing it from the side here (tool rack removed for clarity), you can see how the slope brick is used to guide the motorcycle up and onto the stand...

...where the anti-stud on the bottom fits right onto the jumper plate! 

Granted, you're probably not going to go through this motion more than once, even a kid probably wouldn't during play, but it's there. 

A modren equivalent might make it into an actual play feature, with a mechanism and all that, but all you really need is a tiny ramp to let imagination take its course. Not a lot of imagination, just a little.

Back outside, let's take another look at our motorcyclist friend, who's either here to buy some new bits for his hog or get a much-needed tune-up. 

I gotta say it, this? Element #4480c01, supplemented by elements #3464 and #3641? This is the best minifigure motorcycle. Bar none, I'm saying it, the best motorcycle is this one. Introduced in 1983 and so very unfortunately retired in 1996, this piece is a work of art, from the gas tank to the long dual tailpipes to the stud connections on the back and top of the rear fender, this bike body rules, and it's not gigantic. 

Every other motorcycle is too big, look at 2005's colossal 7235: Police Motorcycle just as an example, it's a boat compared to this. But despite being comprised of more pieces, a chassis and a body, it features only two more connection points.

That same chassis piece (#50859b) was paired with some other bodies besides the hulking #89536, like the much more similar to this #85983, which features an identical number of connection points, but instead of the studs on the sides being at the rear, they're underneath the engine, with only two out of the fourteen sets that used the piece ever making use of them. 

The most modren iteration of this piece is piece #65521 (which attaches onto piece #18896) and it's a lot more modestly sized than the other examples, but it still has less connection points and only one tailpipe off to the side. 

If I'm being wholly honest, I bought this set just for this red motorcycle, I love this thing, it's fun and it's stylish and going by the discoloration of the plastic on the left handlebar, it was well-used and hopefully well-loved. 

I'll love it as long as I can, too.

But there goes our friend the motorcyclist, tuned up and on the road again, which he couldn't wait to be, of course. 

Thankfully the mechanic's got some other work to get done in the meantime, and you never know what's gonna turn up.

Oh, would you look at that.

This is a double feature now!

 

    This is set 6644: Road Rebel and I'd like to talk about it.

    Set 6644: Road Rebel (also known as Road Racer Transporter) is from 1990 and is part of the Town theme.

It features this pleasant driver of vehicles, his car, his trailer and his bike. He's got a hat for keeping the sun off and a helmet for keeping his head safe, all-in-all a very responsible man.

So the name Road Rebel feels like a real misnomer, he doesn't seem like a rebel, or even like he'll never-ever be any good. He seems to be doing what he should, he might even do what everybody else does, so he's no rebel to me. 

The alternate set name feels a lot more accurate, especially with the numbers all over his ride.

He's wearing the exact same shirt as the other motorcycle fan, but pairing it with white pants and a black helmet (the aforementioned #2446) with a nice light blue visor. 

Said helmet fits very neatly over the printed 1x1 tile, #3070bpr0032, a very handy feature. Said tile is only available in three sets, including the remarkably similar 6677: Motocross Racing from 1986, featuring the same torso again, and 6395: Victory Lap Raceway.

Taking a look at his car on its own, we can just broadly assume this is some kind of adorably miniaturized Ferrari, given the colors and that nifty rear spoiler. 

This little italian sports car is built on the venerable element #2441, which has been in more than 200 sets during its tenure, and has been the chassis of multitudes of tiny, tidy cars.

Granted, the size of the vehicle and its short windscreen, piece #2437, do mean that the driver isn't quite able to see. If he leans forward some he can get a decent view, but not while sitting back or completely upright. 

I'm sure that's fine.

Taking a look at the trailer, it's actually remarkably similar to that seen in 6677: Motocross Racing, albeit a stud shorter, with yellow jumper plates instead of black, and featuring a different towball piece, #2508 instead of #3731.

The shaping on both of these trailers if great, the contours of the surrounding bricks flow perfectly into the fender piece, #3787, for a very clean look.

The bike's anti-stud fits neatly onto the stacked jumper plates, with just a sliver of clearance between the wheels and the studs below them, as perfect a fit as you can get with the pieces provided.

Under the trailer is a stand, made with piece #4715, typically used with the gurney or stretcher piece, #4714.

It was sadly retired in 2008, but the piece it was a part of continued to be used until 2014, and by that time it'd already been superseded by #93140 which no longer had the finger joint connections of its older counterpart. For some reason many sets have opted to use two of part #3938 as stretcher wheels, an imperfect replacement that doesn't have the same necessary height for minifigures to comfortably hold and "roll" the stretcher along.

He can fix 'em, sure, but he can ride 'em, too.

So that's both 6699: Cycle Fix-It Shop and 6644: Road Rebel, a pair of sets I bought almost entirely because I love the old LEGO motorcycle, but also just for a general love of old, and maybe even unremarkable, Town sets. 

The scale, the colors, the way a lot of parts to make the builds much, much more efficient had yet to exist, it all lends a quaintness that really works for me. 

But mostly it's the motorcycle. Gotta get a blue one sometime. 

Maybe need to have another look at 6677...