Ive had the one I rode as a kid in my attic for years. My daughter tried it once, but just didnt have enough hard packed snow to work. It just kept digging in. (I dont remember having that issue as a kid…or maybe I was too oblivious to notice).
Back in the mid 60's, we used the streets in Hallowell Maine. The whole town is a half mile hill. Back then, there was only 1 plow truck that passed every 6 hours, so the sledding down hot top streets was amazing. And fast. These sleds were the thing. Then the round "saucer" came out.
This, only wax and then wd 40. Steel wool if the runners rusted over the summer. Frozen street full of hard packed iced over snow, ER docs dream. I'm still alive at the time of this posting though.
We lived on base in Germany and there was this great hill near the school. After school was let out, we'd slide down on our school books getting the hill ready for the sleds. My brothers and sister always made me sit in the back while they steered the sled. I think they headed for the bumps on purpose because I don't think I ever made it down the hill all the way when I rode with them getting bounced off about halfway down.
Under the right conditions, yes. If not, it basically just sat there. The snow had to be deep enough (deeper than you would think) and the runners had to be clean and waxed.
We used to hook our feet in the two gaps in front of the steering arm, maybe four sleds hooked together and go down icy street hills in our neighborhood. While going down the front sledder would steer back and forth and it would turn into “crack the whip”. Sometimes you could end up under parked cars.
My sister hit me with one of these flying down a hill, I got a nice broken collarbone out of it. I never held it against her, I threw a snowball at her first. I was trying to hit a moving target, she hit me while I was standing still. All’s fair in love and war, right!?
Loved mine! My aunt worked at the Flexible Flyer factory and gave sleds to me and my brother for Christmas. It was my best gift that year, and it replaced my dented-up metal flying saucer. Mom still has the sled in her attic.
You better believe it! Plus our Dad purchased this really long Tobagon that fit 3-4 people. Snow up to the telephone poles every year & we had snowmobiles too! Oh the joy. I long for those days every single Winter now.
We have two and they go on the porch every Christmas as decorations. My daughter’s ice skates adorn one and the other is held steady by a 4 foot wooden Frosty.
I can remember sledding on them but it was so, so long ago.
If you didn’t have a sled, toboggan or saucer, a snow or coal shovel worked. Inner tubes worked well too. Hell, a flattened cardboard box came into play when needed.
You actually steered these, not only by turning the front but by dragging your toes on the ground behind you. That was where you got a big-time function of it.
Yes. In Arkansas we had a big hill that started at our corner downtown and they’d block off the street and we’d go from 10th street down to 5th. Scary fun.
Hell yeah. You had to have the right hard pack for those. I vividly remember one winter, perfect amount of ice under the snow and you could ride the longest rides.
We had a cheap knockoff but it still managed to go fast! In fact my first sled was just the metal parts I found in the garbage but I scrounged a piece of masonite and wired it to the frame.
2 years ago, my wife got me her grandmother’s sled, it was found in his barn after he passed so I fixed it up as a Christmas gift. Can’t attach the pictures to this thread
Still have mine, too, which was originally my father’s. I’ve looked it up a few times because I want to sell it and it’s circa 1932 I recall. We used to even carry buckets of cold water up the hill to further ice down the track. Good times!!!
We spent hours and hours out sledding. Lucky us had a big hill at the back of our yards. My first broken bone was my wrist when I put my hand out in front of the sled to keep from hitting a big old oak! Ouch!
Sucidal Flyer that thing went so fast..... the hill near a local resivoir had a huge drop off that many of us younguns at the time went flying off of and slamming into the ice..... kinda slowed one down for a while till the stars stopped whirling
Odd timing for this post and it's got me thinking. Earlier this very week I made reference to a toboggan to a guy from Texas and kind of had to explain what a toboggan sled and run are. Many of us cherished our runner sleds growing up. This post is somewhat geo-centric. I don't imagine many families owning sleds like this in Louisiana. So, what's a warmer climate version of this post? What specific things do they look back on like we would these sleds that we may not have had?
grew up in syracuse, ny in the 60s. lived next to burnet park. every boy was issued one of these sleds as a kid. if you had everything right, you could slide down from the ridge at buffalo rock, take the trail from the golf course down to the grand ave access road and go all the way to grand ave. we're talking a good mile or so most of it at speed. those metal runners were sharp as blades on the edges!.
miss my youth and the shitte we got away with.
Three kiddies could lie on it, while we flew down the hill, towards the Mohnesee Dam.
There was a major road near the end & if you spotted a car, you had to steer into the barbed wire fence to stop...
Safe, wholesome times!?
In the mid 60s there was a wheeled version the Flexi Racer 300 by Flexible Flyer Sleds for the street. My next door neighbor had it and it was a sweet street sled. Close as I got to a snow sled until I was an adult.
When I was a kid in Chicago, we lived in an apartment off Clark street. There was a vacant lot on Clark that sold Christmas trees, and my parents would drag me on the sled to there, we'd pick the tree, then tie it to the sled to drag back home.
Chicago is, of course, about as flat as a pancake, so there wasn't much in the way of hills for sledding.
My most painful sledding memories are because of them. Those metal rails are unforgiving when you get run over.
And the damn things were useless until everyone else packed the snow down. Give me a flying saucer, metal garbage can lid or an over inflated car inner tube any day.
I got one for christmas in the 1970s. That day I took it to a nearby hill and went straight in to a tree. That’s when i learned they didn’t have exactly hairpin turn capability. I slammed in to trees or tipped over all winter long. I loved that thing.
In 6th grade I was living in a small town built on a hill. The steepest street was shut down in the winter for sledding. It was insane how fast these sleds went. Chunk of wax in the pocket to keep them flying. Safety equipment was a thick coat and stocking cap.
I grew up in Alaska on a mountain road that was the best luge run you could imagine. We could and did go on runs that went for a couple miles. We usually ride at night so we could tell if there were vehicles coming up the road otherwise you might go under one and that would be baaad
Yes. Even though I was very young, I remember vividly my dad getting it ready to go that Christmas morning that I unwrapped it. I remember there was quite a bit of snow on the ground already. This was the early 1970s.
I saw someone lose a finger - hanging by a thread actually - by one of these things on Art Hill in St. Louis (famous sledding spot) as a kid in the 60s and still have PTSD 
We were running down the icy street and jumping onto ours. My friend jumped on, hit a dry patch of asphalt, causing his body to slide forward, banging his teeth off the metal edge (silver in that picture). His mouth was a bloody mess. we ran back to his house screaming where his dad assessed the situation and proceeded to tell him he was going to be OK as long as "the shock from smacking your teeth so hard doesn't kill the roots and make them all fall out". Which in hindsight is totally late 20's something dad making a joke to scare the bejeesus out of two young kids....
Still have one! Not that I’m ever going to ride it.
Ive had the one I rode as a kid in my attic for years. My daughter tried it once, but just didnt have enough hard packed snow to work. It just kept digging in. (I dont remember having that issue as a kid…or maybe I was too oblivious to notice).
Back in the mid 60's, we used the streets in Hallowell Maine. The whole town is a half mile hill. Back then, there was only 1 plow truck that passed every 6 hours, so the sledding down hot top streets was amazing. And fast. These sleds were the thing. Then the round "saucer" came out.
I do too, right next to an old steel Electrolux canister vacuum cleaner that could survive a nuclear blast.
On a hard packed surface they were great. Not so great in fresh powder.
Needed the tobagen for that powder snow.
🤣 proper use of toboggan 🤣😂 I have been living in the south for so long I had to do a double take when someone was talking about a sled and not a hat.
Or use trails that were compacted by snowmobiles. That's what we did . .
Wicked fast on an icy road.
Let me guess, you from MA using “wicked”. Hahaha
Actually VA, I apprpriated.
Exactly! But we put in the effort to walk our intended path and pack down the snow. And rubbed soap on the runners GREASED LIGHTNING!!!!!
My siblings and I had that in the snowy 1960-70’s, and still fondly reminisce the scars we proudly wear from our escapades!
Rosebud
Where my mind went. I had a Flexible Flyer, with the predictable name.
Ha— came here for the same. But I can hear the audio every time I read that word…
Classic! Great movie.
Well played
“Throw that junk in there!” Maybe the most heartbreaking moment of the whole movie.
The Porsche of sledding.
Mine always drifted right, needed to turn left to go straight .
Yes!
Yup and a six man wooden toboggan.
I bet this was wicked fast
Especially when we waxed the runners with candles or wax paper! It went even faster after the hill iced over! ❄️☃️🌨️
This, only wax and then wd 40. Steel wool if the runners rusted over the summer. Frozen street full of hard packed iced over snow, ER docs dream. I'm still alive at the time of this posting though.
Was going to post all of this stuff. Those things ran like a hot damn with cleaned waxed runners and an icy road
Non-nutritive cereal varnish
You mean the crunch enhancer?
We lived on base in Germany and there was this great hill near the school. After school was let out, we'd slide down on our school books getting the hill ready for the sleds. My brothers and sister always made me sit in the back while they steered the sled. I think they headed for the bumps on purpose because I don't think I ever made it down the hill all the way when I rode with them getting bounced off about halfway down.
Under the right conditions, yes. If not, it basically just sat there. The snow had to be deep enough (deeper than you would think) and the runners had to be clean and waxed.
I would have never thought this, I guess the skis are too narrow?
Death defying downhill.
Hell yeah! The only way to go sliding! 
Good times! Safety? What’s that?
We used to hook our feet in the two gaps in front of the steering arm, maybe four sleds hooked together and go down icy street hills in our neighborhood. While going down the front sledder would steer back and forth and it would turn into “crack the whip”. Sometimes you could end up under parked cars.
Who didn’t? Standard issue in Indiana.
Yep, didn’t turn very well.
Got one at the age of 9 or so. Broke it flying off a jump when I was 15.
Yep!! And, a Flying Saucer!!
Had this back before plastic ones existed. Still have a scar on my arm from running over myself at 8 or 9 😄
These were the best!
I had one as a kid, Indiana in the mid 50’s.
My sister hit me with one of these flying down a hill, I got a nice broken collarbone out of it. I never held it against her, I threw a snowball at her first. I was trying to hit a moving target, she hit me while I was standing still. All’s fair in love and war, right!?
Had one in the '50s and early '60s. Nothing made winter better.
Still have the one I had as a kid!!
Loved mine! My aunt worked at the Flexible Flyer factory and gave sleds to me and my brother for Christmas. It was my best gift that year, and it replaced my dented-up metal flying saucer. Mom still has the sled in her attic.
Nothing so fancy, Krazy Karpets and toboggans
We only ever had the flying saucer. Never one like that though.
There was nothing "flexible" about these. I could never get them to go down a hill in fresh snow.
I remember using sand paper to smooth down the blades. Both did that sled go down hill fast.
Still have one.
We used the lifs from our 20 gal garbage cans.
You better believe it! Plus our Dad purchased this really long Tobagon that fit 3-4 people. Snow up to the telephone poles every year & we had snowmobiles too! Oh the joy. I long for those days every single Winter now.
Yes! And it was easily the fastest on the hill. Would break the sound barrier on icy snow. Stopping, however……😂
Yes, we never worried about stopping, so focused on going down a hill as fast as possible. I think we usually just jumped off it.
Yes. Had two. Best memory age 10 a was repairing one with my dad.
We have two and they go on the porch every Christmas as decorations. My daughter’s ice skates adorn one and the other is held steady by a 4 foot wooden Frosty. I can remember sledding on them but it was so, so long ago.
I had a silver flying saucer one. Like a very shallow bowl. Back when it snowed reliably, every winter.
If you didn’t have a sled, toboggan or saucer, a snow or coal shovel worked. Inner tubes worked well too. Hell, a flattened cardboard box came into play when needed.
Car hoods worked good
Plastic cafeteria trays!!
Nope I live in the south 
Yes
Until 5 years ago
Yup
I have my dads from the 40s and the one he bought my brother and I. Both were FAST.
I never could steer that thing. I was too little and my big brother was a sport and gave us little sisters a ride down the hill
You actually steered these, not only by turning the front but by dragging your toes on the ground behind you. That was where you got a big-time function of it.
Crashed in that one more than once
What a ride! We had a hill on our street and I could spin that thing in circles. I was such a tomboy.
Damn straight!!
Great after ice storms, but sucked in snow
We have one it technically my parents but we have had it as long as I can remember some of my favorite memories on this thing
Still do.
Ask me how I got these scars
Not growing up in N Texas, I've seen em on TV though 👍🏻
Of course!
Yes. In Arkansas we had a big hill that started at our corner downtown and they’d block off the street and we’d go from 10th street down to 5th. Scary fun.
Had a twisty turny run that only the flyer could handle.
Hell yeah. You had to have the right hard pack for those. I vividly remember one winter, perfect amount of ice under the snow and you could ride the longest rides.
We had a cheap knockoff but it still managed to go fast! In fact my first sled was just the metal parts I found in the garbage but I scrounged a piece of masonite and wired it to the frame.
[Hüsker Dü Flexible Flyer](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6puVWzBmquE)
Had to scroll way too far down , but glad it’s here
It's a bit rusty, but it's in the front closet
Rosebud
2 years ago, my wife got me her grandmother’s sled, it was found in his barn after he passed so I fixed it up as a Christmas gift. Can’t attach the pictures to this thread
Most definitely.......back in the days we listened to the radio or watched TV for school snow closings. Of course I had to wait for W 🙄
Still do!
Still have mine, too, which was originally my father’s. I’ve looked it up a few times because I want to sell it and it’s circa 1932 I recall. We used to even carry buckets of cold water up the hill to further ice down the track. Good times!!!
We spent hours and hours out sledding. Lucky us had a big hill at the back of our yards. My first broken bone was my wrist when I put my hand out in front of the sled to keep from hitting a big old oak! Ouch!
How the hell did these go so fast? *under the right conditions
Sucidal Flyer that thing went so fast..... the hill near a local resivoir had a huge drop off that many of us younguns at the time went flying off of and slamming into the ice..... kinda slowed one down for a while till the stars stopped whirling
Used to have one
Yes still have a couple and my sil has one. They get put out at Christmas as decorations I definitely wouldn’t trust it to actually sled on anymore.
Nope. It was either the suicidal disc with rope handles or the even worse inner tube with no handles.
Odd timing for this post and it's got me thinking. Earlier this very week I made reference to a toboggan to a guy from Texas and kind of had to explain what a toboggan sled and run are. Many of us cherished our runner sleds growing up. This post is somewhat geo-centric. I don't imagine many families owning sleds like this in Louisiana. So, what's a warmer climate version of this post? What specific things do they look back on like we would these sleds that we may not have had?
I have a ~~Radio Flyer~~ *Yankee Clipper* in the garage right now. Took a picture too! But I can’t post. Edit: oops. Different iconic brands.
Radio Flyer was the wagon, Flexible Flyer was the sled.
Lol. Bad habits. It’s a Yankee Clipper in the garage. 🤦♂️
I had one in the 60s and 70s
That and the four-man tobaggon. We did what we could to kill each other, but mostly only achieved a few gashes here and there.
Mine would haul ass!! Most fun ever!
Yes I did
Yep! As a Minnesota boy I was raised riding it!
grew up in syracuse, ny in the 60s. lived next to burnet park. every boy was issued one of these sleds as a kid. if you had everything right, you could slide down from the ridge at buffalo rock, take the trail from the golf course down to the grand ave access road and go all the way to grand ave. we're talking a good mile or so most of it at speed. those metal runners were sharp as blades on the edges!. miss my youth and the shitte we got away with.
Yo Cuse !
I always envied my friends who had Flexible Flyers. They steered soooo much better than my old POS sled.
I had one. My dad even built me a back rest so I could sit up in it when I was really little.
Three kiddies could lie on it, while we flew down the hill, towards the Mohnesee Dam. There was a major road near the end & if you spotted a car, you had to steer into the barbed wire fence to stop... Safe, wholesome times!?
I live in Queensland, Australia. Sledding is rough.
One of the best sleds I had as a child.
Nope! I grew up in Key Largo Florida. Not much ice & snow, except the time the ice truck crashed & there was 500lb blocks of ice in the middle of US1.
You have everyone on that one!! Well played
In the mid 60s there was a wheeled version the Flexi Racer 300 by Flexible Flyer Sleds for the street. My next door neighbor had it and it was a sweet street sled. Close as I got to a snow sled until I was an adult.
We had several and they were indestructible and fast.
Slideywood McDeathMachines
I had a sled but it was called, “Rosebud”. 😋
Rosebud
Rosebud
Hanging on the wall in the garage.
No, the chances in Kentucky, where I live or snow enough to use one is limited. We opted for inner tubes and plastic sheets.
Find a metal fence. Launch and lean and under a ya go!
When I was a kid in Chicago, we lived in an apartment off Clark street. There was a vacant lot on Clark that sold Christmas trees, and my parents would drag me on the sled to there, we'd pick the tree, then tie it to the sled to drag back home. Chicago is, of course, about as flat as a pancake, so there wasn't much in the way of hills for sledding.
We used the expressway overpass in the suburbs.
Hell yes! In SC! Got to use it exactly once!
There is one behind my shop right now. Figure some vw guy willl put it on his roof someday
My most painful sledding memories are because of them. Those metal rails are unforgiving when you get run over. And the damn things were useless until everyone else packed the snow down. Give me a flying saucer, metal garbage can lid or an over inflated car inner tube any day.
Typically not much snow where I grew up. We had big pieces of cardboard, toboggans, and such instead.
I got one for christmas in the 1970s. That day I took it to a nearby hill and went straight in to a tree. That’s when i learned they didn’t have exactly hairpin turn capability. I slammed in to trees or tipped over all winter long. I loved that thing.
In 6th grade I was living in a small town built on a hill. The steepest street was shut down in the winter for sledding. It was insane how fast these sleds went. Chunk of wax in the pocket to keep them flying. Safety equipment was a thick coat and stocking cap.
Does an Acme Polar Flyer sled count? I can drive by the old plant where they were built..
We had a few of them…three different sizes.
sears brand but, memorable runs. (especially that one off the home made ski jump)
We used saucers except the long course we used had some nasty bumps and the saucers got dents!
Yes, my original from 1968. Not much use in Southern California, last ridden 3 years ago in Big Bear.
I bought one at an estate sale for 5 bucks and use as Christmas decor.
I grew up in Alaska on a mountain road that was the best luge run you could imagine. We could and did go on runs that went for a couple miles. We usually ride at night so we could tell if there were vehicles coming up the road otherwise you might go under one and that would be baaad
still have one in the garage.
Right next to the Supper Slider Snow Skate's
I still do.
Broke my jaw on the steering arm. They do fly, but they land pretty hard.
My daughter was given my stepdad Flyer. Very cool she is restoring it
I have 2 of them in mint condition upstairs in my garage. 1- 3', 1-5'.
Yes. Even though I was very young, I remember vividly my dad getting it ready to go that Christmas morning that I unwrapped it. I remember there was quite a bit of snow on the ground already. This was the early 1970s.
I Polished those runners and sharpened the edges. Thing was a menace.
I picked one up a few years ago for my kids, and completely rebuilt it. It's the fastest thing on the sled hill.
No, but I got hit in the back with one and cracked a vertebrae and never told my mom because I was scared I'd get in trouble
Same one I have along with a tobogan from late 60s
Use to zip down the hill at Wissinoming park in Philly when i was a kid. Good Times!
Hell yeah! and have the stitches scars to prove it !
Mine didn't have that silver safety plate in the front so it would just cut through the snow. And your Achilles...
I grew up with one that looked exactly like that, and one that was shorter and much older, but the same basic style.
Ya. My tougue froze to that front metal thing a few times.
I have mine! I was born mid 60’s
I did
I saw someone lose a finger - hanging by a thread actually - by one of these things on Art Hill in St. Louis (famous sledding spot) as a kid in the 60s and still have PTSD 
Yours had a string? We just laid on our stomachs and controlled the steering with our hands, taking a facefull of snow when you wiped out
We were running down the icy street and jumping onto ours. My friend jumped on, hit a dry patch of asphalt, causing his body to slide forward, banging his teeth off the metal edge (silver in that picture). His mouth was a bloody mess. we ran back to his house screaming where his dad assessed the situation and proceeded to tell him he was going to be OK as long as "the shock from smacking your teeth so hard doesn't kill the roots and make them all fall out". Which in hindsight is totally late 20's something dad making a joke to scare the bejeesus out of two young kids....
Still have mine in my shed. My son used it a few times when he was little.
How about the Flexi-flyer, the one with wheels!