Greetings everyone,
I'm a 42 year old engineer. I started serious riding (between towns rather than around the neighborhood) when I was 12 with an AMF Hercules 3 speed. Then I graduated to a too-big Motobecane Mirage. After the Motobecane came a Univega Gran Tourismo with a Pletscher rack. I survived touring with the Pletscher (terrifying shimmy going down steep hills) and got my first good bike in 1982. It's a Gazelle Champion Mondial Semi-Race. It has a 531 DB frame with long point lugs and long Campy dropouts. The bottom btacket is low, front end long and rear end short. In Holland, this model was sold with upright bars, a sprung saddle and rubber pedals, but I bought a bare frame and built it up as a touring bike. The parts stabilized over the years to a TA triple, Nuovo Tipo h.f. hubs, Model 58 rims, old Rally and Nuovo Record dreailleurs and Univeral Mod. 51 brakes. There was a lot of other stuff before that broke or wore out. Other bikes I've acquired and are funtional are are a Jack Taylor Curve Tube, Buuggerman track and Follis 650B tourer. Projects include a Pierce Special Racer, Armstrong Moth, Sun Wasp, two Rochets (a randonneur and a racer) and a BSA Gold Vase. I'm partial to touring bikes, steel cranked racing bikes, and the inventive, but flawed creations of Lucien Juy and his countrymen. I didn't do much riding the last several years (distracted by a young son and a Citroen Taction Avant), but I started again this year and am having a blast. The Gazelle was my main bike until about three weeks ago when I assembled a Heron with parts from the junk box. (Steel cranks, pedals, and seat clamp, 10 speed half-step)
Leonard Bulger
Ann Arbor, MI