If you don't count my childhood, when my first bike was a re-conditioned J.C. Higgins, lightweight, coaster-brake bike, with 24 x 1.375 tires, the rear of which I blew up at the gas station, destroying the rim. I got my first 10-speed for Christmas in 1965. It was the blue Sears (Puch built) 10-speed that I have mentioned earlier. I was 15 then, and there was a short period that I just left it in the garage, when I was 17 or 18, and too good for a bike I guess. Then I realized what a useful means of transportation it was, and I've never stopped since. Oh I slack off now and then, but ever since that bike, cycling has had a very strong hold on me. So, that would make it about 35 years for me, not counting my childhood.
I came extremely close to ordering a Richard Sachs frame through my friends Eric and John at The Wheelsmith, and I'm sorry now that I couldn't work it into my budget back then. Gary Klein made me an offer that I couldn't pass up, and I got the KLEIN Team Super, which was a bargain back then, before he raised the price by a considerable amount. In '77, a KLEIN Team Super (with Weyless seatpost, Campy SR headset, and their (KLEIN's) pressed-in, sealed-bearing bottom bracket) could be had for $460 suggested retail. During the next couple of years, the price went up to $2200 for the same package. I believe the price on the very beautiful, orange, Richard Sachs frame and fork only, that was hanging up at The Wheelsmith at the same time, was $475. Money was tight back then, so I went for the KLEIN, mainly because I got it through the shop I worked in at cost. I was also able to go see their shop and help out a little. And, I picked it up at the "factory", so I didn't have to pay shipping. BTW, it's the only TIG welded fram I own, and probably the only one I will ever own, but also one of the finest.
Happy cycling, "Bicycle Mark" Perkins Visalia, CA
On Thu, 18 Jan 2001 11:53:54 -0500 Richard M Sachs
<richardsachs@juno.com> writes:
> while waiting for the brink's truck with all the
> gold, sent by russ, to arrive, i'm enjoying leafing
> thru some old 'bike world' issues. i really should be
> brazing up a fork. but some of these articles in the
> magazines are beyond great. 'specially with 25 or so
> years of time gone by.
> i'm laughing out loud reading a 2 pager called 'people
> who hang out in bike shops'. are there those among who
> recall this stuff. from last weeks' thread on 'average age',
> i guess there are many who were around then, but i couldn't
> discern what % of the list was actually active in cycling
> activity in the bike boom years.
> i've been riding 10 speeds since 1968. what about you?
> e-RICHIE
> 47 years old.
> 1 bicycle.
> many ideas.
> (no changes since last week)
>
> On Thu, 18 Jan 2001 15:57:02 GMT rfitzger@emeraldis.com writes:
> > Man, that was quick! About three years back, I mentioned in some
> > online forum
> > or another that I wondered what ever happened to Mr. Sanders. A
> > year or so
> > later, I got an email from him - he'd been cruising through
> deja.com
> > and
> > stumbled onto my query. He no longer rides bicycles - apparently,
>
> > he preferred
> > motorcycles all along, anyway. He apparently was not fond of the
> > folks who ran
> > Bike World, either. He is apparently now a science fiction author
>
> > living
> > somewhere in the Southwest (New Mexico? Arizona?). He has a
> > website, but I no
> > longer have it readily available - different computer now,
> following
> > a massive
> > crash in 1999.
> >
> > I may be bringing all sorts of grim, bad karma down upon myself by
>
> > revealing
> > his continued existence, though I suspect being a former cycling
> > journalist
> > isn't quite the same bag as being in the witness protection
> program
> > - if I meet
> > a gruesome end involving science fiction improbabilities with
> Native
> > American
> > style touches, you'll know how it came to be and why ...
> >
> > I forgot, or perhaps never knew, that he was known as Sundown
> Slim.
> > Didn't he
> > also write an article about riding across the day and night to get
>
> > to a
> > friend's house to watch a race the next day, entitled, "Long Ride
> > South?" The
> > only bit I clearly was the line about his treasured Argus camera
> > feeling like a
> > kedge anchor is his handlebar bag ...
> >
> > Russ
> >
> > > so russ...what's the prize???????????
> > > Bike World
> > > November 1975
> > > page 38
> > > " Last Sprint of the Earth Games"
> > > by William Sanders
> > > whateva' happened to Sundown Slim, anyway!!
> > > e-RICHIE (send cash)
> > > ____________________________________________________________
> > > On Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:52:53 GMT rfitzger@emeraldis.com write
> > >
> > > > for those of us who spend way too much time venerating
> > velos.1970s bike
> > >
> > > trivia - the ONLY reference to the above book I have ever seen
> was
> >
> > > in an old Bike World article written by a gentleman who informed
>
> > me
> > > a couple of years ago that he now would deny ever writing for
> > that
> > > publication.
> > > I won't name him, therefore - but if anyone wishes to speculate
>
> > about
> > > who
> > > wrote articles on how to keep Simplexes working, or "Last
> Sprint
> > at the
> > > > Earth Games,"
> > > > well, ...
> > > >
> > > > Russ Fitzgerald
> > > > rfitzger@emeraldis.com
> > > > Greenwood,
> > > > SC
> > > >
> > > > -------------------------------------------------------
> > > > This message was sent using Emerald Internet's WebMail.
> > > > http://www.emeraldis.com
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > >
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------
> > This message was sent using Emerald Internet's WebMail.
> > http://www.emeraldis.com