On 8 Jul 2001 16:50:32 -0700 brucerobbins@worldmailer.com writes:
> As a Scot living in Scotland, the Confente thing is totally alien to
me...
> However, other marques/history hold a similar interest for others.
> The Flying Scot marque has a tremendous history behind it ...
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bruce.
i suspect that the posts and subjects on the list reflect the
demographic, age, geographical spread...of the members.
at 48 i'm probably one of the dinosaurs here. it's interesting
to see that most of the listmembers didn't begin riding until
AFTER the 80s, dale's stated cutoff point for pertinent list
topics. (early part of the 20th century-early 80s. that's what it
says!). many people here are fixated on the masi/confente thing
because all that stuff transpired during the early years of our
'bike boom' in the 70s. like it or not, interest in the bicycle and
the sport here grew exponentially during that time and, compared
to what preceeded it, the earlier history here pales by comparison.
at least it does based on the subject matter brought up by the
list here. in the era in which the masi/confente thing 'went down'
it was a VERY BIG DEAL here that some european pedigree would
attach itself to our industry by transplanting itself to our shores.
it also converged with the flourishing of an unrelated, coincindental
resurgance in the domestic frame-making market. i think all parties
involved helped raise the bar. but that all was 30 years ago, long
before most listmembers began their cycling involvement.
and, fwiw, i saw many flying scots while holed up in london
and bexley in 1971. and when i came to connecticut, my teammates
included jim fraser and 'wee' tommy young, both scots. jim was a
multiple national road champion in scotland. he and tommy rode
scots here in the states. lovely bikes...
please share your conversations about these items with the list,
not off-list as you suggest. you may be the only chance many here
will have to learn about david rattray et al.
thanks.
e-RICHIE
http://www.richardsachs.com
> If Bob Reid and I and a few others were to fill the CR list with posts
> about Rattray's Glasgow workshop, 99% of list members would rightly
> be fed up and switch off. Similarly, 99% of list members who have
> never seen and have little interest in a Mario Confente-built Masi
> get fed up reading about that particular obsession.
> Aware that this is, or is supposed to be a global list, Bob and I
> mainly discuss the Flying Scot stuff off-list. It would be nice if
> the Masi mafia were able to offer the rest of us the same courtesy.
> Even better, why doesn't someone start up a Mario Confente/Masi
> website where all the information about the bikes can be made
> available to anyone who is interested?
> the list, Art. For all the sandal-wearing
>
> Bruce