Well, sort of... I was working as mechanic for Greg LeMond's winter training camps here in the States in the early '80s, and we did indeed get some Avocet cyclometers about the time they were (prematurely) announced to the public in full-page ads in Bicycling, Winning, and other mags of the era. But actual delivery to stores was indeed quite another thing as you write, David--and perhaps that is the reality we need to concern ourselves with here. An R&D idea isn't really an actual product until the first one is ~sold~, not advertised or put on a some guy's bike as part of an endorsement deal. BTW, I also helped install his first pair of Look pedals/cleats too; that was pretty weird stuff for a traditional "toe-clip guy" like me. When I asked Greg about whether or not he liked going clipless, he replied he got $1.50 for every pair of Looks sold in the US as part of his deal, so he liked 'em just fine! ;-)
Funny, there have been some reliability issues with various Avocet cyclometers over the years (and especially in the first version, hence the lengthy delivery delays), but I ended up with two of that first batch and they worked fine for many years. Am still using one on my "beater". From a first-run production, no problems! Go figure....
Bill Bryant still raining in Santa Cruz, CA
feldman wrote:
> Avocet holds the "vaporware" record for the bike business with that
> computer--they advertised the original one for two solid years before it
> actually existed.
>
> David Feldman