I have a theory that mixes with a challenge to Maynard. Yeah, there was bad equipment in previous times just as there is bad bike equipment now. Having worked in bike stores since 1974 and having watched both my own skill improve as well as what is considered average and acceptable, it becomes reasonable to think that part of some peoples' criticism of older equipment was in the poor preparation many bikes got during assembly, especially in the early 1970's "bike boom." Maynard Hershon, you bring me the 60's or 70's vintage bike of your least favor--a Peugeot PX10, for instance, let me prep it the best way I know how as of the present time. This will include things that most bike store personnel of 30 years ago never thought of--frame alignment, frame milling so that head and bottom bracket bearings actually can be adjusted, proper brake setup which would include modern cables and housing (some small improvements are the most significant) and then you ride it and judge it. I just have this theory that would be interesting to test.
Thanks, Maynard
David Feldman
Feldman's Bicycle Repair
Vancouver, WA
> Russ Fitzgerald has posted (on the Velo News web site) a very reasoned
> response to Maynard's rantings re: Berthet pedals.
>
> Even if you take into account the fact that Maynard has never been
> consistent about anything, his seeming loathing of the vintage bike
> scene is difficult to figure out. Clearly (as Gabe Konrad could
> testify) Maynard has been agressively, profanely anti-vintage since the
> mid-1990s at least.
>
> This is in contrast to his early Bike Shop columns in Winning, where the
> shop's owner Bob rode an old six-day bike and where a vintage Cinelli
> hung in the basement, attracting admiration from all. Even in the early
> '90s, Maynard now and then would reveal some affection for bikes of days
> gone past, as in his love letter to his old Raleigh Professional,
> reprinted in Half Wheel Hell. Maynard tracked the bike down, got it
> going again, and promised to ride it forever.
>
> Of course, he didn't. He revealed in an interview with Grant Peterson
> that he dumped the old Raleigh and that he was now riding whatever new
> piece of iron that he could get ahold of through his bike industry
> connections.
>
> Anyway, on a different topic, it was nice to the names of Kvale and
> Wastyn mentioned in the same posting from Robert White. Chris builds
> some of the nicest frames around. And Mr. Wastyn seems to be from the
> same mold as the old Twin Cities six day men, Ken Woods and Cecil
> Behringer, now unfortunately gone. They were grouchy old men sometimes,
> but they told better stories than Maynard.
>
> Mike Hagburg
> Bismarck, ND
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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