Jamie Swan wrote:
This photo of a green and yellow Richard Sachs road bike that everyone was critiquing, is very evocative for (to?) me. What does this bike and Cycles De Oro have in common? Richie and Dale; you guys are not allowed to answer.
http://bulgier.net/
BTW; I like my brake cables under the bar and the buckle right where it is... Jamie Swan - Northport, N.Y.
Chuck Schmidt Wrote:
Toga team color?
Chuck has half of the answer.
Green and yellow was the team colors for the elite Tempo/Toga Thunderbolts, sponsored buy Lenny Prehiem, part owner of Toga Bike Shop in Manhattan. Many of the team bikes were made by Richard Sachs. Lenny sold a lot of Richie's bikes back then.
Cycles de Oro was originally named Toga after the same shop. See Dale's web site for details...
Lenny has passed away. He was a cool guy. He took the green and yellow motif very seriously. They had the obligatory green and yellow bikes, uniforms and team van. They also had green and yellow rollers, bean bag chairs, massage table and a big yellow plywood lightning bolt. Every accessory and piece of team equipment got the green and yellow treatment.
Henry Gifford, who was a full time steam fitter and part time shop rat at Toga, built a yellow 10 seat tandem out of a dead Honda and a dumpster full off 3" gas pipe! A group of shop employees and other unsavory characters used to ride it in the 5 Borrow Bike Tour. Of course they were decked out their finest green and white.
Lenny would wear one green and one yellow cowboy boot. He had a yellow top hat and a green jacket with tails. He would come to races and coach his riders dressed in this getup. I have some photos that I will have to get scanned... Needless to say it was very effective marketing.
The Toga squad was the premiere team in the metropolitan N.Y.C. area. Lenny would draft the top 6 to 10 riders and ruled over them with an iron fist. His most famous charge was Nelson "T-Bah" Vails, who went from being a N.Y.C. bike messenger to winning a silver medal in the sprints at the '84 Olympics in L.A. Buy me a beer and I'll tell you a few stories about him, including the time I rode a (miss) matched sprint against him. T-Bah used to wear his hair in corn-rows with green and yellow beads braided in.
I hung out with Lenny a fair amount and I know that he and Richie were good friends. He did a lot of outrageous stuff and rubbed some people the wrong way; but the color(s) he brought to the N.Y.C. racing scene is sorely missed. By me at least....
Next trivia question: What was Lenny real first name? Richie; you can answer this one but I'm don't giving you any more twizzlers.
Jamie "I want a original Sachs in Toga trim" Swan - Northport, N.Y.