Well, another monthly meeting of the Kansas City Vintage Bicycle club has come and gone, and those who missed it missed one of our best ever. 6 riders showed up and there were several examples of fine vintage lugged steel aristocrats. Bikes present included a Jeffery Bock, Raleigh International, Mercian Professional, Eisentraut Limited, Schwinn Paramount and a rescued French 531 frameset that we concluded was a Motobecane of unknown, but partician lineage. Also on display in Sarah's shop, Old Town Cyclery, were a PX 10, a beautiful Fattic, several Rivendells, a Raleigh Pro, Calvert Guthrie's International, and several other lugged lovelies.
The day was typical midwest summer: sunny, sultry and breezy. The route featured a mix of roads and bike paths through Shawnee Mission Park, no long climbs but several steep walls. Out of respect for the heat, the pace was moderate, and everyone was loaded up with water. The only mechanical mishap was a pinch flat for Sarah in the last two miles of the route. Her bad karma was brought on, no doubt, by not having tire levers. Your correspondent enjoyed the rare privilege of lending a tool to an ace mechanic, and also having a good excuse for trailing the pack back to the shop.
Some pictures are up at
http://photos.yahoo.com/
Several of the bikes listed above are there, and you can see the groovy graphics of the Eisentraut, the Paramount's beautiful pin striping, the Mercian's nifty bottom bracket and other shots. You will also see graphic proof that Kansas City is the biggest Vintage Bike collectors region in the world!
Riders included CR list members Jeremy Haynes, Sarah Gibson, Tony Zanussi and your corespondent. And I hate to admit it, but the name of the Paramount rider has slipped my mind (Leon?! Ivan!? 10,000 apologies!) but he was a CR member. Of course I can remember that he was the original owner of the Paramount, bought it in 1970, had the factory do the lug pin striping, rode a 47 tooth small chainring with a 26 or 28 tooth freewheel, had a PX10 that he also loved, and dropped me like a sack of coal at the end of the ride. So you can see I remember the important stuff! (Note to self: start writing this stuff down! sigh). Anyway, take a look to see some pretty bikes.
Thats all for now. Please join us next month for the next thrilling chapter in the Kansas City Vintage Bicycle club! All the Jet Set are planning to be there.
Tom Adams, Kansas City