[CR]Tom Sander's Post (no need to put on the asbestos suit!)

(Example: Framebuilding:Norris Lockley)

To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "ADP" <aphillips9@mindspring.com>
Subject: [CR]Tom Sander's Post (no need to put on the asbestos suit!)
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 11:02:39 -0500

Tom...

I agree with your post and would like to add a few things that I've observed...

First, pavement suited bike popularity is on the rise again, at least according to the October 1, 2002, Bicycle Retailer (and industry news). This group includes the hybrids and comfort bikes, but the sales figures at the shop I work at, indicate that our road bike sales have increased dramatically during the last two years.

The mfgrs have responded by increasing the variety in their road bike lines significantly. Sadly, losts of these bikes will become the old Peugots, Miyatas and lower end Schwinns from the era that this list represents. The Tektro dual pivot side pull brake found on the $500 - $800 road bike will become the plastic Mafac centerpull of the past, functional, but with no character.

Don't think that the old straight gauge lugged Puch Mixte bike was built with any more care than my son's Giant OCR 2...

Still, what will become future collector's items are out there and I can see them becoming the new classics. Yes, TIG welding has replaced lugs in a lot of cases, but the small boutique frame manufacturer remains strong. That same October 1 issue of Bicycle Retailer cites this in an article that discusses the advantages and flexibility of the small manufacturer to the retail bike shop. You've got proven shops like Kelly and IF with thoughtfully designed and executed, lightweight, hand made, steel frames, you've got shops like like Bayliss, Columbine, Zinn, Sachs and Waterford, doing innovative things in a classic style. These are the bikes that will be cool collector's items in 2030 when someone starts another classic bike list featuring turn of the century bikes! The '03 steel, Campy equipped Raleigh International is gonna be a keeper someday.

I do think its terribly sad that nothing works together anymore, that I can't hang the best of Campy, Shimano, TA, Galli and Suntour off my bike and know that it will all work smoothly and I'll have the advantages of the best of the coolest. I also think its sad that my son will never know how to friction shift. I also think that its sad that if his STI blows up out in the middle of the GA countryside, someone may be riding home in one gear <g>. I am glad though that 7 speed Shimano is still trash to a lot of people. I like it, its cheap and it works well - as well as looks good on my old bikes as well as newer ones.

Another thing, our numbers are growing. I'm primarily interested in classics from my adolescence and early adulthood, and the number of bikes and parts from that time is becoming harder to find. I remember back in '92 my dentist sold me a early 70s Cinelli for 100.00 with Campy and sew ups that no one wanted. He'd taken it to various bike shops and no one wanted it, even in the bicycle-evolved Bay Area. Now, that same bike - I'd be selling it at Cirque and someone would be grateful to pay for it! You all know that its harder and harder to find cool old stuff going on E-bay for a song, that the price of what was once trash reflects this.

Think of what was trash to our parents, the highwheelers, the bone shakers, the odd one-off wooden rimmed beauties... I'll think of the delight of a list member coming into my shop and finding one Mavic MA 40, 40 hole 27" rim - NOS, or the collection of Campy brake cable housing hidden under the counter...

Ann Phillips in Atlanta, going off for a Sunday shift at the shop, digital camera in hand to photograph some NOS TA rings for a list member <g>