I too had forgotton those names until I saw them in Jerry's post. My first "real" job was as a bicycle and toy assembler for National Auto stores. I started the Christmas season, 1970. I remember brands like this, and the Elvish, which I figured was named after some French hip wiggler. These bikes had all kinds of French, German and sometimes Italian parts that I had never seen before and which usually didn't work very well. I developed a bad taste for CLB, Ballilla and Altenberger that I never outgrew, even after CLB released their nice later models. I should have gone into engineering after all the problem solving I had to do to get those bikes to ride safely for the kinders. I recall that I worked by myself in the back corner of the upstairs warehouse in a 100 year old brick and wood city store. It was quite an experience, and the beginning of my career as a wrench. I loved it, warts and all.
Perhaps we should start a thread on the seminal experiences list members had with the bike biz. What was the mechanism by which you went from rider to bikeshop/industry employee/professional?
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont
>
>In a message dated 7/27/02 8:31:58 AM Central Daylight Time,
>jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net writes:
> Then there were the bikes sold under names like "St. Tropez, "St. Etienne"
>Holy mackerel, I forgot about those! We had dozens of them come into our
>shop for service in the late '70s. I don't remember any area shops selling
>them, though. I wonder where they all came from? Woolco or K-Mart?
>
>Greg Gagliano
>Olathe, KS