I have never travelled outside the states farther than Canada, but I had a cycling friend who went to China about 15 years ago and commented that it seemed everyone there rode bikes similar to the Raleigh DL1, which was a 28" wheeled rod brake holdover from the 1930s. I imagine the Brits setup factories in Asia which were taken over by Mao and never changed production. My friend said that the marketplaces in the rural communities would feature one or more "bikeshops," which consisted of a person squatting down in back of a series of bowls in which were laid out all the different rod brake parts and other assorted giblets that fit virtually every bike. I think Flying Pidgeon is a big name over there. The parts are very cheap, as it the labor. Nothing that has any life at all in it is wasted.
I have a brother who has sarted a kinderschool in the Philippines. Another brother (more mechanically inclined) went to visit and told me that he saw a Philippino mechanic putting a patch on another patch on a tube that already had at least 10 other patches. Also, the mechanic made the patch himself with an old tube and gasoline. A popular conveyance is a type of motorcycle that is powered by an engine from a waterpump that was left behind after WWII. There are hundreds of these running around Davao City.
When my Philippino sister-in-law visited recently, she became physically ill at one point because she was so overwhelmed at the conspicuous consumption of Americans and the thought of how this compares to the situation experienced by her extended family. We are, indeed, out of touch with the third world.
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont
> Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2002 13:10:36 -0700
> From: Pete Imandt <imandt@earthlink.net>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>,
> Erik Siverson <siverson@garlic.com>
> Subject: [CR]Herse - Dr. Clifford Graves - Slone
> --Snip--
> In addition to the many marvelous images presented in his slide show, two
of
> Dr. Graves' comments have lingered in my mind, and they are telling of the
> vast cultural differences:
>
> While in Peking, the bell on his bike gave up the ghost. Since they are an
> absolute necessity in China, Dr. Graves went to a local shop for a new
bell.
> To his surprise, the fellow behind the counter didn't offer the good
doctor
> a new bell. Instead, he disassembled the bell and identified the failed
> part. Then he opened a compartmentalized drawer and found the exact part
> from a neatly sorted collection comprising every part for every bell in
> China. The part was exchanged and the bell returned to Dr. Graves. He was
> flabbergasted by the level of service provided with the purchase of a
penny
> part. Also, that a whole drawer was devoted just to bell parts. Anyone
ever
> seen anything like that any where else?
>--Snip--