[CR]Re: 1983 and all that

Please consider me chastened and contrite after having the errors in my posting brought to my attention; I admittedly bit off more than I could chew.

In at least a few cases I’ve come to see that I was completely talking out my chamois. Specifically, I was wholly ignorant of the Michelin Elan tire. Perhaps the Turbos were a marketing triumph (I know that they were the first clincher whose advertising pushed them into my consciousness), but they were apparently not so revolutionary as I thought. Worse, I called the GP4 a clincher rim. I don’t even want to hazard a guess at the rim I was trying to name.

Generally speaking, all the innovations I touched upon have been around, in one form or another, since forever. For the most part I tried to append my entries with “became popular” rather than “was invented”, to signify that these trends were gathering momentum. I should have taken more care to ensure this was clear and backed up my suppositions with more research, for I recognize and applaud the role the list collectively plays in keeping the historical record accurate. I find the sociological trends to be interesting too, though. Cinelli’s “Death Cleats” preceded Looks, and some clipless attachment probably came decades before Cinelli, but they didn’t change the look—and sound—of cycling the way Looks did.

In the same vein, it's my recollection that ALANs were considered an "out there", risky choice (cyclocross successes notwithstanding), whereas the Vitus gradually gathered gravitas in the road racing fraternity, particularly once Sean Kelley began riding them. Of course, let’s not forget the Monarch Silver King!

I think Alexi’s Pinarello was instrumental in making “aero” brake cable routing significant, because I think Dia Compe became the first to market such levers in any significant numbers, and did so as a result of Alexi’s success.

True enough about the Nuovo and Super Record grouppos nearing the end of their lives anyway. Don’t you think, though, that Campy would have milked them a little longer, or roadies would have bought them longer, had not “new” Dura Ace and then “new” 600 appeared on the market?

Maybe the big difference between 1980 and 1985 had less to do with the march of technology and more to do with a new class of folks who came into the sport and were less entranced with the European weirdness of the whole thing (which I have always found intoxicating.) The triatheletes and, later, the mountain bikers wanted a different kind of flash, convenience, and experience, and a mature, post-boom industry was ready to give it to them.

Thanks for your patience.

Kris Green
Olympia WA