Re: [CR]Re: Most Collectable bike

(Example: Framebuilders:Norman Taylor)

Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 13:20:18 -0800 (PST)
From: "Jay Van De Velde" <jaysportif@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Most Collectable bike
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <a052106c4bbeabfb71a61@[66.167.253.162]>


Speaking of Eddy's bikes, the seller of this bike on eBay(previously outed) claims it is a race-used bike. http://ebay.com/<blah> Since most every trace of originality has been removed or painted over, does it have any significance? As Jan asked: "And of course, can you restore a historic bike without losing its history?" Jay Van De Velde Seal Beach, CA

Jan Heine <heine93@earthlink.net> wrote: That bike was displayed on loan at Il Vecchio's in Seattle for a year or two. Unfortunately before I moved here. Must have been the early 1990s. But luckily, good photos were taken, so it'll be in VBQ some day.
>Paul opened the door and there was the
>hour record bike just leaning against some shelving.
>
>Morgan "Merckx fan" Fletcher

Morgan's point is well-taken: It's not just the hardware, but the history, that makes a bike collectible. For me, tops is the the Herse tandem that won PBP in 1956, the Poly de Chanteloup in 1957 (ending Lyli Herse's 7 or 8 year reign) and a number of other events at the time. Featured in at least two D. Rebour center-spreads in Le Cycle, all top of the line equipment.

Or maybe the Alex Singer that won the technical trials in Colmar in 1946. A little over 15 lbs with racks, fenders, lights (including a battery, so lights worked when stationary), but without tires. Set a record for light weight that never was bettered at the technical trials. And it won the trials, because it lasted the distance without any technical problems. The frame still exists - Ernest Csuka is showing the details in the next VBQ.

What about LeMond's TT Botecchia, on which he won that famous Tour in 1989? Ushered in the era of technology at the Tour - those aero bars. I once saw the bike, and it was a bit disappointing. Extremely heavy. Maybe it was a repro made from rods instead of tubes, and the original was squirreled away somewhere?

The problem is obvious: Bikes with history often are a bit cobbled together. The extra lights, etc. on a PBP bike make it less "pure" than a standard model. The trials Singers were cool, but not very graceful with cut-away fenders and the steerer tube extending beyond the stem (to enable the required adjustability of the clamp-on "Ahead" stem). Eddy Merckx' hour bike was functional, but the stick-on Windsor decals (if that is what the bike wore on the great day - on some of the photos, it looks as if the Windsor was cut and pasted into the photo instead, because it doesn't show the distortion you get when photographing a logo on a tube) was a bit tacky.

I prefer the historic bikes, but I know others would rather go for a pristine "catalog model."-- Jan Heine, Seattle Editor/Publisher Vintage Bicycle Quarterly http://www.mindspring.com/~heine/bikesite/bikesite/ _______________________________________________

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