i grew up going to kopp's and consider fritz an early mentor. i think that bit about the cinellis is blown out of proportion. e-RICHIE formerly hightstown, nj
On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 18:14:51 -0700 "Jay Van De Velde"
<jaysports@lycos.com> writes:
>
> On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 15:32:58
> Chuck Schmidt wrote:
> >What I have heard repeatedly from guys in Europe about the old days
> is
> >that you wouldn't even dream of riding a pro bike (team-like model)
> if
> >you weren't a racer. The idea was that that bike would only be used
> for
> >racing and nothing but racing. You know, "I'm unworthy!"
>
> The idea that pro race bikes should only be ridden by the worthy was
> shared by some shop owners in the US as well. Fred Kuhn of Kopps
> Cyclery in Princeton NJ would not sell Cinelli Special Corsas to
> anyone who walked in off the street. One had to prove to Fred their
> worthiness, usually done by showing their prowess in the local
> Sunday peleton. Or he could be coaxed into selling a Cinelli if one
> proved to him to be an exemplary caretaker of the bike. This was
> related to me by a shop mechanic who worked at Kopps while going to
> school from '70-'73. He was able to buy a Cinelli because he met the
> second standard, but because he had legs of pasta, he felt unworthy
> of the bike. He rode it less than 400 miles before hanging above the
> fireplace, where it would only came down for a fresh coat of wax
> until it was sold to one lucky guy in California ;-)
>
> Jay Van De Velde
> Seal Beach, CA
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> Get advanced SPAM filtering on Webmail or POP Mail ... Get Lycos
> Mail!
> http://login.mail.lycos.com/