Original Message: ----------------- From: Richard M Sachs richardsachs@juno.com Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 10:58:23 -0500 To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Re: was1970's TdF Reynolds Film/Marchetti + Lange nowtubedeath
"***warning - strong opinion follows***
If you want to see "rough", grab a Cycling Plus from last fall - the issue with the pictorial on Hero Bicycle Company in India."
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Er, yes... I did see that! To me it was utterly reassuring to see the ties of Empire still strong. Indians still build bikes the British Way and it's not a pretty picture! This photo feature would induce cardiac arrest in any OSHA bureaucrat for sure. India may have the Bomb but the biggest WMD in their arsenal has to be the chome vat in any cycle factory.
Having said that, most of the Indian bikes and components I've seen, whilst resembling their British forebearers, are absolute total C**P. It's too tempting to say "Well I can get all the British spares I want for roadsters from India..." but then you get them, you realise they are cheaply chromed and appallingly machined.
It would be wonderful, though, to get a dvd with some of these cycling films on them... surely Raleigh turned out a ton of them, all leafy lanes and clicking SA gears, Reg Harris smoking his pipe and riding his Lenton (or whatever we decided it was... a Masi I think) and spotless white-smocked employees spra-bonderising frames. The Italians have recently put a ton of Fascist Era propaganda films on tape/dvd including the Mille Miglia auto races and those glorious red Alfa Romeos; I wonder if they've done anything on cycling during the period?
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
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