[CR]One man gathers...

(Example: Production Builders:Tonard)

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 06:22:45 -0800 (PST)
From: "MARK" <mhoffman0@snet.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]One man gathers...

Having been very busy lately, and behind on my reading, I had a moment of clarity to share this morning.

Just thinking about one of my favorite bikes, a beat-up Dawes Double Blue. It's currently on loan to a single-biked friend who trashed his Bianchi recently in a clash with a dog.

I "recovered" this frame from the trash pile at Anown (sp?) America, the firm that was a Dawes distributor in the 70's. It needed some "love squeezes" and filing to make it roadworthy, but I had more time than money. I painted the seat tube in subsequent years, thus turning it into a Triple Blue (the paint wasn't an exact match). Anyway, the bike has provided many happy miles, adorned with it's Grateful Dead sticker headbadge. Anyway, this bike, beat as it is, had nice lines, a comfortable solid ride. and a very sexy fork with "chrome tips up to here". So I think it's a beutiful bike, in all it's beatific beatness.

Mark Hoffman, New Britain,CT

p.s. I remember a cute Norman Fay, in that mustard color. I think it had something square on it. Maybe the brake bridge? It was in the windoe of Suburban Cycle when I worked there, so long ago. I always wished it were my size.."just rollin' away from yesterday, behind the bars of a stolen Norman Fay...."