Well, thank you Aldo for such a well crafted message.
I confess I had not been keeping up with the e-mail this last while as I have been involved in burying yet another close friend. (Bannister Allen, many ways cycling benefactor.) So it is my fault to a degree that I have not monitored the list as tightly as times in the past...
After seeing all the mail generated over such minor points, I again must plead for more self control by list members (a few). The two most involved in this last thread are good guys who unfortunately come across as egocentric pugilists in their e-mail....
While we are on this subject, let me run through a few "interpretations" or clarifications regarding CR e-mail list topics*:
1. The subject matter should favor the machinery rather than social history. Not that the ideas and culture of the time spans in question are to be avoided, but that discussions should primarily surround the nuts and bolts. There may be a real need for a "Cycling history" e-mail list..
2. The time frame does stop at 1983 and likely will stay there, not going ahead each year to maintain a 20 year "gap" as was earlier discussed. This is for many (good) reasons which will not be recanted here. "C-Record", Victory, Triomph Chorus Croce D'Aune are all of a new era, post Tullio, which is not part of the CR topic period. Cool stuff (some of it at least!) but theoretically Off-topic.
3. Having said that, we will treat somewhat loosely those things that over lap a bit. For instance, a wonderful, continuing-marque bicycle that happens to have "C-Record" doesn't have to be ignored.
4. "Keepers of the flame" or "traditional approach" items which take their styling cues from the focus eras are fully acceptable as On-Topic. Perhaps these later examples of what we admire, more than with older bikes, their quality should be more of a determinant of inclusion? The craft (art?) of lugged steel frame making is currently at it's highest level in history (in my humble opinion.)
5. "Lightweight" was meant to include all sorts of traditionally built, non-motorcycle emulating bicycles, including for instance, hub geared "Roadsters and lugged bikes of most sorts. Excluded would be mountain bikes (Sorry Jeff Archer!), balloon tired bikes, carbon fiber bikes, most welded bikes.
6. Historical racers and races are good to discuss most especially when the "hardware" is part of the story..
7. Current races, including the Tour de France, are On-Topic. These get plenty of play elsewhere and, despite the appeal, clog up the works here on the CR.
One key problem I see with the CR e-mail is that some members come to use the CR list as their personal outlet for all-things-cycling, i.e., they interact on the list spontaneously and frequently as if it were a chat list. In a way, it is neat that we can become so comfortable with the CR list but in the end it is not helpful in our constant quest to be a list of less but more focussed mail.
Again, I urge all members to think twice before posting and rededicate to be On-Topic at all times. It has been suggested that perhaps we ought to limit ourselves to perhaps one post per day, the idea being that others, who remain silent, might then participate. I am not sure that would work but the self-limiting approach may have merit?
And as I write that, I think about how privileged we are to have so many true experts, frame builders, people with wonderful experiences who have been in cycling for 20, 30, 40 years! And then we have folks who are excited to learn and discover these wonderfully crafted bikes and parts... I don't want to discourage anyone who has valid valuable on-topic contributions!
(* these are not automatically applicable to the Cirque du Cyclisme)
I hope we all can refocus on all the above + maintaining the civility. Remember your e-mail may convey different connotations than you intend. Reread and edit your posts before sending!
I will try to supervise the CR list more, but spring has sprung big time at cycles de ORO, the Cirque is rolling in fast and things are crazy. Please help me keep the content and tone of the CR list at a high level!
Thanks in advance to one and all! Dale
Dale Brown
List owner
Greensboro, NC