RE: [CR]Re: Anyone recognize this head logo on an Ebay bike? Yes!

From: "Feeken, Dirk" <dirk.feeken@sap.com>
To: "'FujiFish1@aol.com'" <FujiFish1@aol.com>
Subject: RE: [CR]Re: Anyone recognize this head logo on an Ebay bike? Yes!
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 18:32:20 +0200
cc: "'classicrendezvous@bikelist.org'" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>

Mark, it is (nearly) impossible that you have a bike with similar head tube decal made of columbus steel. The bike of the auction is an 80s Kettler aluminium bike. Kettler was known for garden furniture, playground equipment and the famous "Kettcar" every 7 years old boy dreamed of (like http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3189007512 ) when they entered the bicycle market with ultra soft aluminium bikes which had a remarkable failure rate. A Vitus was a stiff rock compared. Nobody I know took their race bikes seriously. I remember that I was very surprised about the rainbow stripes their silver bikes were covered with, because it was hard to believe that anybody won a race with these bikes. It turned out that their company logo contained the rainbow colors and I suspect they were applied to the bikes without knowing of the meaning for cyclists. A very special memory of mine is a holiday on corse in the early 80s when I - proud owner of a Motobecane Club - met a boy of my age who rode like everybody of his familiy ultra cool lugged steel high end fully Campagnolo equipped italian style race bikes - with Kettler logo and colors! Unbelievable! The company made and sold only these flimsy aluminium bikes. It turned that the father worked as engineer for Kettler's bicycle department and that he preferred to ride real bicycles.

Dirk

BTW: Their current bicycles are typical modern commuter bikes, maybe a bit better than average.

-- Dirk Feeken Heidelberg Germany

-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of FujiFish1@aol.com Sent: Sonntag, 25. April 2004 20:08 To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Re: Anyone recognize this head logo on an Ebay bike?

Hey kids, Anyone recognize the head logo on this Ebay bike?

http://ebay.com/<blah oDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting>

or, Ebay item # 4125456190.

I think the bike is too new for topic, and it's aluminum. But, the logo on the head tube is VERY similar (save for the inclusion of a border, where mine has none) to that on an on-topic bike I bought from the Netherlands a couple of years ago (for the drilled out Campy parts that will be shown on my Italvega at Cirque in a few days). My frame has a Columbus decal. This frameset I have here has lug styling cues that very much look like some of Cuevas' early 70s bikes. It even has the "almost" wrap around seat stay caps, that end about 1/8" from meeting one another. The down and seat tube decals appear sprayed on with a stencil: HUISSOON SPORT, which I believe to be some local cycling club. The initials on the head that look very similar to the bike on German Ebay appear to be JHS (or JSH?). I've also noticed some Team Raleigh (753?) frames with similar lugs too. Actually, I have noted MANY different framesets by different manufacturers that have nearly identical lug windows to this bike, but usually there are other differences too that set them apart. Regardless of whether or not the logo on Ebay proves to be recognizable to anyone here, I do have plenty of PICs of my frameset, that I would just love to email to you experts out there for viewing. In fact, I'd be happy to send them to anyone willing to view, and give it a shot. Thanks very much!

I'M GEEKED ABOUT THE COMING OF CIRQUE 2004!!!

Ciao,
Mark Agree
Southfield MI USA