Jan Heine wrote, almost as an aside:
<snip>
We used to "ignore" the French and Italian machines as well, until some
people went over there and brought back news from that cycling
culture... For the Italians, that happened relatively early, while the
"French phenomen" is more recent, dating from the early 1990s, I'd say.
I am just the "second generation" in that respect - early proponents of
French constructeur bikes were Grant Handley and Mike Kone. (Of course,
French bikes in the U.S. are an older phenomenon than that, but the
culture never really made it across until recently.)
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All generalizations are expected to have exceptions (how's that for a
generalization?), and I'd respectfullly offer a couple on this point.
One would be Fred DeLong, author of one of the more prominent pre-1975
on recreational cycling in America, and one show showed me and many
others lots about French bikes and touring (Bias alert: I am included
in a picture in the 1975 edition). Another example, rather more obscure
to most, is Charlie Hamburger, whose line of OTB (Only the Best) bikes
is recalled by Cap'n Bike himself:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Harvey Sachs
McLean VA