Re: [CR]Re: French bike culture in America

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Campagnolo)

Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 13:02:11 -0800
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR]Re: French bike culture in America
References: <011720051949.25557.41EC16CE000C21C1000063D52200734830020E000A9C9D0A08@comcast.net>


Mike Kone wrote:
>
> But Chuck,
>
> Your experience was extremely rare. There were those in the know such as yoursef, but it was like a quiet little secret. My guess is that no more than 70 to 80 Herse bikes and perhaps also less than 100 Singers made it to the US from the 50's through 80's. If I'm wrong maybe the number is double that. You just happened to see them!
>
> In fact, there were two builders in Vermont making French style touring bikes in the 70's! But they weren't on the radar of most US tourists and certainly not of most racers.
>
> Note: A few Herse bikes and other high-end makes hit the east coast. But I was on the east coast and entering the sport in 1977 I missed out on knowing about these.
>
> For most of us, we never knew anything about these bikes. Campy was the religion and some among us knew the big picture. But almost all of us had no clue about french stuff at the time.

You were riding in the mid 1970s and missed the french "thing?" You must have hung around the wrong people Mike ;-) Most(?) of those people riding across the US in 1976 were on essentially "French-style" touring bikes.

The reality is that nothing much has changed much at all Mike. If you asked all the people riding bikes around the world about Herse, Singer, French-style touring bikes (I assume you mean bikes that come equipped with integrated lights, racks and fenders) the response would be a deafening silence.

Most on this list of 1500 only learned of these things after joining the list I'd guess. And randonee in the US is just the smallest of blips (percent of the bike riding public) as it has always been. Kind of similar to the situation in Woman's racing in the US. I haven't seen much actual change there since the mid 1970s either.

It is still "a quite little secret"...

Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California

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