[CR]Re: French bike culture in America

(Example: Humor:John Pergolizzi)

Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 18:05:04 -0800 (PST)
From: <thteach@sonic.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Re: French bike culture in America

I can report seeing my first Alex Singer in 1974 at a Rapid Wheelman Bike Club meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was a chrome sport touring model, a.k.a a csuka racing (course) frame with a Singer stem and french brakes and derailleurs. It seemed like the equivalent of a chrome plated Raleigh Competition which sported TA Cranks, Huret Jubilee and Weinmann calipers.

I didn't see another Singer, in real, until about 1998.

I wasn't impressed at the time. In fact I was a bit put off by the heavy chrome steel stem and the wasteful excess brass fillets in the frame joints. I was 16. I chalk it up to my then ignorance of the constructeur Alex Singer, being enamored by the pearleasant beauty of the anodized aluminum finish of Campagnolo and Cinelli products, and hormonal influences to be conforming to the cool crowd, the racers. It wasn't until the mid 1990's when I was able to connect the dots and fully appreciate what I had experienced.

Todd Teachout
Hercules, CA