Dale and Brandon wrote:
"On Wednesday, Mar 2, 2005, at 07:51 US/Pacific, Peter
Weigle wrote:
> I agree with Dale, Uragos are special bikes! I can't
believe more
> hasn't been said about them on this list.
Folks talk about Peugeot, Gitane, Motobecane all the time, I think the problem is the best production bikes like Urago rarely made it to the U.S. I always keep my eye out for Uragos and Hurtus since all the examples I've seen really have been one step better than similar models from other makers. Of course there are undiscovered and underrated marquees from most countries. The upside of the "undiscovered" beauties is that they can be had for a mere pittance. enjoy,"
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Uragos are nice enough I suppose, but they always seemed to me to be not much different than a top-line Allegro, or Mondia, or similar production frame of the period. Not to mention the Swiss Condors. Mondia was around for as long, or longer, as was Allegro. And the nicest Mondias I ever saw were pretty nice. Including a track frame from from the 1960s I saw at CyclArt that was a real beauty. And the Mondia Special frame rides as nicely as any sport-touring frame I can think of. Custom or production. Whoever designed it knew what they were doing.
No slam intended, but I don't see where Uragos are all that different in kind from the better production frames out of France or Switzerland in the period involved. That said, some had very cool graphics, and pinstriping. So did Mondias, though. And Allegros.
Charles Andrews SoCal
"What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are."
- Epictitus