I was living in San Francisco in 1980, 1981 and part of 82, so I was in an American city that was simply infused with bicycle culture. For those of you that don't know, San Francisco had about a half dozen primo bike shops all within five blocks of each other, and this accounted for only a small number of the total bike shops within four or five miles of bike ground zero. I remember the Schwinn shop, the Lotus shop, the Fuji shop, the Trek shop, the Nishiki (I think) shop, the Shogun shop, and of course, the Infamous People's Bike and Tool that was run by one of the finest afficianados of fine steel anywhere. Every shop had cache and sex appeal featured along with their bikes, and as part of the sales rap. Only the Schwinn shop and the Trek shop were sexless, and being sexless in San Francisco is like being penny-less at a Republican gathering. Schwinn was selling family life and good outdoors exercise while Trek was selling fresh washed country smiling faces. I would like to say that I bought a Schwinn Super le Tour and was treated excellently by friendly knowledgeable staff. I sold that bike to buy a racier Fuji two months later and privately. Around the same time, I purchased a Trek for my girlfriend and had a similar positive experience... However the Fuji shop near Fisherman's wharf treated me with a certain aloofness that I associate with fine machinery and the Lotus shop had darkness and mystique, and the owner was too busy to even engage me in conversation (American Cyclery), but the racers hung out there and not at Trek's. This was the problem, Trek was selling American know-how and silver brazing while everyone else was selling romantic Italian road bikes as part of an intrinsic upgrade from inscrutable Japanese watch like perfection. Even the name Trek sounds very un-European and very un-Asian. It resonates much better now that Americans have actually won the Tour de France and Aluminum and Carbon Fiber are now king. Aluminum is Alcoa American and Carbon Fiber is Exxon now and then. Steel is only American when you take into account low volume shops. If you will just recall the movie "Bridge over River Kwai", you will have to agree that the American William Holden could not begin to understand the Japanese Seji Hiyakawa , nor the English Alec Guiness's sence of purpose, loyalty and duty. Holden was out for himself and cared little about tradition or lineage. This same feeling was alive in consumer's attachment to anything not American during the 80's bike boom.
Garth Libre in Miami Fl.