I apologize if my remarks to this list were understood to say no French bikes were known in the U.S. before recently. My comments were made in connection with a reponse to the question why Japanese constructeurs like Toei remain relatively unknown in the U.S.
I should have clarified that I meant the French constructeurs and their "culture" of fully integrated, completely custom machines, rather than French bicycle culture, which in this country consisted mostly of series-produced machines back then. I do not deny that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of French ten-speeds and racing bikes came over here during the bike boom years and even before.
Thank you for clarifying.
On a different note related to this thread, the impact of the French constructeurs was felt in this country in many ways. For example, the modern American performance tandem, oversize tubes, etc., arguably was based on the Jack Taylors that Santana was selling at the time. And Taylors used to be advertised as "machines in the continental mould," openly acknowledging the French influence. Jim Blackburns revolutionary racks also were inspired by those of the French constructeurs. And the first mountain bikes used parts that originated for "constructeur" bikes, such as Mafac brakes, TA cranks and more.
It is interesting that many of these things finally returned to Europe and became widespread after they had the American marketing muscle added to aid their dissemination. Most mass-produced racks sold the world over is a copy of Blackburn. And then you get German Tubus racks, which I believe were made in response to Blackburn racks breaking, rather based on a knowledge of the French constructeur racks. At least that is how they were sold at the time.
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles
140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.mindspring.com/
>I don't really think the French bike culture in US is any less
>recent than Italian. My first exposure to Lightweight European
>bikes in the early 70's was mostly French - Peugeots, LeJeunes,
>Gitanes. And the fact they were French was a major component of
>their "coolness". I think it was a matter of where in the US you
>lived. In CA, it seems to have been Cinelli and Masi that
>represented the cool European bike. In the Cleveland, OH area, were
>I first encountered lightweights, Peugeot was the icon, although of
>course a few lusted after all-Campy Cinelli SC's. On the East
>Coast, UK seems to have had the most influence, as Peter Weigle and
>richie both apprenticed at Witcomb and Doug Fattic (although he's a
>Midwesterner) at Ellis-Briggs. What does seem a bit more recent is
>the appreciation of the low-volume French "constructeurs" like Rene
>Herse and Alex Singer, whose products were mostly NOT racing models.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jerry Moos
>Houston, TX
>
>HM & SS Sachs <sachs@erols.com> wrote:
>
>Jan Heine wrote, almost as an aside:
>
>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.)
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>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/otb.html,
>http://www.sheldonbrown.com/velos.html. I do not know how much OTB was
>accompanied by an innoculation of French Bicycle culture.
>
>Harvey Sachs
>McLean VA