I'm afraid my early cycling experience is far different from most folks. I grew up in a rural area of Arkansas. We rode our bikes mostly on dirt roads. They were all single speeds with drum brakes. Most of the time, the forks and frames came from different bikes and we scavenged motor oil from opened cans of oil at the service station to lube our chains. We took the one piece cranks apart to see how they worked and rebuilt them with grease obtained from the grease guns that every farmer had. My first experience with a derailleur bike was also my first experience with alcohol. I spent the summer in the college town, Fayetteville, where my brothers were going to school. One afternoon, one of my brother's friends brought over a pint of cherry vodka, which he mixed with cherry kool-aid. I drank a LARGE glass of it and he told me to get on his Schwinn Varsity and take it out for a hard ride, which I did. I rode out about three miles and had to return up a steep hill. I remember thinking that derailleur was pretty cool. I was pretty well looped by the time I got to the apartment. The next few weeks, I rode that bike all over Fayetteville. My Senior year in college (U of A in Fayetteville), I bought a Peugeot, one of only two in the state of Arkansas. But, it was a model 404 and had four wheels. It would be seven more years before I again owned a derailleur bicycle. Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
-----Original Message----- From: Scot Osterweil <scot.osterweil@verizon.net> To: Classic Bike List <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 22:31:23 -0400 Subject: Re: [CR]Re: What did you ride as a teen?
On money I earned in high school in '71 I bought a Raleigh Super Course, and when it was stolen in '74 I bought a PX10 with money I earned in college. Since I was going through serious equipment lust during my college years, in '76 I sold the PX10 to a friend and bought my Roberts which I outfitted with Dura Ace components. I believe it cost me $1,500 in 1977 dollars (again all earned by me). The lust subsided, and I've owned the Roberts ever since. When Breaking Away came out a year later I saw it several times, and didn't find his owning the Masi unrealistic. cheers, Scot O.
On Oct 13, 2005, at 10:11 PM, Davis Jensen wrote:
> As those at the frame building discussion heard, I ordered my Condor > Superb from Monty Young in 1975 when I was 17. The balance of the > parts came from a Mondia I bought used from an older racer I rode > with, and some parts I traded labor (assembling bikes) for at a local > bike store during high school. It was purchased with the hard earned > cash from my job installing irrigation systems at residences in the > Hamptons on Long Island. I at least got to see how the rich and > shameless lived! I started racing on an Orbea at 14 ($99, bought with > lawn mowing money) and then moved up to a PX10 in '72 ($210, more lawn > mowing)