Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 12:39:22 -0500 From: Sheldon Brown <CaptBike@sheldonbrown.com> To: r cielec <teaat4p@yahoo.com>, Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: Re: [CR] What else did they make besides bicycles? Message: 15
At 8:50 PM -0800 12/19/05, r cielec wrote:
>Ahoy !
>
>What has prodded this question is the "Peugot Freres" manual coffee
>grinder
SB: I have a Peugeot pepper mill that my wife bought in France. I
understand they also make automobiles...
>I have and an over-riding curiousity as how the bicycle
>industry fits in the milleau of engineering and manufacturing. Example:
>aircraft alloys being used in the bicycle industry.
SB: Actually, it's the other way 'round...I understand the immortal Spitfire's airframe was made of Reynolds 531...
GP: As well as the "bonnet" of the E-Type Jag.... FWIW, current S-type Jags are built (partly) in part of the old Spitfire factory.
>Building bicycles does not appear to be an easy path, if any path, to
>wealth. What else did the "in time line" builders do to earn a living
>so they could pratice their craft? If the bike business was profitable,
>the Wright Brothers wouldn't have closed shop in favour of another
>venture.
GP: The profits from the Wright's shop (which is now recreated in Dearborn, Michigan at Greenfield Village) paid for their "hobby" of aeroplanes! Cycles were an expensive, premium product at the turn of the 20th Century.... "Auto-mo-beels" did kill much of the high-end bike biz soon after that, to a great extent, however. We are still struggling with that legacy in the USA today. SB: Columbia still exists, but no longer makes bicycles...these days they make school desks!
Campagnolo has made automobile wheels, including for Ferrari. Then there is the corkscrew...
I've heard that Saturn automobiles have Shimano transmissions, not sure if that's true though.
GP: Doubtful. However, the Saturn Vue does have a Honda V-6 engine! SB: And don't forget Gitane cigarettes, slightly milder than Gauloises...
Sheldon "Diversification" Brown