Covering a couple of current threads simultaneously:
38 years old here, born in 1967, and from my point-of-view the CR cut-of
f date could almost be 1975! Not many '80s bikes interest me at all. Int
roduction of the Campagnolo brakeset (1968 if I've remembered Chuck's ti
meline correctly) virtually heralds the beginning of the end. Okay, I'm
exaggerating--but just showing you it's possible for the relatively youn
g (say, the under-40 age cohort) to develop biases favoring "the good st
uff"--stuff from before they were born. Yes, not unlike the pre-war inte
rest alluded to.... Thumbing through the 2003 Tour de France official ce
ntennial book, I start to lose interest when the fashion switches (back)
to sidepulls--and color photos become increasingly prevalent! Yet I por
e over the earlier photos.
Give me those Mafacs and Universals and the machines that go with them.
>From my point-of-view, the world was simply aesthetically much more all-
of-a-piece up through about 1966. Simply everything looked good, even th
e highly modern set in relief against the Art Deco, streamline moderne,
Victorian or what-have-you. By 1976 things that would have been accident
ally right previously began to become accidentally wrong nearly every ti
me. The evolution of cycling shoes would be just one example! But I reco
gnize this is a peculiar sort of prejudice, purely a bias I've developed
in my own historical moment, from a 1970s childhood onward. Yet for bet
ter AND worse, that is partly why I am here, reading your words every da
y. Fun--and sometimes very informative--and a nice way to be included in
a multi-generational community outside ot the family and immediate loca
le. I love it that we are international and cosmopolitan here, too.
Thread the second:
I sold a friend--a very casual cyclist--a '73 FAVORIT two years ago. I h
elp him maintain his stable of three bikes (the others are a Peugeot UO-
8 and a TYLER girls three-speed from Poland), and had cause to have my h
ands on the Favorit just the other day. The marque definitely deserves r
espect--if nothing else for being a vertical operation making so many pr
oprietary components, and quite decent ones. I'm thinking of the brakes,
the chainset, and the stem--but also, perhaps, the freewheel, marked Ve
lo, Made In Czechoslovakia. It more-or-less resembles a Regina, and is I
believe a high quality piece, but the outer cog is formed differently (
and beautifully). Well, we swapped-out the 14-22 "Velo" -brand freewheel
for a 14-28 Maillard, which paired with the stock 49 / 46 chainrings, w
ill better suit my friends style of riding (his UO-8 has a Sugino Maxy t
riple on it).
Anyway, Favorit--think of the beauty of Prague when considering this mar
que. I hope to visit that city someday, now that it is so much more poss
ible--speaking of geopolitical developments. Anyone seen the Czech film
Daisies, from '66? Off-topic, except you just know there are bicycles in
it--streets in that era?--and if you've seen it, you'll know that it's
existence supports the point made by the gentleman from Montreal--that a
lot of creativity was crushed and snuffed out of the so-called "Prague
Spring"--so it is impressive in a way that some good bicycles came out w
hat had become a very oppressive place--I get it (I think everyone actua
lly probably agrees on that subject--if they've stopped to consider the
legacies of the cold war lately--and some missed the roundabout complime
nt to the States as a free society--perhaps with a good borrowed rocket
scientist or two in its employ). Both film and bicycle, at any rate, wer
e in theory exportable--but I guess film and such-like cultural expressi
on seemed that much more subversive than hard-goods like cycles, and thu
s to be quashed or censored--though, in a sense, bike development may ha
ve been frozen in that cultural winter, too...(joking now about the 50s
in the 70s nature of some bike-boom models:) not a bad thing from time-t
o-time for someone as aesthetically retrograde as I--ha!
And, yes, taking us back to the fun zone & the other thread, the slightl y younger generation can dig the second and third tier of bikes from "be fore their time"; factory made stuff, frames from obscure workshops--at least in a few instances, a certain number of adventurous souls (who re ad)--but I do concede the point that, as with pre-war stuff, some lesser known items and marques will become rather obscure tastes. They already have been for some time. Hurrah for and hats off to those with obscure tastes--keepers of the flame, indeed. Who knows--and who really cares (I mean this with all gentleness, because of course I am price-conscious)- -where the market will go, because it is out of our hands (though parado xically precisely within our power)? We all will enjoy the ride--of the bikes, and the ups and downs of the market--while we are here. We are al l both paying and profiting all the time; the market works in our favor, and works against us, on different occasions, different days.
It's always fun to concede someone else's point, by the way--nearly as m uch fun as persisting in pressing one's own point! I drink to the diplom ats among you. No need to be fierce here. That's for the street, when au tomobiles are hemming one in and not giving an inch. Cheers! Sorry this got so lengthy. I'll hand the microphone to Norris (n ext time he cares to write) and the rest of my respected elders--and pee rs. Tom Ward New York, NY
P>S>the Favorit came with alloy rims with "Favorit" labels--but they are
marked 27x 1 1/4 when they are actually 700C! Mistake, or tricky market
ing--I'm entertained, either way.
P.P.S. Thanks to someone here in NYC for helping me move up to 42 / 45 y
ear old Frejus! Check is at your house now--working on the next.