Vladislav Luskin wrote:
> I heard from a source I consider reputable that Euro-Asia Imports
> has a warehouse full of Super Record and Nuovo Record parts.
Not from what I've seen but I guess anything is possible.
Here's a little bio of Bob Hansing and Euro-Asia that's pretty interesting. Bob was the coach of the US Olympic Cycling Team for the Mexico City Olympics in '68 and one of the founders of the Encino
Velodrome.
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When Bob Hansing started EAI in 1973, he had amassed 29 years in the bicycle industry. His career in cycling began in 1944 at Village Cycles, a bike shop in No. Hollywood, CA. He was 12. For 5 years he juggled school with work at the bike shop to help support his mother and 2 sisters. Upon graduation, Bob married his high school sweetheart Beverly and enlisted in the Navy where he rode for the Naval Cycling Team. Bob continued racing even when his ship was deployed to Korea. Many of his races were on portable wooden tracks.
Upon his discharge in 1955, and with the help of his childhood employer, Jack Kemp, Bob opened his first bicycle shop in Montrose, CA. He also began importing and distributing bicycles and parts as a second business. That importing company, Montrose Bike Imports, was the first importer and distributor of Campagnolo components in the United States. In 1963, Bob moved his retail store to a new, bigger location.
The 1970\u2019s were busy for Bob. He retired from retail in 1971. He worked briefly for the importer West Coast Cycle before starting EAI in 1973. In that same year the Shimano family asked Bob to head Shimano American Corp. He took the position of president and ran both
Shimano and EAI until 1976 when he chose to focus solely on EAI.
In 1983, Bob purchased property in La Crescenta, built a warehouse and moved EAI there. He thoroughly enjoyed his work and remained active in the day to day operations of EAI until he passed away in 2001.
Today, Euro-Asia Imports is still in La Crescenta and has expanded to
3 warehouses. It is still owned and operated by the Hansing Family and just as Bob did when he started EAI, we take great pride in scouring the globe in search of the finest professional racing and touring equipment from Japan, Italy, France and England. These components are housed in our warehouses in La Crescenta and are ready
to ship to\u2026you.
http://www.euroasiaimports.com/
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Encino Velodrome site http://www.encinovelodrome.org/
Robert G. Hansing To members of the bicycling industry, Bob Hansing was a pioneer. To friends, he was one of a kind. To his family, he was unbelievably generous.
Bob Hansing, a lifetime resident of the Glendale and San Fernando Valley area, died on February 2, 2001 at the age 69. Born in Glendale
on October 21, 1931, he spent his youth in North Hollywood. He graduated from North Hollywood High where he met his wife Beverly. After serving 4 years in the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict, he
permanently moved his family back to the Glendale area in 1955. He established two local businesses Montrose Bike Shop, which has been family owned for 46 years, and Euro-Asia Imports, a bicycle importing
company.
In 1951 Bob joined the Navy and married Bev while still completing Boot Camp. He earned a rating as a diesel engineman, graduating 3rd in a class of 80. His first duty was on a sub-chaser off Korea, which
lasted 1'/2 years. Next he drew duty on an Attack Transport. It was while assigned to these ships that he gained his first exposure to Japan via the naval ports of Yokohama and Sasebo.
While others headed for the bars Bob headed for the nearest Japanese velodrome. He borrowed a bicycle (far too small for his Western-size body) and got the feel of the oriental oval.
During his final year in the Navy, he was assigned to Special Services. And when an Officer heard about Bob's bike racing background, he snapped him up to ride on Navy time: it seems the Marines had just gotten one of their men to set a cross-country record in the USA (18 days) and the Navy wanted that record. Even though the record attempt never materialized he was happy to be back on solid ground, doing what he enjoyed.
After the Navy, Bob opened the doors of Montrose Bike Shop in February 1955 and moved it to its present location in 1961. He became
one of the first importers of high quality European racing bicycles and components in the U.S. and most of his customers drove long distances to buy the exotic items he acquired. He founded the Montrose Cycle Club, which was an active club for over 35 years and counted several national and Olympic cyclists among its membership. Thus, Bob's natural inclination to sponsor racing, led him into the involvement with the Amateur Bicycle League of America, serving as a member of the Board of Directors for 15 years, as a coach of the USA Olympic and Pan American Teams, and as a member of the U.S. Olympic Cycling Committee. Bob was one of four founders who built the Encino Velodrome where he announced the races for many years while Bev worked the concession stand. He served as coach of the 1968 U.S. Olympic Cycling Team in Mexico City and managed the Pan-American team
in Cali, Columbia in 1971. He was president of Shimano American Corporation, where he retired from Shimano in 1971. In 1973 he established Euro-Asia Imports, expanding his business to Japan. Bob and Bev enjoyed a wonderful life filled with d ear family and friends
and happy travel memories.
Encino Velodrome
It all started in a rather casual way, four good friends, George Garner, Bob Hansing, Jack Kemp and Charlie Morton, all avid cycling enthusiasts and successful business men in the bicycling industry, out on a bicycle ride exchanging war stories and bragging a little to
each other.
And then it happened! Bob Hansing, the youngster of the group and always coming up with a new idea or plan posed a question half-aloud,
almost rhetorical in nature: "What if we build our own velodrome?"
Later that year, it was 1953, Charlie Morton was playing golf with a good friend from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers who was a member of the West Valley Youth Organization, when the conversation turned to thoughts and plans for the future.
When the golf game was finished, Charlie Morton had heard the story of a small piece of land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, located in the Sepulveda Dam Flood Control Basin, begging for someone
to do something with it.
From these two conversations emerged a plan for building a velodrome
for Southern California's cycling community.
The four men, George Garner, Bob Hansing, Jack Kemp and Charlie Morton, moving with conviction, formed a non-profit corporation and enlisted the help of the friends of cycling in Southern California. Importers, distributors, manufacturers, dealers and members of the cycling community were called upon for ideas, inspiration, and most important, donations.
Toward the end of the fifties, the four founders, each investing a large amount of their own money, made arrangements to secure the land
and begin construction of what we know today as THE ENCINO VELODROME.
As expected, the instant the final grading had been completed and Garner, Kemp, and Morton stood together admiring their work, they looked up in silent amazement to see the fourth member, Bob Hansing riding his bicycle on the newly graded dirt oval. And so it was that Bob Hansing became material for Trivial Pursuit" and went down in history as the first person to ride the Encino Velodrome.
The track was finished and covered with a layer of asphalt in time to
start the 1961 cycling season, with a spring season of track racing. Racing at Encino Velodrome continued and grew; actually enthusiasm and support was so high that by by 1963, the four founders were able to cover the asphalt with a layer of cement.
George Garner, Bob Hansing, Jack Kemp and Charlie Morton have left us
with an example of what dreams, determination, and hard work can produce. They have also left us with a legacy and a challenge. The legacy is the physical plant: Encino Velodrome. The Challenge is to continue to improve and develop the facility SO that today's youth and the youth of tomorrow, will have a place to learn and the opportunity to become champions like those that rode before them.
It is with these thoughts foremost in our minds that we celebrate the
42nd Anniversary of the Encino Velodrome.
We thank you all\u2026
The four founders, the many men and women who raced on this track and
lots and lots of volunteers.
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Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, Southern California
United States of America
http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)