Hi Dale,
Hi Everyone,
Thanks Tom ,
This is Raoul Delmare, writing to you from NorthEastern Kansas, very near the Kansas Nebraska border. I'm not far away from BOTH the geographical center of the main 48 states of the U.S.A., and also the geographical center of the whole North American continent .
I've lived in the states of Iowa , Missouri (Kirkwood, suburb of St.Louis) , Texas (South of Corpus Christi) , and Kansas. I've briefly visited Mexico , Deutschland , England , Wales , and the Republic of Ireland. Since my father's parent's families came from France, I should by now have visited there, but haven't made it there yet.
Nope, I don't own a bicycle shop. But the idea has tempted me. I've been the manager of two bicycle shops. I've also spent time in the warehouse of an importer of Italiano racing frames, racing shoes, sew-up tires, etc. And, I've been a teacher too! I've done well on exams, been named Teacher Of The Year in my second year of teaching, etc. But I've also done badly, poorly, on classroom discipline. I hate being the mean guy.
I can sum up my working experiences by saying that whether selling bicycles, or taking phone orders, or teaching class, I NEED to answer questions. Leaving a question un-answered hurts me. I believe in the power of facts . Truth. Facts. History. Accuracy.
Back to the point, I now have way too many bicycles, and bicycle parts. I ought to sell a lot of them. But . . .
And I enjoyed the C.R. List so much, when I was here in the past ! You folks are GREAT !! So where have I been ? My old computer died a slow painful ugly death. That was no fun. My new computer has been full of bugs and problems. That's been less than perfectly fun. But most of all I've needed to get a better grip on my life. If left unchecked , I've found it's very EASY to spend 10 or 12 hours a day, typing away, on the computer. I've also found that I get many other things done, if I don't spend all my waking hours in front of the computer . . .
And this computer still hiccups, and makes all un-saved data disappear. That's no fun.
And my e-mail server still has disagreements with this computer, putting in extra spaces between the lines. SORRY about that. Not really my fault. I could probably fix it by wiping the hard disc, and starting all over. But I'm just not excited about going through all that right now.
And I've been told I put too many spaces between words. I'll try not to. It's hard to break a lifetime habit, especially when I think it's a GOOD idea . . . But for you , Sheldon , I will try to cram my words together without any extra spaces. :^) I respect you buddy, greatly. :^) and for e-richie I will try to use more exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I still have an e-mail-box with limited capacity. And I still need to spend chunks of time away from this computer here. So I will need to step away from the C.R. List, again. But maybe I can go and come back, more times, in the future.
Bicycles Owned Now (a small sample) :
Rivendell Quickbeam (Curt Goodrich , Joe Bell , custom)
see it here ;
http://www.cyclofiend.com/
2003 Old Town Cyclery Santa Fe from Lenexa , Kansas , a suburb of , Kansas City , Kansas Thanks Sarah ! built up with Campagnolo Centaur group , I call this one my Old Town Cyclery Santa Fe Centaur , try saying it out loud, it's fun, this is a very traditional looking bicycle, Campy Centaur is THE ANSWER for traditional looking modern equipment, all shiny "silver" anodized aluminum, this bicycle looks very 1970's, except for click shifting on the brake levers, and Crank Brothers Candy pedals, and this is a fine riding machine !
1972 Frejus-Legnano Professional Record Super Corsa bought it new as a little punk kid, with a lifetime's worth of birthday and holiday money plus some little savings, I put something more than 35,000 miles on it, was originally all Campy except brakes, now has Campy brakes, had Brooks Pro Saddle, now has 1970's Avocet III, now has 1970's sealed Ti bottom bracket, now has 1980's tires, otherwise original I think I have all the parts I need to return it to original specifications, and I will return it to original specs someday soon-ish, I know I still have the original saddle and post, I know I have some Universal brakes ( including those quick releases! ) , I know I have a correct Campagnolo Italiano pre-1978 B.B.
circa 1977 Ron Cooper full custom I call it a "Race-Tour" , we started with his touring specs , and made it very racy , he numbered it as a touring frame-set ( # 169 if I recall ) , but it's very road race oriented , all of this makes it very much like a classic stage racing frame-set built up with light parts from small companies , many made in U.S.A. Campagnolo Super Record derailer set Campagnolo Record brake calipers (c.1979) with Cobalto levers and white hoods (c.1985) and full OMAS kit of titanium and aluminum (c.1979) and those finned Matthauser shoes (c.1977) Campagnolo freewheel 13 - 27 (anybody else ever buy a 27t Campy cog?) Stronglight ultra-light triple crank model 105 , oversize hollow titanium B.B. Aerolight pedals (East Rochester Machine Racing pedals still in the box , too pretty to use!) Avocet III saddle , on Weyless seatpost American Classic hubs and skewers (Weyless hubs still in the cardboard tube!) Modolo super-light stem and handlebar Mavic rims , early Open 4CD rims , Specialized Turbo S folding tires , latex tubes etc. , etc. , etc. I gather we are calling these "boutique bikes" now , go ahead , tell me I should have made it more practical , you'd be right to say it , I should have , but it sure does have a wonderfully light and spritely feel to it , just the way it is! Fun!!
1973 Raleigh Professional Track this is a serious project , paint is still so fine , such lovely paint and decals , chrome is very "freckled" with rust , parts have been swapped and re-swapped , this is still the way I bought it , with all wrong parts , this is a project
Raleigh Grand Prix & Super Course bicycles from the early 1970's . . . several projects here . . . I LOVE these bicycles! , steel cottered cranks , Normandy hubs , GB stems and handlebars , fine Simplex Delrin derailleurs , etc. , etc.
1893 Sterling "Built Like A Watch" this bicycle has old single-tube tires I'd guess are from the 1920's or 1930's , otherwise this bicycle is original , not quite ride-able , the all-wood wooden rims are cracked , rear axle nuts are missing , and the axle nuts are quite special , not easy to replace you think high technology is new ?? this 1893 bicycle has special hub flanges for STRAIGHT-PULL spokes , both front and rear , oh , and the spokes are tied and soldered too , fixed gear of course , the inch-pitch chain is block chain not roller chain , has a front spoon brake , has a steam-bent hickory-wood handlebar , I inherited this one from my grandfather's collections of stuff
1974 Schwinn Paramount Professional Track completely original , except for the stem and handlebar and saddle , lovely! , flamboyant Schwinn Radiant Coppertone paint
1973 Schwinn P10 Deluxe Paramount Touring 10-Speed bought it maybe 5 years ago, lightly used, and returned to original specs, looks great!, is now as original except for new Panaracer Pasela tires 27inch x 32mm, and Brooks B.17 plain saddle, rides great, feels great, fun bicycle, and against new modern bicycles, this one still WINS those coast-down-hill races, love those 1973 Campagnolo Record hubs !
A matching P13 Deluxe Paramount Road Racing 10-Speed (is it a 1972 or 1973 ? can't recall right now) Thanks Harvey ! this road racer matches the touring model, both are Schwinn Opaque Blue, that "baby blue" color, this one has also been used, messed around with, swapped, and returned to original specifications, love these !
1966 P12 Schwinn Paramount ( road model , plain , not deluxe ) love this one , all original , scratched , small dents , but still has the hand-laid stripes from the Schwinn Paramount shop ! this is the plain model , so it has the steel cottered Stronglight crank and plain straight seatpost , only thing it was missing was a pair of steel Lyotard platform pedals , Lyotard Marcel Berthet style pedals , and I happen to have some of those ! this bicycle is plain simple refridgerator white , with thin red striping , has the elegantly thin steel cranks , and has the elegantly thin steel Campagnolo Record rear changer , the original Brooks Saddle is date-stamped "66" and has been squeezed just a bit in a vise to make it thinner too , those were the days !!
1961 and 1963 Schwinn Paramounts chrome both have frame-sets which are fully entirely all chromium plated both are the DISTINCTIVE early-early-1960's Paramounts this was before Paramounts used Cinelli stems and handlebars , these both have Titan stems and Titan Maes handlebars Campagnolo seatposts were a very expensive option on these Paramounts , Paramounts came with plain aluminum seatposts stamped "Reynolds Aluminium England" , these both have Reynolds England seatpillars Campagnolo cranksets were a very expensive option on these Paramounts , Paramounts came with steel cottered Stonglight cranksets , one of these still has its original steel Stronglight crankset Campagnolo pedals were a very expensive option on these Paramounts , Paramounts came with Lyotard "Marcel Berthet" platform pedals , neither one of these has its original pedals the 1961 has Campagnolo Gran Sport derailers the 1963 has an early Campagnolo Record front , and a 1970's Shimano Crane rear
And I have run on too long . I've run on far, far longer than I intended . So . . .
I will shut up. And I will shut down this re-introduction. Thanks. Nice to be here. You folks are GREAT!
Cheers
:^)
Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas
U.S.A.