Conrad actually started off in the commercial drapery business, but he got the idea to rent bicycles at his store front. He came to Hempstead Cycles, where I worked in the early '70's and bought six Raleigh DL22's as his rental fleet. I guess he started doing some bike repairs. One thing lead to another and pretty soon the place turned into "Conrad's Bike Shop". A year or so after that we sold him a container of Raleigh Professionals and Internationals that Raleigh was trying to dump. Conrad took the groupos off those bikes and put them on Colnagos and Cinellis; and we sold him hundreds of NR Italian bottom brackets. That was phase one of Conrads becoming NYC's "pro bike boutique"...
Jamie Swan Cell - 516-238-6782 Centerport Cycles Inc. 245 Main St. Northport, N.Y. 11768 631-262-0909 http://www.centerportcycles.com (mapped) http://www.cabinfeverauctions.com http://www.limws.org http://www.liatca.org
On Apr 13, 2006, at 9:26 PM, Mike Schmidt wrote:
> I was thinking about another Sara story but hope that this does not
> offend,
> but I heard it with my own ears. The period was sometime in the early
> 80's. This is about a Japanese Mother and Teenage Son in the store
> when
> Conrad was alive. I am in the store looking at some jerseys when I
> hear
> Sara refer to "Jap" components when she learns from her customer that
> Ugo
> DeRosa agreed to put Japanese Shimano components on a DeRosa frame
> that Ugo
> built for the boy. You should have seen Sara's face when she realized
> that
> she was actually talking to Mrs Shimano when it was explained to Sara
> that
> the lady's husband was also in the bicycle business.
>
> Mike Schmidt
> Stirling, NJ
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John T.Pergolizzi" <jtperry1@verizon.net>
> To: "'Chuck Schmidt'" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>; "'Classic
> Rendezvous
> Bike List'" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 9:49 PM
> Subject: RE: [CR]Boutique buying in the classic era -- Not quite the
> same!
>
>
>>
>> Chuck Schmidt wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Conrad's in NYC next to the United Nations was another 70s boutique
>> style store; they had nothing but the best of the best (is Sara still
>> around?)!"
>>
>> YES, Sara is still around and just as bitchy as ever. Always
>> wore a "victim of the press" lapel button. Her intention was to
>> selfaggrandize I guess, but nobody really gave a hoot about her except
>> to trade stories about her nastiness. DON'T call on Wednesdays unless
>> you want heart palpitations.
>> Story: I built a bike ( Barry Hoban frame; out of the Falcon
>> factory I think) for a very nice young lady back in 1981. We went to
>> Conrad's for something and when she told Sara about the new bike and
>> Sara was her usual nasty self, my friend told dear Sara in a quite
>> proper way to go stuff it! Very satisfying; glad I was there.
>> Conrad was a nice enough guy and kept her in check. That shop
>> was THE place back in the late 70's New York. He'd go to the N.Y.
>> show
>> and buy the best stuff on day 1. When you went to the shop, if it was
>> your size, good. If not, too bad, couldn't order a bike like that.
>> If you needed it, you went there and you PAID.
>> Got some sidi shoes one rainy day. Came with a genuine signed
>> Francesco
>> Moser picture card in the shoe box; still got it.
>>
>> John T.Pergolizzi
>> Brooklyn, N.Y.