A lot of the answer to this question has to do with, "Where were you living at that time?" Remember, it's way too easy to remember that New York City had whatever appeared in Paris a couple of hours later (or so it seemed), but those of us living 150 miles southwest (central PA) of the city were still living like it was five years earlier.
I lived in Erie, PA from 1968 through mid 1977, which we also my serious cycling years (version 1.0). The entire time I was there, 27x1-1/4" wheels were for the general use, 26x1-3/8" were for the cheap department store bikes, and 700C tubulars were ridden if you were in any way REALLY serious about your cycling. That meant about 15 of us in the city, of whom only half ever got comfortable enough with the format to consider it normal. And managed a lot of riding with very few punctures.
Nobody at that time had heard of 700C clinchers. If they'd been mentioned, the probable comment would have been, "Why bother? You've already got the 27" wheels."
Then again, in our little backwater of the world, nobody ever saw a Bianchi until the week of TOSRV, when that Aerosmith-worshipping, drug using (they fitted right in with our crowd), semi-psychotic bunch from Boston came into town in their Austin Maxi complete with roof rack crowded with bikes and enough Bianchi paraphinalia on the body to be considered a dealership on wheels.
They hit town, took over my attic shop for running repairs, rebuilds and the occasional build-from-scratch project, we partied like maniacs to a couple of days, and on Friday morning headed to Columbus . . . . .
One's memories of cycling are definitely tied in with where one lived at the time.
George R. "Syke" Paczolt Montpelier, VA Deranged Few M/C
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