Joel said: " It is fairly obvious that Lou site the Fred Delong bike as one that maybe shouldn't have won. "
Actually Joel, what I said was that it had Patina in neon lights. While I did say it was a ratty bike, I didn't say that with malice. In my opinion, the Delong bike was a great choice for Best Touring bike at the show. Nowhere did I imply that I didn't think it should have won. Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
"OK, this is too stupid for words." LTC (JS)
-----Original Message----- From: Joel flood <joel.p.flood@gmail.com> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:02:36 -0400 Subject: [CR]Judging Shows--Capital P for Patina
It is fairly obvious that Lou site the Fred Delong bike as one that maybe shouldn't have won. 2 different posts about the "probably one of the rattiest bikes I've ever seen" only drives that home. The bike has the provenance to at least make it in the running. And to site a recent article in Vintage Bicycle Quarterly it is an often difficult question. In this case, we would not dare think to restore to make it true show bike, but to make it as Fred delong once had it. It is a living document of his love for cycling and his desire to find improvement. The bike had many innovations that he picked up over the years of cycling touring and correspondences with various name-dropping marques like Herse, Singer, Louvet, the Taylor brothers and more. Just a few weeks ago the list was all abuzz of oversize top-tubes(1 1/8") and he had this custom Schwinn built with it in the mid 1970s. It also had a sloping top tube, extended seattube, rear brake cable ran through the seattube and many other features not found on bikes in the 1970s. These were mostly in part his design ideas, not Schwinn. As the story goes, they at first, did not even want to put their name on it, first decaling it the XP. They later wised up that it would be subject to much free advertising and gave in. There were many beautiful bikes there, but anyone in cycling collecting knows, a "Patina" bike with provenance trumps a lot of super clean bikes with no clear historical lineage and no real use. That is why Eddie Albert's showing was so great. Maybe there can be a "time capsule" category for bikes that have never been ridden. In dealing with our bikes and our collection at Via Bicycle, you will see an emphasis on bikes that have been ridden and bikes that show character. All that said, Cirque or any bike show, should never be a pissing contest. It should be you bring out your super cool bikes that you want all your friends to see and talk about (read-drool over). That should be the motivation. When there are such competent builders like Peter, Brian, Richie, and Mike, it is impossible for every year to say this year X is better than the rest. They know there level. It is past the point of them having to prove it to the rest of us that they are the KOFs. That is why it is much more generous to find those people that are as passionate with bikes as the big wigs are and acknowledge them. I am not saying handouts, like everyone wins for entering, but a little credit to the smaller guys quiets the spouses for another year of them talking and breathing the Classic Rendezvous air. Sorry for taking so long to say so little but a lower case patina can go a long way over putting NOS parts on an old bike. joel flood Philadelphia, PA http://www.bikeville.com