[CR]RE: Sun/Parkes History

(Example: Component Manufacturers)

Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:20:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Vic Davies" <vicdavies43@yahoo.co.uk>
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]RE: Sun/Parkes History

I, like Ray Green, would dispute any claim that Sun was solely responsible for a racing cycle design which was adopted as the worldwide 'standard' - in 1936 or at any other specific time. If you examine the record, it's obvious that the classic racing machine (if it can be defined as such) developed as the result of competition between (mostly amateur) racing cyclists, custom builders, engineers, and component manufacturers over several decades - arguably reaching its peak of development in the late 1940s.

I don't think it adds any credit to an excellent company like Sun - or to a man like Peter Parkes (whom I had the pleasure of knowing personally, and whose company were indeed influential, in common with so many others, during that period) when such a claim is made.

Otherwise, this was an interesting historical piece - and I guess the unbiased historian has yet to be born! - but please let's keep to the facts, and always make sure our feet keep firmly on the ground.

Vic Davies

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