Re: [CR]Second Tier Bicycles worth mentioning

(Example: Production Builders:Peugeot:PX-10LE)

Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 18:58:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Fred Rednor" <fred_rednor@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Second Tier Bicycles worth mentioning
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <051420072232.19891.4648E3780009547B00004DB322028887440B029A019C0A0A9D00@comcast.net>


> ...Most companies had a big jump, for example > the Atala Valentino-equipped bike boom bargains > to the high-end Atalas...

I think mentiontion these Atalas is indicative of why this is such a difficult discussion. Before the "Boom" of the 1970s all the Atalas I saw - and I saw lots of them - were nicely made from butted tubing. Perhaps they made some less classy bikes, but the even the less expensive bikes you'd see at Stuyvesant Bike Shop (when they were on 1st Avenue in Manhattan) had the good tubing and Nuovo Record derailleurs.

In fact, if you were to look at photos of the nicer models' frames from that period - i.e. the Gran Prix, Conpetizione and Record - they would look indistinguishable. There would only be differences in the dimensions. But make no mistake about it, even the most expensive, hand made Atala frame from that period, was mass produced. Mass produced by hand perhaps, but mass produced nevertheless...

Just a couple of years later, during the bike boom, some less classy models appeared - including the Grand Prix which migrated downward from Columbus tubing, Nuovo Record derailleurs and Record hubs to "Tullio" tubing, Valentino derailleurs and Nuovo Tipo hubs. Still, the quality ofthe frame _building_ did not seem to suffer. Although made from less expensive materials, the frames still looked like a million dollars. And I pray that one would appear in my cellar tomorrow, to be used for a fixed gear conversion.

Having said all that, let me tell about you the finest looking "second tier" I saw during the mid 1970s. This was a Frejus that used a mixture of French and Italian parts - i.e. the aluminum version of the Simplex Prestige derailleur (was that the Criterium?), cottered Magistroni or Nervar cranks, Campagnolo Nuvo Tipo hubs. Every one I remember was painted black, with little or no chrome plating, but nicely done lugs. Again, we're talking about a bike that cost something like 90 dollars, but looked like a million.

Interestingly, 10 years later when I spent several months in Italy, I noticed that a fair number of racers rode bikes like this as their training bikes - especially in regions like Apuglia and Abruzzo, where money was more scarce than in the northern part of the country.
      Best regards,
      Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)