[CR]Vintage Bicycling / Bike World Library Now Online

(Example: Framebuilding)

From: "R.S. Broderick" <rsb000@hotmail.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 11:25:23 -0500
Subject: [CR]Vintage Bicycling / Bike World Library Now Online

As many of you may already be aware, I have been ever so slowly working on digitizing much of the 1960's through 1980's cycling related material I have on hand in the form of catalogs, brochures, sales literature, and the like in an effort to provide yet another solid informational repository and virtual museum which will be of benefit to the vintage cycling community as a whole. To that end, late last year I began a process of negotiation with representatives from Rodale Press for permission to republish on the internet select articles from likes of Bicycling and Bike World magazines. I am now pleased to announce that an agreement has been struck and conditional permission for republication has been granted. As a result, this new resource is now being made available to the general public and I invite any and all interested parties who may wish to review that material which has been digitized thus far to do so using the following link:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/broderir/

Once you have accessed the high level album using the link provided above, click on the album entitled "Catalogs / Brochures / Posters / Decals / Ephemera".  Next, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on any of the three appropriate sub-albums. I have somewhat arbitrarily chosen to categorize articles in the following manner:

1) Maintenance / Repair / Miscellaneous Technical Information - technically oriented articles either detailing the "how to" of proper maintenance or which provide descriptive specifics pertinent to vintage components available at the time of publication (...please note that this does NOT include articles covering various aspects of riding technique, dietary considerations, training regimen, or the like).  Only in instances where the article in question puts forth a subsequently debunked philosophy or where its contents have become particularly antiquated (...and I am primarily referring to maintenance practices and procedures here inasmuch as ALL of the componentry itself could be considered "antiquated" at this point) have I chosen to omit an article from selection.  I have not included manufacturer specific articles (...Campagnolo, Simplex, Zeus, etc.) within this album as my intention is to place those particular write ups into albums dedicated to the manufacturer in question (...please see the Reynolds or Huret albums already existent on WoolJersey for example). Rather, the articles posted herein either cover multiple entities or have more generic application.  Additionally, I have also included copies of the Sutherland’s Handbook For Bicycle Mechanics, volumes 1, 2, and 3 (...although the third includes updates through 1985), but access to these is currently password protected until such time as I can similarly complete the negotiation process to secure internet republication rights for same under the "fair use" doctrine.

2) Road Tests / Reviews - as the name clearly states, this album contains various road tests and/or reviews of cycling manufactured goods.  Obviously, this would include articles covering specific brands of bicycles (...Atala, Colnago, Fuji, Peugeot, Raleigh, etc. - even those otherwise bizarre contraptions like the Bickerton folding bike that might be considered marginally topical from a CR List perspective).  Of course, both Bicycling and Bike World would occasionally provide a review of particular components and/or component groups (i.e. Campagnolo Super Record in Bike World 12/74 or Gipiemme in Bicycling 11/79 or Zeus 2000 in Bicycling 07/80, for example) or a "corporate profile" (i.e. Reynolds Tubing in Bicycling 08/74 or Trek in Bicycling 02/78), and I have digitized those as well for inclusion within either the "Road Tests / Reviews" album (...as in the case of the Trek article) or the respective component manufacturer specific WoolJersey album (...once again, please refer to the Reynolds specific album for an example of this wherein one may find the aforementioned Reynolds article).

3) Trade Show / Expos - Reports from various trade shows and expos such as the Paris Bike Show, the Milan Bicycle Show, the Cologne Bicycle Show, and the New York Cycle Show.  My primary reason for posting these articles is that they serve as an excellent guide to help determine exactly when particular items were introduced to the public inasmuch as these shows were often used expressly to debut new components and ideas.

My intention and desire is to ultimately post information from the likes Bicycling, Bike World, Bicycle Guide, Winning, American Bicyclist, and Shimano World through the year 1986 and no further (...by that time, indexed shifting had taken hold and the whole landscape of the cycling world changed dramatically).  At this point in time, I have almost completed the process of digitizing and uploading to WoolJersey articles from those copies of Bicycling and Bike World that I have on hand through the year 1980 (...so, that means six more years to complete before I start contemplating work on Bicycle Guide, Winning, American Bicyclist, and Shimano World). And while I would like to say that I have each and every copy of the two particular magazines in question that were ever published from their inception through 1986, sadly that is simply not the case.

Therefore, I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly solicit the vast collective resources of the CR List for help in "filling in the gaps" for those issues of Bicycling and Bike World which I do not personally have. To that end, I ask those who might be in a position to help with this undertaking to please contact me "off list" so that we can best coordinate an efficient and effective way to complete this process. With the understanding that it might prove prudent to be able to review a list of exactly which issues are or are not MIA at this time, Andrew Conway has been kind enough to build a simple and straightforward spreadsheet detailing exactly this information using Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and I would be most happy to provision access to this tool to other individuals upon request.

Of course, any comments and/or suggestions that people may have regarding the presentation of material within this new library would be greatly appreciated, although once again, I might suggest that this input be made "off list" if only in an attempt to keep CR List postings as focused as otherwise possible.

Robert Broderick ...the "Frozen Flatlands" of South Dakota Sioux Falls, USA

P.S. At the risk of stating the obvious, I should mention one very important caveat regarding the republication of this material. While any and everyone is welcome to link to the articles and information as posted to WoolJersey, wanton plagiarism and/or republication of same without copyright acknowledgement in other venues is not likely to be looked upon favorably by the fine folks at Rodale Press and may lead to a revocation of our agreement - so please use common sense and discretion with respect to this new resource.

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