Nick Bordo wrote
I know I've amused some people with my RH fun-poking antics, and annoyed
many others (to my great satisfaction). This weekend, I bought in a
beauty. No RH or Singer, but to my eyes a beauty all the same, and well
worth saving. So I'm going to "save" her. You can see this bike and
exactly why I think it's important to preserve non-famous bikes at
http://membres.lycos.fr/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Nick - You write with passion, and the description/photos are wonderful. I don't know if this is me, or just a culture thing between your country and our culture (Yes, I'm "oppositional," also). If you go way back in the archives, you'll find discussions of "funk" and "funky bikes." Funk refers to a peculiar kind of light-hearted passion for stuff snobs can't see but some of us really love.
My own favorite example is my 1965 (or so) Sears Roebuck "Ted Williams Sport Racing". Sears Roebuck is the catalog seller, never identified with snob appeal. "Ted Williams" was a famous baseball player who endorsed a line of sports products. the bike itself combined a rather plain Austro-Daimler-Puch gas-pipe frame with some nice components for the time: Campy record derailleurs and shifters, Weinmann rims and CP brakes, with QR brake levers, etc. In short, the stuff visible to the eye was great value, the invisible frame tubing was not-so-good. But, it's a replica of my first "10-speed," so I can remember how much bikes progressed even in the vintage era. Others on this list are partial to the Schwinn Varsity and Continental models they first loved. These are functionally indestructible, with weight to match. Even the Huret Alvit was reinforced to make it kid-proof. The wheels looked as though they were desiged for medium-duty ski-lift service. Well, ski rope-pulls, anyhow. :-) Thanks for sharing the passion and the pictures.
harvey sachs mcLean "just inside the Beltway" va.