Re: [CR]Visit to the Mariposa shop -- Mafac GTs, Mariposa closing shop

A naive response to this concern is informed by a situation I learned of in another city. An experience cyclist, "in the mature prime of life" came from a different professiona and career, and took over an independent bike shop, with the assistance of a supportive silent partner, also a cyclist with another career, who remains in the background. I understand the business has grown.

Maybe, whatever the skills Mike has, he has not approached or approached widely enough potential capitalists--I like to put the emphasis on the second sylable. Mike can't ride and run his shop. But three may be some here who can continue to ride--- while watching their money grow in what had been and might continue to be "Bicycle Specialties."

Harry Travis Washington, DC Middle North America

said Harry, stirred by: "Dr. Paul Williams" <castell5@sympatico.ca>'s message of: Friday 07 Dec 07 at 09:28 PM, On: Re: [CR]Visit to the Mariposa shop -- Mafac GTs, Mariposa closing shop [echoed below, in part<=1] -oOo- Adam,

While I am happy for Mike and wish him well in his retirement, this is something of a disaster especially, although not exclusively, for those of us north of 49. I had not had a chance to use his new painting facilities, but a quote I got for a frame paint job a couple of years ago seemed extremely good. I also had recently heard about his chroming set-up.

I was a customer of the original Bicyclesport back in the early 80s - truly a mecca! I still have a few of the items - parts and clothing - I purchased there enroute between my home in Kingston and university in Waterloo. I so infrequently go to TO these days that I had not had a chance to visit Bicycle Specialities.

IMHO we have too few vintage or vintage-sympathetic bike shops in Canada to afford to lose another.

Paul Williams, Ottawa, ON, Canada

----- Original Message ----- From: "Adam Hammond" <anhammond@gmail.com> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 9:04 PM Subject: [CR]Visit to the Mariposa shop -- Mafac GTs, Mariposa closing shop

>I had a chance to visit Mike Barry's shop today (Bicycle Specialties -- >home to the Mariposa shop). It's certainly an interesting place to > visit -- a store and also a museum, with a nice Rene Herse Camper and >numerous French and Italian restorations. Of course, many Mariposas as >well. Including this one: > > http://www.mariposabicycles.com/1972-mariposa-paris-roubaix.html > > In talking to Mike, I asked him what he thought of the Mafac GTs. He said > that he used to have a pair on one of his bikes, but that he found that > the quick release mechanism would suddenly release (quickly!) when > braking heavily -- i.e., right when you needed it. This was enough to > cool my enthusiasm for a pair. Indeed, maybe the death bike could use a > set. I did leave the shop with a nice pair of engraved Mafac 2000s, which > Mike was willing to let go for a very modest price. > > Indeed, everything in the store is on sale -- because, as many of you may > know, Mike is retiring. And he's been unable to find anyone to carry on > the business, so the 45+ people on the waiting list for a custom Mariposa > (including myself) are out of luck. Mike said that Bicycle Specialties > will be clearing out much of their inventory via their website > (www.bikespecialties.com), likely in the new year. It's certainly an > impressive inventory, with lots of NOS parts from the on- topic era. I > left the shop with quite a few nice TA bits. > > Mike sounds excited about his retirement. He said he intends to spend his > time riding, and restoring his own bikes. We can perhaps hope that his > son Michael will decide to take over the shop when he retires from the > professional racing circuit. > > For those of you not familiar with Mariposa, have a look at their website > at: > > http://www.mariposabicycles.com/ > > And here is a link to the letter in which Mike announces his retirement: > > http://www.bikespecialties.com/site/letter.html > > Adam Hammond > Toronto, ON, Canada > > > > --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- > multipart/alternative > text/plain (text body -- kept) > text/html > --- > _______________________________________________ > Classicrendezvous mailing list > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org > http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous >

_______________________________________________ Classicrendezvous mailing list Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous HPT -- ----------------------------------------------------------- travis.dot.harry.trying.gmail.com DemostiX