[CR]the Peace Race / near-random historical questions

Mark Bulgier wrote:
>The Peace Race was the Communist bloc's Tour de France. Its route changed from year to year, but one of the more common routes was Prague-Berlin-Warsaw as in '55 and '57. Just guessing that might be what the tires are referring to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Race ----------------Great link, thank you! I knew about the Peace Race, but had not done the research to know that it is still held each year. Now t hat it I know it runs each May, I will try to follow it--pour la paix! I've seen some attractive Peace Race memoribilia pop up on eBay--badges, maybe a program of some sort. Perhaps something to remember if visiting eastern Europe sometime--also versions of Primus-type stoves, as recent ly discussed onlist, made in the Soviet Union or east bloc countries as an alternative to the Swedish models. Or, if you can bring back a Swedis h model from Europe, more power to you! A poor stab at humor there. I sold my Kharkov bike to a list member a year or two ago, but I've seen a couple come up on eBay recently. One was a track model frame, the oth er a complete road bike--ideal for P-B-W, if you can't locate a Favorit.

The Kharkov components are marked in Cyrillic that reads 'XB3' in Englis h. The brakes, for example, were alloy, and not bad. I wonder if Kharkov
   (or Favorit, for that matter) ever got so far as to make a 3-piece, cot terless crank? Perhaps at some point in the 80s? Maybe there is a databa se of photos of Olympic cycling out there somewhere that can be poured o ver with a magnifying lens. What were eastern bloc riders riding--import ed Campagnolo, Stronglight, Nervar cranksets? I imagine that after Munic h (1972 for those too young) or so, if not far sooner, cottered cranks w ould just feel too embarassing in high-level competition, even if only o n the level of fashion. Of course, now that no one is willing to make a good looking alloy crank
   (opinion, of course, but you see how loyal I am to the classics), I'm r eady to 'defect' to the someplace that will, were there one. Please, TA,
   keep those Pro 5 vis arms in production. Please, Campagnolo, reissue so me Nuovo Record stuff already. Someone please bootleg an affordable Stro nglight 49 in at least 170 and 165mm--wait, call the foundry, can I do t hat myself?? I'm looking for a purpose in life, after all. BTW, when was road racing made an Olympic sport? Would it have been all track racing in Berlin, '36? Just following a stream of consciousness, 39 blocks south of the United Nations buildings. Tom Ward Manhattan (NYC), New York dans les Etats-Unis