On Apr 25, 2007, at 6:18 AM, David G. White wrote:
> Sometimes Campy gets boring. Been there, done that. Everyone's got
> Campy. It's interesting to see bikes with less common equipment. My
> MKM Metcalfe Tour de France is nearly completed with all Suntour
> Superbe (1st generation). I'm gradually assembling a set of Zeus
> I'll put on some frame or other. My Stout has a wonderful mix and
> match approach, with zero Campy, zero Suntour and zero Shimano.
>
> There's lot's of fine gear out there, much of it equal or superior
> to Campy. (Inexpensive Suntour derailleurs come to mind -- much
> better shifting the Nuovo Record or Super Record!). Campy simply
> had better marketing and better snob factor. By the mid 70s it no
> longer had equipment that was always better. So IMHO there are lots
> of reasons besides price to buy something other than Campy.
Exactly David! After I got a couple of Campagnolo equipped bikes and all my riding buddies had the same thing I started looking real hard at the Peugeots that were under the winning rider of the TdF back in 1975 and 1977 (Bernard Thevenet). Found out from the Peugeot rep that you could custom order a PY10CP team bike for around $750 with all the cool titanium parts and brazed on Mafac centerpulls and the bike would be COMPLETELY French!
Delivery was 10 months (my friends thought no bike was worth a 10 month wait). When it arrived I was ecstatic. Even the shipping box was cool; all white with the checkerboard and a drawing of a bike racer! Rode like a dream and nobody else had one... some riders understood it and some riders didn't... like everything else in life.
Great Jim Langley article he wrote about one:
http://www.jimlangley.net/
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA