My first pro bike was one of those top of the line Atalas. I bought it used at Turin in Chicago. It was too big, although I could ride it. This was in 1976. My friends and I were just beginning to get nicer bikes. My friend Charles traded a Peugeot U-08 with one of those "Guaranteed Not Built With Reynolds 531" stickers and his stamp collection for a used Cinelli. The Atala had chrome lugs, and was all Campy, except for the Universal Centerpulls. The seat cluster was that generic italian one where the seatstays just sort of smush into the lug--you can just barely make it out on the picture of Aldo Ross's Atala here
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
I convinced myself that it was the same model bike that made up the back half of the cover of Eugene Sloan's Complete Book of Bicycling. I rode it everywhere, and thought I was so cool.
A few years ago I converted an '81 Raleigh Gran Sport into a fixed gear. This was the gas pipe made in Japan Gran Sport, not the nice one. Even without the extra chainring, freewheel, derailleurs, shifters and rear brake it weighs a ton. Yet, it was always fun to ride, out of proportion to its pedigree, and its actual performance. It never complained about casual treatment and was always ready to go. Fixies are particularly good for riding with young children, because you can easily modulate your speed without the brakes, and they are demanding enough to make what might otherwise be a painfully slow ride more engaging. I was getting ready to sell it this year, when my nine year old daughter said she loved it. So now it is promised to her.
When people ask how many bikes I have I am not going to count it anymore.
Best regards, Marcus Helman Huntington Woods, MI
Fred and ken wrote:
> The Atalas I saw were in several Chicago shops say 1969 thru
> 1971: Turin
> Bicycle Co-op, Roberts Cycles, Nottingham Cycles, and were
> generally
> comparable to UO-8s, with the exception of a Campy derailleur
> set rather
> than Huret Allvit or Simplex. Same $85-90 as a UO-8. We
> didn't see many
> upper end Atalas, I only discovered them later. Did Atala
> have a wide range
> of models? I never saw them, but if they were there, ok!
> Live and learn.
Well, there are people who've never seen Peugeots other than the venerable UO-8...
So behold - from the Classic Rendezvous Web site, no less:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
The more expensive models were relatively unchanged, except the
earlier Competizione had NR cranks. (At least that's my
recollection.) And perhaps the cheaper bikes were always in
the shop and I just never noticed them. But remember, we could
see cheap bikes anywhere. We went to places like Stuyvesant
and Avenia (importers of Atala and Frejus, respectively) to see
the good stuff.
Best regards,
Fred Rednor (Arlington, Virginia, USA)