Re: [CR] Stuyvesant Bike Shop

(Example: Framebuilders:Richard Moon)

From: "Barb and Dan Artley" <hydelake@verizon.net>
To: Classic Rendezvous <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:58:11 -0400
Subject: Re: [CR] Stuyvesant Bike Shop


One of the bike shops I worked at was a tire wholesaler who wanted to get into the bike business during the boom. Before they got a reliable bike brand Stuyvesant/Corso were their startup with Corso bikes. Really cheap 10 speeds, around 1972-3 they were selling for $79 with all alloy and lots of Campagnolo parts. We couldn't put them together fast enough, but they were mostly junk. They did have Tipo hubs and Fiamme yellow label 27" wheels with big pink 1-1/2"? Clement clinchers. And they had Valentino derailleurs w/ the cheapest Campagnolo shifters. Other than that, almost everything was badged Corso and almost every bolt on the bike could be sheared off with just the lightest torque! We had to learn to use just the right amount of torque to get the bike out of the shop without losing parts that were virtually unreplaceable. The better bikes at the shop were Atala, but replacement parts were pretty much incompatible with the Corso's bottom brackets and cranks. Though lugged, the frames had thin stamped dropouts, and forks that could be easily bent back into shape by hand. Much worse than the gaspipe Gitanes I'd gotten expert at re-aligning with brute force at a previous shop. I never was as enchanted with gaspipe Atalas as with the French Peugeots that I rode, but the nicest Atalas that occasionally showed up were magical to me. I remember a yellow Professional w/ green panels and all Campy record, and a matching pair of chrome track bikes, again all Campagnolo w/ translucent red panels. One in my size that I couldn't afford was the first track bike I'd ever wanted, and later given to my mechanic buddy Steve Lassagn who was doing well with the local Chesapeake Wheelmen, ridden once or twice at the state track championship at a 1/2 mile oval racetrack between Baltimore and D.C., then roller fodder. I was very jealous, but basically just a fast tourist at the time.

So my opinion of Corso bikes wasn't very generous. But as reliable as the Bridgestone/Kabuki bikes that shop later carried, they didn't have the European cache to me. The Japanese bikes I was putting together weren't as lively and just didn't seem to have as much soul.

One more note about Stuyvesant Cycles. That was where I was able to get the elusive Stronglight crank puller that seemed impossible to find in Baltimore. I got it during my freshman year in Hoboken with a trip across the Hudson.

Happy trails,

Dan (the princess and the pea) Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=classicrendezvous.10908.1014.eml Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:24:39 -0700 From: Thomas Sacco <tsacco(AT)pacbell.net> Subject: Re: [CR] Stuyvesant Bike Shop

I'm a little late seeing this thread. I bought my first non-English-3-speed= -coaster-brake bike from Stuyvesant in 1970 and it was branded Corso. It wa= s yellow, had 10 speeds, drop handlebars, Simplex derailleurs. It was not h= igh end at all, but they told me it was made by Atala for the shop and call= ed a Corso because of the large volume of bikes they could sell. I've never=
   seen another one. Is anyone on the list familiar with these? =A0 Tom Sacco, Oakland CA