Well I think the points that have been made about removing the front wheel to lock or to put the bike in the trunk of a car are very much to the point. But Mike Larsen made an excellent point as well. Even the extra cost aside, one may not want a rear QR on really rough roads, especially in urban commutes, where motor traffic may limit ones ability to maneuver around obstacles, and broken or bent axles are very much a possibility, and the rear is most vulnerable. This is just another example of how urban commuting may be an even more severe test of bicyles and components than racing in the TdF, albeit in much different ways.
Finally warmed up this weekend after unseasonable cold since Thanksgiving. Yesterday I did 36 km on the 50th Anniversary Paramount, and 40 km more today, but the last ride was a 12 km beer run to the Walmart, returning with a case of beer and a 5 litre box wine in the panniers of the 1954 Duravia Randonneur. Both bikes are very enjoyable, but each in its own way. The Duravia, BTW, has solid axles with wingnuts. As Mike pointed out, the solid axles can actually be an advantage when carrying this kind of load, even though the traffic here is light enough that I usually have room to maneuver around the potholes.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: marcus.e.helman@gm.com <marcus.e.helman@gm.com>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] The mid-70's front-wheel QR bike?
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Sunday, December 13, 2009, 7:03 PM
\r?\n> The other thing to remember about
\r?\n> front QR's is that the Kryptonite bike
\r?\n> lock also appeared around this time. Using the
\r?\n> Kryptonite required
\r?\n> removing the front wheel and locking it with the rear wheel
\r?\n> and frame. It
\r?\n> was featured in Eugene Sloan's Complete Book of Bicycling
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Best regards,
\r?\n> Marcus Helman
\r?\n> Detroit, MI
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Message: 3
\r?\n> Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:10:52 -0500
\r?\n> From: John Betmanis <johnb@oxford.net>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] The mid-70's front-wheel QR bike?
\r?\n> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
\r?\n> Message-ID: <4B23C08C.4040409@oxford.net>
\r?\n> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1";
\r?\n> format=flowed
\r?\n>
\r?\n> donald gillies wrote:
\r?\n> > several japanese brands started to arrive at our
\r?\n> shores with a quick
\r?\n> > release hub ... only on the front! Please,
\r?\n> pray-tell, how does this
\r?\n> > help the buyer?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Very simple, really. In most cases it was only necessary to
\r?\n> remove the
\r?\n> front wheel, if even that, to transport a bike in a 1970s
\r?\n> size car.
\r?\n> Removing the rear wheel and messing with a greasy chain
\r?\n> would have been
\r?\n> beyond the skills of these first-time bike buyers.
\r?\n> --
\r?\n> John Betmanis Woodstock, Ontario Canada
\r?\n>
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