This is a very interesting thread.
Having grown up in the UK and, therefore, under different influences with respect to bikes, I always wondered why Americans had bikes that were much bigger. At the time, I thought that it was a product of Americans having a better standard of living and growing taller as a result!!
When I was racing, I could not afford Campagnolo brakes (or anything Campag, for that matter) and so I had to be contented with Mafac centre pulls or Universal side-pulls. I used to like the Universal brake levers with the gum hoods...they were pretty comfortable and affordable.
The book that seemed to be most popular in Britain, at that time, was Richard Ballantine's Bicycle Book. Other influences for me was Tom Simpson (which brought about my interest in Peugeot bikes, simplex etc) and Holdsworth. The frame had to be made from Reynolds 531 and have no mudguard eyes, close clearances and a sticky manufacturer's label on the head tube to save weight!
Peter Rogers
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
<jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 10:53 PM Subject: Re: [CR] Eugene A. Sloane
Agreed, the late Mr. Sloane did have enormous influence - he certainly influenced me!
One of the reasons I got my Gitane "Tour de France" was because it had an all-Reynolds 531 frame and Mafac "Competition" center-pull Brakes. (It also had a frame that was probably an inch bigger than I needed due to my taking the "1.09-times-inseam-measurement-equals-saddle-height" rule as gospel, but that's another story.)
In 1977 I bought my Raleigh Pro and experienced Campy NR side-pulls first-hand. Then I understood WHY the most of the pros were riding Campy at the time. However, if it hadn't been for Mr. Sloane I wouldn't have discovered Mafac or Campy . . . or Modolo. Or Reynolds 531 or Columbus. He got me started.
Steve Whitting
Prairieville, Louisiana USA
http://ciocc-cat.angelfire.com/
--- On Mon, 6/15/09, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> Subject: Re: [CR] Eugene A. Sloane To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, "Steve Whitting" <ciocc_cat@yahoo.com> Date: Monday, June 15, 2009, 8:48 PM
There is no doubt that Sloane had enormous influence on American cycling. As I recall the biographies published during his lifetime and after his recent death, when he first started writing about bikes, he was basically a journalist, with no real deep technical knowledge of bicycles. But he would become deeply involved in cycling and cycling issues for the rest of his life.
Even given his less technical background than say someone like Fred Delong, Sloane had, IMHO opinion, remarkable perception and sound judgment. The real aficionados might differ with his praise of 531, but I think he did briefly mention that Columbus, Vitus and Falck were also good quality. As to MAFAC's I personally think they are every bit as good as Campy SP's, and were IMHO a much better value for the money.
Sloane was the right person at the right time. His task was not to split hairs with the aficionados, but to explain quality bicycles to an American public to whom derailleurs were a mystery, and who regarded a Schwinn Varsity as the height of sophistication. He did his job extraordinarily well. If one knew nothing about quality bicycles, but wanted to learn, and could only read one book on the subject, his would have been the book to read.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Steve Whitting <ciocc_cat@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Eugene A. Sloane
\r?\n> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Monday, June 15, 2009, 7:51 PM
\r?\n> Hopefully this is not too off-topic,
\r?\n> but I was wondering how much of our "Bike Boom
\r?\n> Era" perception of what a "good bike" should be here in the
\r?\n> U.S. was colored by the late author Eugene A. Sloane's
\r?\n> "The Complete Book of Bicycling"? I recall reading this
\r?\n> back in the early 1970s and I (being young and ignorant)
\r?\n> considered it to be one of the "bibles" of cycling - along
\r?\n> with John Forester's "Efective Cycling". I have both
\r?\n> books, btw. My early Forester edition is crudely
\r?\n> illustrated and GBC bound.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> It has been a while since I read his book, but I seem to
\r?\n> recall Mr. Sloane praising Mafac Centerpull brakes and
\r?\n> Reynolds 531 tubing, but having little to say about Columbus
\r?\n> tubing or Campy NR brakes. I also recall his
\r?\n> 1.09-times-inseam formula for saddle height that may
\r?\n> have contributed to the "big frame craze" in the States.
\r?\n> (No disrespect intended or otherwise implied toward the late
\r?\n> Mr. Sloane.)
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Your thoughts?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Steve Whitting
\r?\n> Prairieville, Louisiana USA
\r?\n> http://ciocc-cat.angelfire.com/