To me, the smell of Proofide applied to a leather saddle is maybe the most compelling connected with bicycles or any other sport. Don't often smell much of that in a modern shop either.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Strickler, George M Jr. <gstrickler@tulane.edu>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Bicycle Shop Smells
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 9:33 PM
\r?\n> I apologize for continuing this trip
\r?\n> down memory lane which must be trying to those who haven't
\r?\n> hit the half century yet but Michael Allison's memories of
\r?\n> the smell of rim tape at Mr. Avenia's shop called to mind
\r?\n> something that has bothered me in recent years. Back
\r?\n> "in the day" good bike shops, like Mr. Avenia's, tended to
\r?\n> be dingy, dirty and very cluttered. And they smelled
\r?\n> of rubber, grease, glue and various unidentified
\r?\n> combustibles. The Avenia shop was like that and, as I
\r?\n> remember, the Styvescent (sp?) shop in mid-town also smelled
\r?\n> pretty good. Today most of the LBS I see are well-lit,
\r?\n> spacious and CLEAN. There is no discernable
\r?\n> smell. If it weren't for the bikes, one could mistake
\r?\n> them for a Scandinavian furniture outlet. There is one
\r?\n> shop in New Orleans and only one of the old school. I
\r?\n> sometimes go in just to breath the atmosphere which I fear
\r?\n> is rapidly disappearing.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> George Strickler
\r?\n> Walden, Vt.