[CR] Red and 7-character Bike Names in the on-topic era ...

(Example: Production Builders:Teledyne)

To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:28:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: donald gillies <gillies@ece.ubc.ca>
Subject: [CR] Red and 7-character Bike Names in the on-topic era ...


The early 1980's Raleigh Team U.S.A. bike shows that RED and 7-letter bike names were definitely the way to sell bikes in the classic era. Here are high-res photos of a particular nice instance for sale on ebay right now :

http://www.use.com/2837a8546da183394e19?p=4#photo=16

These bikes were some of the first that Raleigh USA sourced from asia when they gave up on UK-made Raleighs. And if you think about it, look how they badged the bike :

Red-Label Alloy Rims - compare to MAVIC rims (probably Araya) Red-Label Hub Barrels - compare to Normandy Comp rims (probably SR/Suzue)

I think that in the past, we've observed how 7-letter names make an almost-perfect name for a bicycle, i.e. :

Cinelli Raleigh Schwinn Colnago De Rosa Peugeot Mercian Windsor Univega Gitane (close but no cigar)

It's a wonder that the american upstart makes have survived until the present day, swimming upstream !!! :

Specialized (should be "Special") Canondale (should be "Candale") Trek (should be "Trekker") Centurion (should be "Century")

- DonGill
San Diego, CA, USA