Colin & group:
Many thanks for sharing the history and the "Pukka Gen" vocabulary. Sincere thanks to all for jumping into this Post War Brits / Euro Parts thread. Am I sorting out the responses correctly?
I'm hearing the BLRC crowd embraced the continental Massed Start races, as opposed to time trial events. I think I'm hearing the BLRC boys were more likely to include non-Brit parts (or did I get that wrong?). Was it a continental-chic thing, or a quest for the best component for the money based on real performance experience, or a group attitude of non-conformity, or a post war change in a British veteran's attitude toward France, or ... (?)
Maybe I need more hand-holding here ... what were the differences between the "League" and the "Union" riders? Which ones were more "time-trial" oriented? Were the time trial folks buying the bikes with path ends and running fixed, or was that only the velodrome crossover crowd? Were the path rear dropout machines MORE likely to be UK-only builds, or were these the ones that might get a smattering of Italian and French?
What a unique and diverse group we have here! (Thanks Dale ... understood).
Tory Werne Woodstock, Georgia USA
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\r?\n> Regarding Tory Werne's enquiry regarding Gen Gear....
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\r?\n> The phrase came from an old army saying of Pukka Gen....meaning the "real McCoy"....sometimes it was shortened to Pukka gear and sometimes Gen gear, for instance, I had a pair of Pukka South of France handlebars and also a Gen Brooks saddle...Cycling folks used all kinds of Army slang ( thinking it was very cool),,,and somethings would be Buckshee or free at the end of a race...my old brain can't recall much more...but being a BLRC guy, I always rode Gnutti Cranks, a Pivo stem with the South of France bars ( these were in fact made in England by Strata ) ...for some time I had an Osgear but later switched to Cyclo when they became available...It was almost a lottery when the local bike-shop got some chains in ( Renolds Elite ) and a mini queue would form on a Saturday morning to try and snag a new chain.
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\r?\n> As already stated, almost everyone rode a mixture of English and Continental,,,whether League or Union,,,and the animosity was really friendly banter, we were the ones who had our racing caps back to front and wore sunglasses ( A la Coppi ) even in the dismal English weather.
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\r?\n> Colin Laing Arizona U S A.