Jim,
Thanks for pointing out those pictures and putting them in context. In 1969, I was at UC Berkeley and riding to class on a no-name bike...great way to get around on that hilly campus, with no helmet and longish hair flowing in the wind. I too had a motorcycle exactly like that Honda CB (or CL) 350 with scrambler pipes and a red and white tank...used to ride that back home to San Francisco across the Bay Bridge (even in the rain with no worries about expanding tires). Little did I know that 12 years later, I would have my first "real" bicycle ordered through Spence Wolf who recommended a custom made frame by a builder in Portland by the name of Jim Merz (still proudly displayed on the CR website). This was my first foray into more serious cycling as I hooked up with a bunch of guys on their fancy Colnago's. Funny, I do recall getting caught in the rain riding the Merz across the GG bridge into Sausilito with Criterium Seta's...tires didn't fall off fortunately.
Flash forward to 2010... had some medical problems and had to be on blood thinners for most of 2010. So being older and wiser, I was off the bike not wanting to risk a fall even with a helmet on. I finally got off the coumadin just 3 weeks ago and took my first ride in over a year through the Presidio in San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge...really out of shape but an incredible joy to be back in the saddle and as Charles Nighbor pointed out, it continues to be an "...amazing experience to behold and feel".
Happy New Year to you Jim and all who contribute on this wonderful chat room of Dale's!
Wilson Lem San Francisco, California
In a message dated 1/2/2011 10:08:47 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes:
Message: 10 Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 09:41:02 -0800 From: Jim Merz <jameshmerz@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Photos of Raleigh Pro To: Rich Pinder <rpinder@usc.edu> Cc: classic <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Message-ID:S <AANLkTinqX0JW5-xH_kVnL=6g_2fQZJ9F7K0-bzV68t+q@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
The guy with the white Pro is my half brother Keith Maehren, 4 years younger than me. This photo is from 1969 I think. I am pretty sure he got this bike in 1968. Yes, Honda 350. It was not mine and I don't remember the pipes. This was the shop where Keith and I worked G & B Mfg. Co. in Portland. Did any of you check out the photos on Facebook (Merz Bicycles) of my Denver trip? The bike I rode on this adventure was a partly Campi equipped Puch made JC Higgins. I left this bike in Denver, after running out of money and taking the Greyhound bus home. It sat in storage in Denver for maybe a year and I did not care about it at all. Keith asked if he could have it and I said sure. He paid the storage and shipping to Portland and used it to ride, becoming a low level racer with it. He quickly moved up to a wonderful chrome Olmo, from about 1962. all Campi. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this bike, It was a really sweet ride. I was not riding bicycles during this period, but was a motorcycle wild man. I used to get a lot of mostly speeding tickets, which led to having my drivers license being revoked. As I had to get to work and the bus would not work without taking hours each way I got a new Raleigh Competition and started to ride to work. I wanted a Pro but they were sold out. As I had more than 10 miles each way it made sense to go fast, that way I did not have to get up so early. I got pretty fast on the bike and started to enjoy the riding. The plastic Simplex rear derailleur went into the spokes which led me on a path to upgrade the bike to all Campagnolo parts. These were hens teeth in Portland, or the USA for that matter. So this was the start of my bicycle life. Keith was involved in racing so I met the small network of bike people doing this in the Northwest.
Jim Merz Big Sur CA
On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 8:48 AM, Rich Pinder <rpinder@usc.edu> wrote:
> Thanks for the pictures.
> I zero'ed in on your two pics of the WhiteOne....
>
> Much has been said (and will likely be said again!)... about the era/year
> when the White Pro's were spotted on the earth... Pics to mine are up
> HERE http://www-hsc.usc.edu/
> rider and was one of my first projects when joining up with the CR list a
> few years back.
>
> Who is that MODEL in your picture number three? (the hair style does
take
> me back to 69 or 70 !!). I think I spot another of my two wheeled loves
> from the day... looks like a Honda 350.. and I'm gonna guess it has the
> 'Scrambler Pipes' !!
> (sorry Dale for my wandering)
>
> thx again Jim for posting
> Rich
>
> On 12/30/10 10:41 AM, Jim Merz wrote:
>
>
http://picasaweb.google.com/
>
> I found a few more Pro photos and put them up on Picasa. The smaller
bike is
> one I sold on eBay about 8-9 years ago. It did not have the no name
brakes,
> but for some reason I got it with Universals and put Campi brakes on.
> Everything else is correct save brake cables. Notice the colors for mine
and
> this other one look different. Now, some of this could be the film, but
I am
> sure the colors were different. One list member mentioned that these were
> all over the place.