OROBOYZ@aol.com wrote:
> ...He had a very focussed
> (narrow?) view of his bike philosophy that I didn't get at the time. I recall
> the brochure as being a B&W tri-fold in which he called his bikes "La Petit
> Reine" (The Little Queen?) and he...
Sounds like Jansen was a "true believer"... FYI, "the Little Queen" is an old French slang term that shows affection for the bike. If one is a ~true~ cyclist, the Queen must be obeyed. ;-) It is used fairly often in by among French cyclists, though probably not so much the younger ones anymore, in their club newsletters, etc. French for "bicycle" is "la bicyclette"; note the feminine article, so that is why it is a Queen, not a King.
Also, there has been an interesting series of posts recently by Jan Heine about the styles of French framebuilding (frame alone versus the whole bike with fenders, racks, lights, etc). I surveyed dozens magazine articles about, and advertisements for French bike firms in the 1970s & '80s (including Singer and Herse) and found they all referred to this type of bike as a "randonneuse", again because a bicycle is feminine. "Le velo" is masculine, but that is like saying "bike" in English. These are "bicycle" companies, not "bike" companies, thus the use of the feminine article. However, in the mountain bike era of the 90s and 00s, the French cycling industry seems to be wanting to be seen as more "sporty" or "with it", so perhaps "bike" rather than "bicycle" is getting more play, and perhaps these types of machines will be described as "randonneurs" in the future?
Just my deux centimes,
Bill Bryant
Santa Cruz, CA