Re: [CR]Pinnacle of the vintage lightweight era?

(Example: Framebuilders:Mario Confente)

From: <CYCLESTORE@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 10:55:33 EST
Subject: Re: [CR]Pinnacle of the vintage lightweight era?
To: tomwitkop@juno.com, Arthurradley@hotmail.com, randonneurextra@hotmail.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org


Hi Tom and all,

The Clubman bicycle Chris spoke of has reasonably lightweight parts (many are steel but weigh similar to alloy) and the frame is mostly (all?) Reynolds 531 and should be quite a lively bike.

I amazes me today how and old bike with a few updates can change so much. In the early 1960's Alex Moulton introduced a small wheel fully suspended bike primarily for short trips, shopping, and light touring. He had some 531 tubing versions but his ordinary bike was quite simple with a 4 speed Sturmey Hub. The bike had such a fine ride with the suspension enthusiasts took the 34.5lb beast and lightened up with alloy parts and rims to produce a bike with quite a sprite ride indeed.

A few weeks ago I got the pleasure to ride with a fellow with a converted Moulton 4 speed Standard and surprisingly he had the lightest bike on the ride at about 27 lbs. To be fair he did remove the substantial luggage racks but proceeded to ride about 100 miles that fine day finishing about an hour ahead of the fellows (me included) following. It turns out he loves the ride of the bike and regularly does 80 mile rides in the rolling country north of town in under four hours on this machine. He says he hates the racer mentality and just likes to enjoy the country side spinning along (at a fair clip I might add).

Of course a slightly heavier 3-4 speed is perhaps a tremendous advantage over the old fixed wheel Paramount Track(18lbs) bike I used to ride in the area. In a low fixed gear at similar speeds as a lad I remember it was tough. But the wheels might be lighter (front for sure) on this tiny wheeled Moulton and Oh grace o god, to have gears!

Remember in the old days racers considered you a bit of a wimpy man if you showed up to an event with a freewheel, much less sissy multiple gears.

A Sturmey is an under rated mechanism,

Gilbert Anderson

The North Road Bicycle Company your bicycle outfitter 519 W. North St. Raleigh, NC 27603 USA ph toll free in USA :800/321-5511 Local ph: 919/828-8999 E-Mail: cyclestore@aol.com

In a message dated 3/26/01 3:38:12 AM, tomwitkop@juno.com writes:

<< Dear Chris and fellow list members, I never rode a high-performance hub gear bicycle. I remember converting my father's Hercules 3 speed with down bars and moving the trigger switch by the handle bar plug for a sort of end shifter. It still rode in a heavy fashion. I have used the modern Nexis 7 speed internal but that was on a cruiser style bicycle and also not particularly lively feeling. Assuming a decent lightweight frame and aluminum rims, can a 3 speed Sturmey Archer feel or even be a fast bicycle? Thank you. Tom (I know, it's not the bicycle it's the rider, but still...) Witkop Rockville, Md. On Fri, 23 Mar 2001 14:41:46 -0500 Chris Beyer <beyerc@mailserver.volvo.com> writes:
> Leonard, et al:
>
> Now you're speaking my language. But I'd vote for a British
> Club-racer
> style bike with a Sturmey-Archer hub, such as a FM. They shift
> positively, every time, which is more than you can say for the
> Cyclo.........Hub-gear bikes have that same uncluttered grace and
> simplicity as track bikes, but they're useable And I'm unconvinced
> that
> 7, 8, 9, and10-speed cassettes have made our cycling lives any
> better.
>
> Chris Beyer
> Epicyclic Bloomfield, NJ
> >>