We have a black riding club here, Class A Breakaway and a club in Columbus, Ohio, Major Taylor, comes up to ride our annual Emerald Necklace Tour in August every year. Most of the bikes that these riders use are classic road bikes - many of them Italian - almost all Campy equipped!
The only Italian I know who owns a Classic Italian bike is here in the Cleveland/Parma, Ohio area.
He owns an old, chrome lugged, silver Cinelli. He began riding at the age of 50. He became our State master's champion shortly thereafter, and the last time we saw him was on a ride two years ago - he's got to be approaching 80!
He's a retired fireman and talks just like Don Corleone!
Regards,
Diane HubBub Custom Bicycles
At 10:02 PM 1/26/02 -0800, Chuck Schmidt wrote:
>Yes, Major Motion is still a very active club in L.A. They sponsor a
>race every year in Inglewood at Hollywood Park (a large horse racing
>park near LAX).
>
>Chuck
>SoCal
>
>feldman wrote:
> >
> > Chuck,
> >
> > When I lived in LA there was a mostly black club called "Major
> Motion." Are
> > they still a going organization?
> > David Feldman
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
> > Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2002 9:52 PM
> > Subject: [CR]Re: Black cyclists
> >
> > > Bruce Robbins wrote:
> > > >
> > > > All this talk of Major Taylor got me thinking about why there seem
> to be
> > so
> > > > few black guys interested in old bikes or cycling in general. This, I
> > > > stress, is my own perspective up here in Scotland where we don't have a
> > big
> > > > percentage of people from an ethnic minority background. Most non-white
> > > > people here are from India and Pakistan and I love them for their
> family
> > > > values which are like those of British people in the 1950s. I think
> they
> > add
> > > > a lot of stability to the community.
> > > >
> > > > Anyway, I was going to ask if there are any black CR members and if
> not,
> > why
> > > > not? It would be a bit scarey if old bikes seemed to be the preserve of
> > > > WASPS and people from Italian backgrounds.
> > >
> > >
> > > No need to be scared Bruce. Out here on the West Coast of America, we
> > > have all kinds of people riding on classic, vintage race bikes besides
> > > just us WASPS. The Rose Bowl Vintage Ride in Pasadena, California has
> > > had Jews, Asians, Blacks, Latinos, Pacific Islanders, and I don't know
> > > _what_ all else (we never ask about each other's ethnic persuasion here
> > > in SoCal; it is enough that we all love old bikes).
> > >
> > > To be more specific: I have two black friends who own vintage race
> > > bikes. One, quite well known in the Los Angeles area, started buying
> > > Italian bikes in the early 1970s. For a while he had each new bike
> > > painted dark, metallic green. The other only has five bikes: a
> > > Pogliaghi tandem, a Pogliaghi track bike, a Cinelli track bike, a Masi
> > > GC, and a Mario Confente (aaaarrrrrgggghhhh... there's the M.C. word
> > > again that the list is sooooo tired of hearing about!).
> > >
> > > Can't think of a single person "from Italian backgrounds" who owns an
> > > old bike ;)
> > >
> > > Chuck "go back far enough and we all have black ancestors" Schmidt
> > > South Pasadena, Southern California
> > > _______________________________________________
> >
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