I feel that LeCycle, N* 300 is quite a reference piece for any on the CR list and is worth trying to procure at your local world news stand. There are a plethora of vintage champions' photos, esp. Thevenet, Merckx, Ocana, VanImpe, etc. In the L'evolution Technique section, there is the photo of the 1974 Mavic clipless pedal prototype which with almost 30 years of 20/20 hindsight, looks suspiciously like a Speedplay Frog. Of course there are others like the first Look pedals as well as their MaxOne computer, which should be of considerable interest in light of the recent discussion here of early computers. This one, for those of you who don't remember was quite a rig! In the retro shopping section, there is Molteni jersey and bibs, Santini wool/acrylic retro-style long sleeve, handmade retro tubular from Challenge, TdF caravan replica toys depicting the Thevenet era, ITM's replica track bars (albeit in black), and also the "so British" Brooks saddle. In the riding section is a rundown of all the major mountain passes that is very useful for reference if you want to catalog the max % slope and distances, etc. Then there are profiles of veteran riders and some of their technics for being able to ride into their 60s to 80s. Very motivational-- take home message is to keep a log-- the one guy's is copied in the magazine and it's a page from 1946! There is a long historical piece on the career of Eddy Merckx, and he is shown with the LeCycle staff as they test some of the modern bikes bearing the names of the former greats: Merckx, Lemond, Thevenet, Roche, Hinault, Coppi, Roche, Fondriest. The other item that was of very great interest to me is the innovations: Sean Kelly's Vitus had a special place in my estimation, funny bikes, the RockShox era 1992-1995 in the Hell of the North, Thierry Maries's prologue 1986 SI saddle with the vertical portion to serve to furnish as a surface against which to leverage, etc. Some of these innovations were failures like Mavic's Mektronic, some lasted a while like Spinergy's RevX, and some have turned the industry upside down as they gave us things that were quantum leaps forward: Shimano's first indexing, Shimano's dual pivot brakes, or today's ever more encompassing applications of carbon fiber.
All in all, one for the archives!
Ken, rain moving in near St Louis