RE: [CR]Vintage cyclometers timeline

(Example: Component Manufacturers)

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 21:56:00 -0200
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Harvey M. Sachs" <sachs@erols.com>
Subject: RE: [CR]Vintage cyclometers timeline


Dan Artley wrote: "I think the Huret belt drive odometer was available about '75, '76. = Before that, period correct was the cheap metal one that went tick tick = tick! That one had a little star wheel and a pin that clamped to the = spokes and had one calibration. The belt drive one was much more = versatile with the two pulley wheels. Now, which one was that again? The = small one for 27" wheels and the big one for 26"?"

Dan, you're not quite fair to that ancient technology. Our ca 1950 Schwinn Town & Country tandem came to us with a Veeder-Root, of US manufacture, very well made. By the time it fell off and got lost, it had over 40,000 mi on it: Each time it turned over another 10,000, Bill & Edith Lovely, of E. Providence, RI, painted another stripe on it. Of course, it had its limitations: no velocity readout, no trip reset, hard to read for spotting turns on a marked course. But, the batteries never ran down... Ours had one other quirk. A flaky front hug, with little space between flanges, gave a fairly flexible front wheel. On hard turns, one would hear the thing miss a tick or two when the spoke relaxed enough that the striker missed the star!

I sold a NIB Lucas a couple of years ago for a reasonable price, and have an old German unit in the box still. Unfortunately, 26" wheel...

harvey sachs
mcLean va