[CR]RE: Classic Bikes From the Last Century

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2002)

From: <"kohl57@starpower.net">
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 12:06:18 -0500
Subject: [CR]RE: Classic Bikes From the Last Century

I sure can’t argue with that list although my own interest lies more in the mass produced club and sports bikes of the 1940s-50s. Would have liked to have seen the Raleigh RRA c. 1949 in that august list but no one likes the big guys it seems. Raleighs are like Morris Minors; wonderful but too common to be exotic and coveted. Same with Peugeots I guess. For the everyman, the list would be quite different: the Raleigh Lenton Sports or Claud Butler Classique etc.: very successful, longlived and very well designed performance machines, well beyond their modest price. These are the bikes that introduced so many to sports cycling even without the snob appeal of the custom-built professional jobs. To me a classic is a Peugeot PX-10 or a Raleigh Professional that, off the peg, could win the Tour de France or be used and enjoyed by amateur and enthusiast alike. Your list is invaluable since it's based what you've actually ridden.

Then again, how does one find about these fabled competition racing bikes? Cycle sport coverage has never seemed to stress or indeed mention the machine. Indeed, I believe it was British TT policy to ensure the make of the bike wasn’t even apparent in photos. There have been many books on cycle sport but one is hard-pressed to find any emphasis or detail on what the great cyclists of the past actually rode. Watching the Tour de France on OLN, I learn more about French countryside, performance enhancing drugs and gesticular cancer than I do about the bikes. What was Lance Armstrong’s first real bicycle? What happens to the machines that win these fabled races? Do riders have sentimental favourites? Or do they even care what they ride? Instead the bike seems to assume about as much importance in coverage as the brand of jockstrap and size shoe the winner of the Boston Marathon uses. Maybe the bike doesn’t matter in real cycle sport. Or am I looking in the wrong places?

Peter Kohler Washington, DC USA

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