Peter Kohler wrote:
>
> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: Gregory Townsend gtownsend3590@yahoo.com
> Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 12:55:02 -0800 (PST)
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR]LA Times article about the Pasadena ride
>
>
> "I was emabarrassed about not knowing the age of my bike made so public on
> my first ride with the group but it was still great fun. By the way those
> were my Airlites!
>
> Gregory Townsend
> Monrovia Ca"
>
> Ah so, then my apologies to you and to Chuck.
>
> One of the reasons a lot of guys with classic bikes not using them is peer
> pressure.. most seem to be cycling in groups and I guess they feel out of
> place if not carbon-framed and spandex-clad. But when they see a classic,
> they come out of the closet. I had three different guys waxing nostalgic
> about their Raleigh Internationals and Professionals when they saw my
> Raleigh Competition... I asked they why the heck they weren't RIDING them!
> Two said it might be time to dust them off. The other said he wanted
> something "more competitive" (!).. I guess I disproved that notion when I
> passed his Litespeed with my 25-year-old Comp GS! Hint: you'll never be
> bothered with the creaks, rattles and buzzing of new bikes if you pass them
> at a nice clip on your lugged steel machine.
>
> Peter Kohler
> Washington DC USA
My '59 Mercian Vigorelli road/track has BH hubs (British Hub Ltd) that are threaded on one side for a track cog and lock ring, and threaded on the other for a single cog freewheel. They are stamped "FRANCE", then "Super-Leger", then "B. H.", and are equipped with G.B. alloy wingnuts and amazingly, the solid axles have four flutes milled the length of the section between the bearing cones! Super-light indeed!
As to guys with classic bikes not using them? It is my observation, after having a monthly vintage bike ride for approximately the past four years now... and I'm talking about the LA area where there are literally thousands of period lightweight bikes... that there is consistently between 4 (at the least) and 20 or so (at the most) riders that show up. Plenty of people are fully aware that there is a monthly vintage bike ride at the Rose Bowl, but for many reasons they won't attend.
In other words the reasons for _not_ coming to the ride out number the reasons _to_ come to the ride. ("I'm not that good a rider, it's too far, my bike is not that neat, you'll laugh at my clothing, you'll drop me, it would disrupt my traning, I'm too fast a rider for you geezers to stay with, I'm washing my hair," etc.)
It's a guy thing (actually an insecurity thing) in my opinion.
Chuck "will ride at the drop of a hat" Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
.