[CR]Re: Weinmann 500's

(Example: Racing:Jacques Boyer)

From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 18:28:37 -0800 (PST)
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Re: Weinmann 500's

I don't think there was any "particular" time when the Weinmann 500's came out. I think weinmann always offered short and long reach versions of their sidepulls. I have 6x weinmann 500's in my garage. They are cheapo short-reach versions of the weinmann 730, the cheapo sidepull used on most fendered schwinns from 195xx until 198xx. The finish quality is low, like you would expect on a schwinn-approved product.

If you must know an exact year, check the cyclogy books either on wool jersey web site or on the bulgier.net web site.

When campagnolo came out with the "NR jeweled sidepull", i think that after 2 or 3 years weinmann realized it wasn't going to be a flash in the pan and so they started promoting their existing 500 sidepulls for pro bikes. Only raleigh took the bait with the RRA in 1973.

The weinmann 500 was uncompetitive with campy (no adjustable QR. No "wheel guides". Lousy cast-aluminum un-anodized finish. beveled barrel adjusters that eat into your frame paint.) so (and please correct me if i'm wrong) weinmann's first serious attempt to compete with campy was the Weinmann Carerra brakeset, offered in 1976 or 1977 (an extra-cost option on schwinn paramounts, in fact.)

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA