Re: [CR]Oldest Bike Shop NYC

(Example: History:Norris Lockley)

Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:33:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Fred Rafael Rednor" <fred_rednor@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Oldest Bike Shop NYC
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: 6667


> ...to track bikes to race on the flat oval > at Flushing Meadow. > > > > Its not flat it's banked. > > See: > > http://www.bikecult.com/works/kissenatrack.html > > You are thinking of the "new" track that was built > in about 1960. He was referring to the old track > that was on the site that is now occupied by Shea > Stadium.

Exactly! And thank you Jamie... Now I realize it is a bit subtle but the Kissena Park velodrome is in Kissena Park and the Flushing Meadows flat oval was in Flushing Meadows. :-D

Now that flat oval was indeed flat. When we were having our discussion about track bike bottom bracket bracket height - and I mentioned that some of the older track bikes with lots of BB drop might have been built for flat ovals - that's the sort of venue I was talking about. Flat; 0 degrees banking; like a billiard table...

By the way, Kissena Bicycles, the bike shop that Jamie Swan so fondly remembers was truly a find shop, although sometimes it too looked like they hadn't sold a bike in 30 years. I mean sometimes all they had out front were a few slightly used Zeus bicycles and a bunch of cheap ten speeds. Yet "in the back" they always had some great stuff and a number of the country's fastest racers were regular customers.

Another by the way: my recollection of the original Toga shop is that it was on 14th Street, directly across from Stuyvesant Town (and 2 to 3 blocks from Stuyvesant Bicycle's original location). Perhaps that was their second location?

For those of you who have never been to New York City these may sound like absurdly small distinctions. But in the highly compressed world of Manhattan, small distances can be significant! Best regards, Fred "getting cranky in my old age" Rednor Arlington, Virginia (USA)

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