Don,
A very well-worn cliche, I might add! Almost the same as my story, 'cept that I was much younger when I admired the owners of those white UO-8's and mine came from Salvation army for $20 just a couple of years ago. Like most of my collection, the challenge begins upon purchase, to revitalize it and put in some real miles to validate the effort and experience the past that might have been. I took mine on a couple of real hammer rides and I've got to wonder what impression such a sight leaves on the other riders. No one rides full-on stone-stock vintage bikes on these rides, least not a UO-8! I enjoy riding it very occasionally. Tomorrow I'll be riding down to Folsom for another go at "the Saturday ride" riding my newly-acquired 1975 Raleigh Pro. Got that one at a garage sale on the ride home from that same ride. I think the Raleigh is another bike I would have wanted if me or any of my contemporaries could have afforded one. ack then I saved, saved, saved and finally got a Super Course. Something about restoring those old bikes! Your LBS was right. No one understood cheap 10-speeds like the French!
Enjoyed your post.
David Snyder
Auburn CA USA
> dddd,
>
> the way i got back into bicycles was rather cliche. in
> mid life, i saw a uo-8 at a garage sale and i bought
> it for $5.00. i bought it solely because it looked
> exactly like my college roommate's uo-8, the one i
> couldn't afford in college. i took it directly to the
> bike shop and told the guy to spend whatever he needed
> to bring it back to pristine original mechanical
> condition (cosmetics were already flawless). the bike
> shop owner was one of those guys who deals in
> fabulously expensive bikes. he looked at me, shook his
> head, and said, "i'm not knocking the bike, but it
> won't be worth anywhere near what you'll have in it
> when i'm done." i told him just do it and do it fast.
> he shrugged and said okay. when i picked it up, it
> looked exactly like my room mate's old uo-8. i felt a
> great sense of closure. but i noticed that he had put
> on a gold regina d' oro freewheel. i don't remember a
> gold free wheel. he said, "look, i got this NOS for a
> right price and i just couldn't send you out of here
> on anything less. i can't remember if they came with
> these or not, but if they didn't they should have. i
> didn't charge you extra for it either." he looked
> around to make sure no customers heard him. "these old
> UO-8s were great bikes," he said. "they're still one
> of the best cheap frames ever made for recreational
> riding. there's a hole generation of kids who got
> hosed with mountain bikes who don't realize that a
> UO-8 is about a thousand percent better bike for
> riding around on the streets than the best mountain
> bike ever made. now get outta here, before i charge
> full price for the freewheel." and so i left and i
> felt complete. i keep the uo-8 behind my good bikes
> now and don't ride it much. but whenever i need to
> reconnect with myself and my past, i don't go to a
> shrink or call old friends. i get out the uo-8 and go
> for a spin. it works every time, dimpled rigida rims,
> cheap tubes and nylon derailleur, or not.
>
> best regards,
> don wilson
> los olivos, ca
>
> --- dddd <dddd@pacbell.net> wrote:
>> Foreign market translators, it sounds like. I used
>> to break out laughing
>> while reading some 1970 Japanese motorcycle service
>> manuals. Straying OT
>> here, but currently there's a Taiwan firm,
>> presumeably making knock-off
>> parts, that calls themselves "Sameness". This
>> company is growing, btw.
>> Robust is probably some previously un-trademarked
>> name they found in a
>> dictionary of translations. UO-8's were robust in
>> many ways, just not quite
>> all the right ones! Don't get me wrong, I love my
>> '73 UO-8, but it's spokes
>> and derailer clamp have proven especially fragile.
>> Maybe if the makers of the Robust had given their
>> export a French-sounding
>> name they'd still be on the market, or... ...maybe
>> not.
>>
>> David Snyder
>> Auburn, CA USA
>>
>>
>> Don Wilson wrote:
>> > Hi, I'm staring at an old french bike from St.
>> Etienne
>> > called a Robust that I know is junk, but which I
>> could
>> > not resist because of the sheer absurdity of the
>> name
>> > and the one dollar price tag. What the heck is a
>> BF
>> > stem (no off color brand name jokes please). Bike
>> is
>> > omparable quality to Peugeot UO-8 or a Mercier
>> 100.
>> > Bike boom vintage. Anyone ever hear of one? How
>> could
>> > anyone, even the French, name a bike a "Robust"?
>> What
>> > market niche were they aiming at? That small group
>> of
>> > nationality-confused dorm rats that wanted a UO-8
>> with
>> > an English sounding name? Help me, help me, help
>> me, I
>> > think I'm going insane from bicycle collecting.
>> :-)
>> >
>> > Don "I never met a French bike for a dollar that I
>> > could refuse" Wilson
>> > Los Olivos, CA