Hi Norm,
Welcome aboard. I plan to attend the Larz as well. I look forward to seeing you there. Bring your Legnano and Basso!
Cheers!
David
David G. White Burlington, VT
Norm and Val Lafleur wrote:
>I've been watching the CR list for several months now, even made a few
>posts and exchanged notes with members. I guess it's about time I
>introduced myself. Bicycles have been a part of my life almost since day
>one. My father used a bicycle for transprtation until 1947 when our
>family acquired our first car. We have a family photo of my father with
>his bike and two home made child seats holding my brother and me...nice
>way to date my earliest cycling experience. Unfortunately this was a
>time and place where lightweight bikes and bike shops were unknown.
>Balloon tire bikes were bought at hardware stores and Columbia was a
>local manufacture. In 1962 I saw my first deraiileur bike, a Columbia 5
>speed at the local hardware store. As I now know it was a gas pipe
>clunker, but I was fascinated, I had never seen anything like it. It
>became mine for $45 and a new world opened up. I met other adults who
>rode bikes and found out about bike shops. What a shock, a Raleigh or a
>Peugeot cost over a $100.00...the price of a decent used car. A better
>bike had to wait a few years, in 1968 I bought a UO-8 and started to
>enjoy longer rides. 1978 was the year I got my first all Reynolds bike,
>a Puch with an interesting component mix, Normandie, Weinnman, Dura Ace.
>That bike carried me on my first century and introduced me to cub
>cycling. In 1980 I traded in the Puch on a Raleigh Pro and later added a
>Basso Gap. I enjoyed the Basso so much that the Raleigh became my roller
>bike and the Gap got all the road miles. When I was able to sell the
>Pro, I added a Basso Loto.
>
>I rode both of these bikes regularly from about 1984 until 3 years ago
>when I was the last rider in the bunch still on steel and sew ups. Of
>course, by then both bikes had migrated all the way to 9 speed ergo. Age
>and a new home in hilly terrain led me to look for a lighter bike and
>lower gears. I tbought a Carbon frame and transferred my modern
>components from the older Basso. The Gap was then rebuilt as a downtube
>shifting 7 speed. As much as I enjoyed riding the modern bike, I kept
>looking at the old Basso and admiring how much better it looked than the
>new stuff.
>
>Now comes the CR part. By chance I met a fellow who rode during the late
>60's early 70's as cross training for competitive skiing. He was
>complaining about all the ugly bikes in the shops and how they didn't
>have the elegance of the old steel bikes. Then he said that he had an
>old track bike that he could no longer ride and that I should take a
>look at it. It turned out to be a Legnano Mod Roma Olimpiade Pista which
>he had professionally restored in 1991 and never rode again. End result
>I traded the Basso for the Legnano, discovered CR and caught the fever.
>In asking members for info to validate the accuracy of the restoration I
>learned that mod Roma's were available in both road and track versions.
>Of course I needed one of each. I was able to find a mid 60's Roma road
>bike with many original components on Ebay at a price that I could
>tolerate. Currently looking for the final parts to finish the bike. I
>also missed my DT Basso so I rebuilt the Loto in it's original C
>Record/Cobalto configuration.
>
>A number of folks on the CR list have helped me make decisions on how to
>proceed with these bikes but I would especially like to thank Peter
>Weigle. We exchanged a few notes and finally I was able to spend time in
>his shop for a face to face discussion on the merits of patina and
>appropriate restoration strategies. Peter also encouraged me get more
>involved in the CR list.
>
>Hope to have my bikes at Lars Anderson and get to meet more of you
>folks.
>
>Norm Lafleur
>Ashfield, Ma.