Original Message: ----------------- From: Daniel Artley dartley@co.ba.md.us Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 09:16:05 -0400 To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]PX-10 a racer?
"My question:
Does anyone know people who actually raced the PX-10's of that era other
than as beginning racers who shortly moved up to 'real' racing bikes?
Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland"
Gosh YES, Dan. Honestly practically every time I take my PX-10 on the ro ad I wind up chatting with some guy in his late 40s, early 50s who tells me "Wow, a PX-10... that's was my first racing bike!" and I get an fasc inating earful about cat. 2 racing in the 1970s etc. Now, that's here in Washi ngton which was (is) one of the great bastions of French bicycles. If you see a CR List era quality machine on the road around here, I've found easily 70%
are Gitanes, Motos (lots of those) and Peugeots. Again, those of you who
raced during this period can tell us firsthand but if you want to meet ageing boy racers around here... ride a PX-10!
Frame geometry: the PX-10 had, c. 1965-1974, what must be the classic 72
deg parallel frame angles. I say classic as that seemed to be the norm f or most of the British marques of the era, at least in the 1960s. I have no
idea what the Italians used but 72 deg. was certainly not unusual for racing bikes of the period.
Steering: yep, Brian Baylis is right about the steering on a PX-10. It's , well it's leisurely and needs to be thought out a bit. As Brian surmised , it might be more the fork rake than the geometry but I am no expert on suc h things. It's got nothing on a Cinelli in that respect which steers witho ut even one being aware of it. A PX-10 on the straight: fastest bike on roa d, no doubt. Fast enough to chat with ageing boy racers on their brand new Colnagos and chat about racing in the 1970s whilst doing about 24 mph!
So Dan you gave up on your PX-10 a bit early methinks. But yep, it seems it was that first rung in the racing bike ladder. So even more worthy for that. What do you want for your $240?!
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/