Re: [CR]Replacing French parts with SunTour

(Example: Production Builders:Peugeot:PY-10)

In-Reply-To: <200701190330.l0J3UhSt017948@cascade.cs.ubc.ca>
References: <200701190330.l0J3UhSt017948@cascade.cs.ubc.ca>
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Replacing French parts with SunTour
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:11:51 -0800
To: "classicrendezvous@bikelist.org (E-mail)" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>


Don Gillies wrote:
> Honestly,
> in the crowd I used to hang out with (Prairie Cycle Club in the
> midwest, specifically in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois), in the mid 70's
> you would go to a ride and people would 'size you up' .... :
>
> - if you had japanese parts, you were an intelligent
> thoughtful and well-read cyclist (Bicycling!)
>
> - if you had campagnolo nuovo record parts or better,
> you were a snob.
>
> - if you had french parts, you weren't mechanically
> inclined enough to be able to change over to japanese
> parts ...
>
> so you had to watch what signals you were sending by
> riding with french or high-end italian parts !!!

Things were different on the West Coast in the mid 70s (hardly surprising); I belonged to PAA (Pasadena Athletic Association) Cycle Club and later Montrose Cycle Club, both racing clubs. And since it was the mid 70s virtually everyone raced on Campagnolo... French stuff, Spanish stuff, and Japanese stuff was "off the back" as it were.

Snob? Can't see how that would apply to anyone that peddled a bicycle.

Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA +--------------------------------------------------+ | "Value for money was and probably still IS the | | cycling ethic in most of Britain, just like it's | | the cycling ethic in most of America, just not | | in California, where there is altogether too | | much money floating around, looking for a reason | | to be spent ..." ~Donald Gillies | +--------------------------------------------------+ http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)