Re: [CR]We are truly...

(Example: Racing:Jacques Boyer)

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 13:50:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: "sandranian" <sandranian@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]We are truly...
To: Tom Dalton <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com>, gillies@cs.ubc.ca, Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <846311.76776.qm@web55901.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


My two cents (as objective as I can be). I have raced new...and old, as recently as 2004 (came in fifth on my 1970 Gitane Super Corsa, with downtube shifters and rat trap pedals!):

On the flats: Old is just as fast (they still haven't made a better hub than Campagnolo Record).

Uphill: Please. There is no comparison...lighter is just plain better.

In the sprints: New bikes are faster. No doubt about it. They accellerate and handle better(because they are lighter and in most cases, stiffer).

Shifting: New bikes are faster/better.

Downhill: Depends on how big your "downhill muscle" (gut) is.

Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA http://www.GitaneUSA.com

Tom Dalton <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com> wrote: Quite frankly, I get hyped up riding an elite late 1970's bike - sub 20 lbs. It's almost like the endorphins shoot into my brain before my first pedal stroke.

A Giant OCR3 would not cause this reaction, and I really do believe that I'm faster on an elite bike - from the modern (post-1960) era - compared to a low-end LBS bike - ANY low-end LBS bike ...

- Don Gillies

Don,

I file this under "works for Don" and not under "reasons old bikes are really just as fast." For every guy like you who's psyched up about his elite classic, there would be a hundred who would be flummoxed and pshyched out by the lack of familar shifters, pedals, etc, and the sense that it was an obsolete bike. Assuming these arguments about 'psych factors' are really appropriate to the objective issue of speed, I'd say that among the guys I'm limiting this argument to, the preference would be strongly in favor or mediocre and modern not elite and obsolete

Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA USA... really, last today....

--------------------------------- Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search.

_______________________________________________

_____________________________________

This E-mail is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. ยงยง 2510-2521 and is legally privileged. This information is confidential information and is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.