[CR]All the WELL DESERVED praise heaped on the lowly, ALAN frame

(Example: Framebuilders:Jack Taylor)

Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 20:00:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]All the WELL DESERVED praise heaped on the lowly, ALAN frame
cc: biankita@comcast.net

Garth,

I got my ALAN in VG-Exc condition (its perhaps the #2 cleanest bike I've ever purchased) with the express purpose of 'parting it out onto my english steeds' because 'surely that aluminum fork isn't long for this world.' It came from a closed-down AZ shop and still had a pricetag of $995 (i paid about 1/3rd of that.)

As a member of the bike-to-work committee for Sorrento Valley (San Diego's version of Silicon Valley), we organized a pre-bike-to-work day bike-show in 2004. Several of us brought in favorite bikes from our garages, to be seen by 500-1000 people at lunchtime.

I polished the ALAN headlugs and campy parts for 2 hours to get ready for this bikeshow. My bike has a yellow-golden anodized tubes and the polishing caused the lugs to emit their own light ...

Long story short, my ALAN stole the show. It bested a 1974 Paramount, a Gary Fisher classic, an Olmo, a Litespeed, a Rambouillet - boring, boring, and boring. In short, it stole the thunder of all those other retro and modern classics ...

Six months ago I asked my 5-yr old twins which bike in the garage was their favorite of all the bikes. After 10 minutes of looking around at the 15 bikes on the floor, they said, "Daddy, it's the golden bike.

My ALAN - the first prodution road racer under 20 lbs - has a special place in history, and in the hearts of men.

- Donald Gillies
San Diego, CA