Dear Ahmet.
What a wonderful story of loving bicycling. And a tribute to your father as well. Enjoy your time with Classic Rendezvous. It is stories like this th at makes it worth wading through all the daily emails.
Robb Rasmussen Sioux River Bicycles & Fitness 501 Main Ave Brookings, SD 57006 http://www.501main.com
celebrating the busiest summer ever after 30 years in business.
> Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 17:50:44 +0300> From: ahmetcemiloglu@gmail.com> To:
classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: [CR]New member> > Hello everyone,
> > I'm a newcomer to this mailing list. Ahmet Cemiloglu, from Istanbul, Tu
rkey.> > I'm posting a rather long one here, because it felt good writing a
bout my> childhood memories of cycling, wanted to share with people of the
same> interest, and actually it's connected to how I ended up here... I hop
e it's> not against the mailing list rules, as it's nothing directly relate
d to> vintage bikes or parts. Better skip if not interested...> > Until 200
5, I never had a high-end bike. Not that I couldn't afford, they> just happ
ened to be available after late 90s; when I wasn't cycling at> all... The 8
0's Turkey, healing her wounds after a military coup, wasn't> your favorite
place to feed your bicycle enthusiasm. Import bikes were> ridiculously ove
rpriced, not only the rich, but the the lucky amongst them> could get the c
hance to own one. A few brands were imported, usually British> and French,
and a handful every year... It was like, there's an invisible> contract you
sign with the bike stores, that you will not see another one of> your belo
ved ride. Well, I saw one or two of each of my rides in the last 15> years,
reasonable... Most sought after brands were Raleigh and Peugeot, and> Dawe
s later on, when the mountain bike craze began in early 90s. 21-speed> that
is!> > Those were the golden days for domestic manufacturers, they were se
lling> their failure-happy kiloton bikes in exchange for a pouch of gold, w
ith a> smile on their face for selling affordable rides compared to the fiv
e times> expensive import bikes.> > In September 1988, my dad surprised me
with a Raleigh Winner, right after my> BMX (Raleigh Super Burner) was stole
n. Raleigh was the Rolls-Royce of> bicycles amongst us, the crowd who was u
naware of the high-end bikes and> components available in Europe. I recall
my first time meeting a Colnago, it> was out of this world... My dad's mate
brought it personally from Germany,> and what he paid for it was about the
same with my Raleigh Winner. Not many> things changed nowadays, a well kno
wn example would be the new Corvette,> priced at $45.000 in the US is sold
for $150.000 in Turkey, hardly a> bargain. Lovely taxes.> > Compared to the
other imports around, Raleigh Winner didn't have> state-of-the-art equipme
nt. Steel rims, Sachs gear, a pretty wide saddle> etc. It was a new bike th
at looked old, or I was too young to see the> differences between a road an
d a touring bike... Seeing the new edge Shimano> equipment on some other bi
kes, I felt down with what I got, call me a> spoiled child... There were no
frame size options back then, what you saw> was what you got. The bike had
a huge frame, pretty oversized for a 11> year-old. I could see the idea be
hind my father's XXL purchase, as my> childhood years were soon coming to a
n end, so was the summer... It> took three years for me to grow taller into
a teenager.> > Istanbul, being one of the largest metropols of the world,
wasn't a good> place for kid to cycle around, so my bicycle days were limit
ed with summer> holidays I spent at our summer house in Princes' Islands. N
o cars around,> it's the perfect place to spend your childhood, roaming aro
und freely, fresh> air, the sea... It's said that Princes' Islands are the
last remaining place> to taste the beautiful social rainbow of the long gon
e Ottoman Empire.> There's a good amount of Greek, Armenian, and Jewsih pop
ulation... The next> summer I got my Raleigh, I got another new bike (lucky
!), with 7 speed> Shimano gear, 700c Mavic alloy rims, a 48cm frame, and a
sleek Selle> Italia... A Dawes Scorpio. Couldn't be happier. It was so ligh
t and fast, I> never had a second look the the poor Raleigh.> > At 15, I st
arted cycling in the winter weekends. Had a few friends from the> school, w
e did about 60 miles every Sunday. It was cycling for fun, not> training or
any kind of professional purpose. Sightseeing, enjoying the> moment... Any
way, after a few years of cycling occasionally, I had a direct> crash on a
high pavement, severely damaging the front wheel. The impact> caused cracks
at the front end of frame tubes. The headset was also damaged.> It was a g
oner.> > I was the only one amongst my friends, who insisted on a road bike
,> everyone had mountain bikes, and wanted to go off the road, being parks
and> pavements in a big city. So, I bought a Peugeot MTB, took a few spins.
.. I> decided that I hate MTBs. That's about the time I gave up cycling and
> somehow lost the interest for a long 10 years until last year.> > Two yea
rs ago I built myself a road bike with up to date equipment, got an> Airbor
ne Zeppelin titanium frame with Time Millenium carbon forks. Built the> bik
e with Campagnolo Veloce 9spd. groupset. Ti seat post, Ti stem, a flat Ti>
bar, a saddle with Ti rails, mostly Airborne stuff... and voila! Here it> w
as... After a long while, I had a pretty good bike. I couldn't love it.> So
mething was seriously missing. Although it was the most comfortable and> li
ghtweight road frame I've ever experienced, it didn't feel like a bicycle.>
It felt like I borrowed some pro's ride, trying to act like one... The> co
mponents looked so hi-tech, it made me miss the link for cycling with joy.>
"Spoiled" I hear you say... No, not at all...> > In June, I got curious ab
out what my Raleigh was doing in the attic of the> summer house. Or even ho
w it looked like. Long years of dust even at the> tiniest detail, spiderweb
s, surface rust on the wheels, it took a messy and> long while to clean. A
mint condition 80's bike. The bike I couldn't ride,> didn't like... After s
pending more than two hours cleaning it, surprisingly> everything worked fi
ne, even the gears... It felt very heavy, not a good> comparision after exp
eriencing a titanium bike, but the ride was so smooth> and soothing... Prob
ably the island's environment boosted the feelings...> something was sincer
e with it... may be the touring tyres, may be the> Chromoly frame... may be
the days I couldn't ride it... can't explain... But> I recognized that it
has a 54cm frame, the size I picked when ordering> Airborne... It fit like
a glove. Felt like a dream, perfect balance, even it> was heavy, I quickly
fell in love with it.> > My father passed away in 2001, and I felt sad agai
n, for how I'm grateful> again for something he did for me, wanted to thank
sincerely again for> picking such a good bike, not for the kid, but the 30
year old me. Even for> the frame size...> > In order to ride it with maxim
um joy, I decided to let everything go, except> for the frameset. I'm reall
y moved with Greg Townsend's track bike, so I> thought, get rid of the gear
s and the brakes, go for fixed... As this bike> is the most valuable to me,
I'm going to build it with vintage track> bike parts, NOS if possible. So,
I'll be looking for vintage Campagnolo> Pista stuff, and Cinelli headset c
omponents... Already ordered a Brooks> Swallow saddle and bar tapes...> > >
> Thanks for your time,> > > Ahmet Cemiloglu> Istanbul, Turkey> > > --- St
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