Re: [CR] Rene Herse Ligtweight Record Bike

(Example: Framebuilders:Richard Moon)

Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:23:50 -0600
From: "Nor Meyer" <norbikes@gmail.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] Rene Herse Ligtweight Record Bike


At the risk of contradicting Jerry's pronouncements re ."touring" bikes, I have never toured on a so-called touring bike. My first long tour was on a Guerciotti frameset purchased from Paolo himself in Milan in '72. That bike didn't even faintly resemble Jerry's preferred configuration for a "touring" machine, but it conveyed me and my camping gear perfectly well from Portland to NY. Subsequent tours have been undertaken on a '70's vintage Geoffrey Butler, completely braze-on free save for a rear chainstay cable stop, as well as my '75 Masi GC (twice). Del Mundos were the tire of choice----not exactly "touring" fare. And I can assure you my next touring rig will have "brifters" on it-----the most amazing and effective cycling innovation since clip-less pedals, imho. I have and still ride steel framesets, esp. on gravel road rides that like fatter tires, but whenever I show up for a group ride where I'm giving up 30+ yrs. to gal & guy riders I usually opt for a CF, titanium or aluminum rig. It's a hoot to throw a leg over my Javelin Torgiano superbike, which is gorgeous in its own CF right. It's about riding the bike, not obsessing over "correctness" or style points or whatever other distractions we can come up with to avoid confronting the fact that we're getting older & slower.

Nor Meyer in Mt. Vernon, IA