Re: [CR] Aquila and Flying Dutchman frames from The Big Wheel in Denver

(Example: Framebuilders:Chris Pauley)

Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:15:31 -0700
From: "Mitchell Bowman" <mitchellbowman@live.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <8CBE299DACF7304-16EC-124F@WEBMAIL-MA16.sysops.aol.com> <8CBE29B936560E6-1E58-2AB@mblk-d15.sysops.aol.com> <20090803230805.6kt36u58g00wksss@webmail.xmission.com>
In-Reply-To: <20090803230805.6kt36u58g00wksss@webmail.xmission.com>
Subject: Re: [CR] Aquila and Flying Dutchman frames from The Big Wheel in Denver


I'd be pretty interested in hearing/reading what exactly it is he said, re: MTBs and naming names. Care to spill the beans?

Mitchell Bowman Vancouver, BC, Canada

gear@xmission.com wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'll chime in on this as a means to further confuse the issue. Not
> long before Jack's 'new' Big Wheel store went away, and his death, I
> spent the better part of an afternoon talking with him for a
> feature/interview to be published in a cycling publication based in
> the Denver/Boulder area. (the feature was never published, and much of
> what Jack said was not publishable in a family publication...)
>
> I had known Jack for several years, and he was very sure that the MTB
> had ruined the bike biz as he had known and enjoyed it, and he minced
> no words while naming names. (Hmmm, maybe another reason no cycling
> publication whose livelihood is mainly dependent upon advertising felt
> the need to publish Jack's views at the time, still during the height
> of the MTB boom).
>
> Anyway, he told me then that Flying Dutchmen bikes were Dutch-built,
> and hinted at Rih as the main contractor, with '...odder small ones,
> bildas too, der who make dem faw us der". Those of you who knew Jack
> may recognize some of that...I'm smiling right now anyway.
>
> Each frame that he showed me in his inventory had 531 decals and Campy
> dropouts, but older style than was typical of that time. Perhaps old
> stock. In the end, his heir(s) sold off the remaining frames and
> inventory, I think a good many at one or two Velo Swaps in Denver.
> They weren't great bikes in terms of detail and finish, but I wish I'd
> gotten one nonetheless, just to give me cause to recall listening to
> Mr. Van Ghent speak.
>
> Greg Overton
> chiming in der, even if I din know nuddin', der
> near Denver, Colorado
>
>
>
> Quoting oroboyz@aol.com:
>
>> <<"According to his daughter Yvonne he started in the early 70's?
>> with the Aquila house brand name, Yvonne couldn't recall an exact date.?
>> The Aquila frames were built in France at the Gitane factory,?
>> same thing with the Flying Dutchman frames Jack later brought into
>> the US,?
>> they too were made in France at the same factory." >>
>>
>>
>>
>> Hmm.??I think things got confused in the word-of-mouth repeating of
>> that story.
>>
>> I bought and sold a number of those bikes. ("Aquila", "Flying
>> Dutchman") and that talk is about Jack Van Gent (now defunct Big
>> Wheel Bicycles in Denver) and his daughter Yvonne Van Gent... Jack's
>> house brand Flying Dutchman frames were at least in part made by
>> Aquila in Italy. I don't think nor believe Gitane had any hand in
>> them. He also sold the Libertas brand which I assumed were Dutch or
>> Belgian.
>>
>>
>> Dale Brown
>>
>> Greensboro, North Carolina USA
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: verktyg@aol.com
>> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>> Sent: Mon, Aug 3, 2009 5:38 pm
>> Subject: [CR] Aquila and Flying Dutchman frames from The Big Wheel in
>> Denver
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I found this comment in a Bikeforums.net thread from 2006 in reference
>> to Flying Dutchman bikes:?
>> ?
>>
>> "According to his daughter Yvonne he started in the early 70's?
>>
>> with the Aquila house brand name, Yvonne couldn't recall an exact date.?
>>
>> The Aquila frames were built in France at the Gitane factory,?
>>
>> same thing with the Flying Dutchman frames Jack later brought into the
>> US,?
>>
>> they too were made in France at the same factory."?
>> ?
>>
>> Gitane made Royal Asport and a few other brands of bikes but is anyone
>> aware of an Aquila or Flying Dutchman connection to Gitane??
>> ?
>>
>> Chas. Colerich?
>>
>> Oakland, CA USA?
>> ?
>>
>> ?
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