Re: [CR] Thomas Avenia Bicycles

(Example: Production Builders:Peugeot:PX-10LE)

From: <ABB3330002@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:12:26 -0400
To: <ealbert01@gmail.com>, <sj52@hotmail.com>
Cc: andy@strawberrybicycle.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] Thomas Avenia Bicycles


To add a few notes, I went to Avenia's with my Frejus and saw a pile of track chainrings. They were beautifully cut and polished and I thought would be trick on my road bike. Tommy went through them one by one ( must have been at least 50) to see if any fit my crank. I tried to stop him ( these were at most a $10 item) as there were other people in the store waiting his attention, but he was intent on the quest. Sadly we didn't find one, but this was in marked distinction to Stuyvesant (then on 1st Avenue) where if they didn't know you or you weren't a known member of a racing club, you couldn't buy Campy replacement parts. I led trips for AYH at the time and had to have them call down to Stuyvesant so that I could buy the cotter pins I wanted to carry with me for the trip I was about to lead. Tommy was a gentleman of the old school. I brought a friend with me another time to buy a bike. He wanted a 3 speed but I was trying to encourage him into a racer (10 speed). Tommy took his part and sold him an English 3 speed ( don't remember the brand) since that was what my friend wanted. An unusual fellow. Later on, I guess after he left Manhattan, he started selling handlebar stands -- you rested the bars upside down in the cradles so the brake cables didn't crush. It worked, and I still have mine which I use-- and everytime I do I think of Tommy Avenia. Alan (there's a movie here somewhere) Bernstein, NYC USA