You might be over the daily quota but it's good reading.
Mike Schmidt Millington, New Jersey Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 15, 2009, at 4:07 PM, James Swan <jswan@optonline.net> wrote:
> Hi Josh,
>
> I was involved in Conrad's transition from draperies to bike shop.
> In 1973 and 74 I worked as a mechanic at Hempstead Cycles in
> Hempstead Long Island. That was a very big bike shop that wholesaled
> bikes and parts to small shops all over NYC and Long Island. Conrad
> originally bought a half dozen or so Raleigh 3 speed bikes from us
> to start his rental business. I assembled and delivered those bikes.
> I think that we sold him a bike parking rack too.
>
> At the beginning of the rental business they brought those bikes out
> to our shop for service. I guess that got annoying so they started
> servicing the bikes themselves. That lead into setting up a small
> shop area and taking in some neighborhood bike repairs. Conrad would
> come by our shop to pick up parts and ask questions about how to
> work on bikes. He was a really nice guy. It didn't take long before
> Conrad's evolved into half bike shop and half drapery shop. They
> were dabbling in the high end bikes a little but one particular deal
> put them on the map with pro bikes.
>
> Our shop was one of the largest Schwinn and Raleigh dealers in the
> country and my boss (George Oslander) was a real wheeler-dealer. One
> day he got a call from the Raleigh rep saying that they were about
> to take delivery on a 40 foot container of Raleigh Professionals and
> Internationals. Raleigh USA was very over-stocked and they were
> looking to sell the whole container at a very good price. George
> snapped up that deal and immediately got on the phone to see if he
> could find somebody to flip it to. Conrad was the guy who said yes.
> I forget how many bikes fit in a 40 foot container but it is
> probably several hundred anyway... So Conrad took those bikes and
> pulled the groupos off them. He ordered dozens of high end Italian
> frames from their respective distributors... And he ordered cases of
> NR Italian bottom brackets and headsets. His shop was overflowing
> with full Campy bikes of every description and he had some killer
> deals on Raleigh Pro frame sets complete with headsets and bottom
> brackets. Some of the guys in our shop bought those frames for next
> to nothing... Conrad's and Hempstead Cycles continued to do business
> for many years after that.
>
> Hey Dale, all this NYC stuff is really drawing me out from under my
> rock. I think that this might be the first time ever that I've used
> up my posting quota. ; )
>
> Jamie Swan
> Northport, NY, USA
> http://www.jamieswan.net
>
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 15, 2009, at 3:24 PM, Cino1947@aol.com wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> No discussion of NY bike shops would be complete without mention of
>> Conrad's originally on 47th and 2nd Ave.; now on Tudor City Place
>> near the U.N.
>> Conrad and Sarah Weiss started as a drapery business, Darnoc (Conrad
>> backwards), and rented out bikes because business was slow.The bike
>> business did
>> very well, and they eventually dropped the drapery business. They
>> ran a
>> mostly high end shop with many imports including Cinelli,
>> Campagnolo, and many
>> European marques .I got my first pro bike there, a Grandis, in
>> 1979, which
>> I now run as a fixed. They were visited by Eddy Merckx, and still
>> have a
>> great photo display of him in their shop. Conrad passed away many
>> years ago,
>> and the shop is now run by John and Yi, who have been there since
>> the
>> early days. John is a great guy and very knowledgeable. Yi is
>> about as good a
>> mechanic as I have ever dealt with. Sarah still comes into the
>> shop and
>> holds court a couple of times a week. They still carry top end
>> stuff, but know
>> a great deal about vintage bikes.
>> Josh Berger
>> Bronx, NY
>> USA
>> _cino1947@aol.com_ (mailto:cino1947@aol.com)