auchencrow

Imagine it's December 24, 1973, and you're still in junior high...
(I guess that many of you were about 40 years old in 1973, but just imagine that you were still in junior high )

Mom and dad have decided to buy you a brand new 10-speed as a very special Christmas gift , but you must decide between four models that are for sale at the LBS.

- No fancy Italians to chose from, but just your basic 10-speeds, because mom is a housewife, and dad works the midnight shift at the local rubber-duckie factory.

You must choose between a Peugeot U08, a Raleigh Grand Prix, a Schwinn Continental, or a Fuji Special Road Racer (AKA S-10-S).
Make your selection in the poll above, and tell us your logic (if any) for your decision.












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that_guy_zach

Fuji, Hands down. Better wheels and parts, better build and my guess would be lightest.

But in my Merica' it would have been the Schwinn since it was a Schwinn and my Dad would in no way let me buy a Japanese bike.

auchencrow

I'm pretty sure the '73 Fuji still had steel wheels. Alloy's came in a year or two later. Still opt for the Fuj?

that_guy_zach

Yep. Only cotterless bike. Unless you count the Schwinn

Essthreetee

Ok...I was born in '73... But besides that. Thinking about my parents logic...they would push for the Schwinn, because they know that name to be quality (they still say this...) and I, for no real reason would probably choose the Raleigh (which they would think was inferior to the Schwinn but WAY better than the Fuji or Peugeot...small town and their money...)

repechage

In late 1973 I was in Junior High. (they now call the school middle school)
I had saved and saved since I was 10 years old and was riding my first 10 speed, a top of the line Bertin.

I did get weak at one time and considered the basic level Peugeot with tubulars though, but I really wanted cotter less cranks.

rootboy 

Well, in 73 I was 20 years old and riding my PX-10 up around the Olympic Peninsula and down the coast of Washington and Oregon.
But if I had to go with this poll, I think I'd choose the Raleigh. Not sure why.

bobbycorno

Having actually RIDDEN these bikes, there's no question: PEUGEOT! The rest would be indistiguishable in a blind test (I know; howtheheck are you gonna do that?), but the UO8 rides and handles like something a few levels up in the foodchain. And for my money, that's what it's about when choosing a bike.

SP
OC, OR

rgver

I'd go with the Fuji, prefer the ride other the others. No funky threading to deal with.

oddjob2

I was a high school senior then and it was my first year with a driver's license, so who gave a whoot about bikes in suburban NJ? And that was also the year that gasoline shortages and gas lines emerged, driving prices up from $.29 a gallon to .$58, a 100 percent increase. Furthermore, two of my high school buddies had inherited one year old Lincoln Town Cars (of course with vinyl roofs) from deceased ancestors. Why ride a bike when you can ride in style to the Burger King. FWIW, I grew up in the neighborhood the Soprano's made famous.

By 1973, I had already bought a new bike in 1972 from money I earned while carrying two bags at a Jewish only country club and used it to get to the golf course. I already had a Schwinn 5 speed Collegiate at the time. I had ridden the Varsity, Continental, Grand Prix, and a UO-8.

I really liked the UO-8 because of the way it rode, fit, and checkerboard graphics. But they were hard to come by and the LBS dealers were gouging buyers then. I ended up with the blue LeJeune TdF below, which I still have (in pieces), bought in NYC at the 14th Street bicycle shop. I believe it was $30-$40 less, but had 100 percent the same component set as the UO-8.

I forgot, during that time I was really into skiing, and Jean Claude Killy, was the man! So any French sporting goods were cool! My first pair of skis were Maryland made Head 360s, didn't get Rossi's until after college.

iab

I was in grade school. But there is no question, the Schwinn. The other brands were unknown to me at the time. At a young age, I would have bought what i knew.

Also, the dude in the brochure is having a hell of a time. The others, not so much.

marley mission

going pug
73
cottered awesomeness
with killer headbadges year after year
in fact - let me get your largest mixte frame sir

Bruce Enns

+1, in 1969 I bought a new Varsity, I thought it was the coolest thing on the planet. I rode the heck out of it too! Now, with perfect 20/20 hindsight I'd choose the Fuji, but that Raleigh is very pretty.

auchencrow

Yeah but French threading wasn't considered so "funky" back then - And don't forget that Raleigh's proprietary threading was a little "different" too...
You know, if it wasn't for the exchange rate with the yen, French threading might have become the standard today.

PedalTraveler

A really tough decision.... Knowing what I know now I'd get the Fuji, but my middle school self would be most likely to get the Schwinn. In middle school I didnt/wouldnt have the tools to service the bottom bracket on anything but the Schwinn. And I had to tinker with everything.

I actually remember trying to get the crank arm off an old Raleigh i had with a claw hammer... it survived.

wrk101

+1 Another senior in HS in the fall of 1973.

+1 French threading was not funky back then, it was just different with lots of affordable brand new parts out there (kind of like Italian now). OK, the french had to do everything different: pedals, stems, bb, freewheel threads, etc. Now the swiss threading, it actually made sense (but never got traction).

One month later, January 1974, I discovered my dream grail bike, a Nishiki International. Morrie Mages sporting goods in Chicago had just started selling them (store was kind of a precursor to the Dicks Sporting Goods). Unfortunately, I could not afford it at the time.

The International was priced at about what my Schwinn Continental cost, but had cromoly frame, alloy wheels, alloy cotterless crankset, good Suntour derailleurs, and oh yeah, weighed TEN pounds less. My interest in anything Schwinn at that point went to zero. Sure the Superior and Paramount were outstanding bikes, but they were at an entire different price point.

Of course, in the last three years, I have picked up about a dozen Internationals from 1973 and 1974, and right now in my project queue I have an American Eagle Semi Pro from 1973 and a Nishiki Competition from 1974 (same model, different name), both in my size. I might have to keep one of them. The American Eagle is kind of interesting as it has a Nishiki headbadge.

Here they are, in as found condition. The Nishiki has a cool, bronze/green paint color:

Metacortex

You forgot perhaps the most important deciding factor at the time, the prices. Without knowing the prices a choice cannot be properly made. The Continental was $116.95, what were the prices of the others?

Grand Bois

I'd choose the Fuji for the same reasons as Zach. The stem shifters on the pictured Peugeot turn me off, but they didn't have them in 1973.

I was just out of the Army and in college in 1973. I bought a new Dawes Galaxy which was promptly stolen from me. I replaced it with an old Garlati with chrome lugs.

Michael Angelo 

I had just graduated high school in 1973, I already had a 10 Speed Armstrong, very similar to the Raleigh Grand Prix.

Flying Merkel

I'm putting together a '72 Continental right now. It's a hard choice between 4 fine pieces of functional mediocrity. My brain is for the Fuji, but my heart says Schwinn.

auchencrow

Right again - I found an earlier pic and replaced the one with stem shifters. I didn't mean to sway anyone's opinion here.

auchencrow

Heck - you're 40 years old and still living at home in 1973?
Why pinch pennies when they're buying?

auchencrow

IIWY, I'd keep that green Nishiki - to fullfill your HS fantasies (albeit a bit belatedly).

Italuminium

Digging the pug. But then again, my "middle school" days coincided with the Pharmstrong days . Didn't really like cycling back then.

Barrettscv 

I worked at George Garner Cyclery in 1973, I was 16 years old. I purchased this;