That is some good information indeed. It says a great deal. I frequently say what i feel...it gets me in trouble at times but i am honest in what i say. so here i say more...haha.

My first experience with Frayse was saying "hi", and the response was...'close that f'in door'. I actually have been to the Frayse sports Resort...aka...personal private mansion. The guest houses in the back are for the participants. The goats to the right of the house were purely entertainment. I got wiped out by a car in Glen Spey, thus ending many a racing season. I was at the camp at the time of my getting hit, and i was warming up. I can tell you the only thing they feared was a lawsuit in some way, which they weren't in any way even exposed to that possibility, and did little to assist me from the ER in the hospital to home. I am quite familiar with some of the dealings. And regarding Frayse...i owe him a black eye. Mr Van Gent spoke all regarding the whole Dutchman, Libertas, and Aquila bicycle conundrum. Maybe it was because he was ill and older and didn't wish to pass with tales upon his lips. haha. The entire 'scene' was bizarre. But Mike was a Charismatic man. He did a great deal for the Track community and he knew everyone who could get you places in the sport. But i would still pop 'em in the eye back. At the time i was at camp, Andrez Becz (shortened) was the coach doing testing. I was mainly there because of Andrez. And he was a very helpful invididual.


Paris Sports employed many a good builder to squeeze out a good and plenty source of bikes for their teams and they were very nice by most standards. BUT they are a far cry from the ones that were pumped out to the public and labeled as such in the 70s/80s. As you have stated, times were crazy and keeping up to stay competitive called for some interesting dealings. There is a former builder that lives in Hershey now, he has told me stories of the days when he lined up alongside of other builders to work on frames for PS. He told me rarely did they speak, because he didn't speak Italian. He told me they were very talented and some of the work they would put into the lugs and even detailed work around the water bottle bosses, were awesome. He still has a PS at his house for guests to ride when visiting. It is one that he built. Many a great builder found there start with working with framesets also through PS.

There is good and there is bad...but if you are riding a bicycle...it's all good!