Originally Posted by
Pompiere
Performance branded bikes seem to be even more rare than Nashbar bikes, or at least they don't show up very often. I have a Performance Parabola touring bike from around 1992. It was made in Taiwan from Tange Infinity tubing, but I have no idea who built it.
The parabola isn't what I would describe as a touring bike, it's a "road hybrid" (that uses off-road geometry, but with mounts for x-long reaching, dual-pivot sidepull calipers and equipped with drop bars mounted with a short, tall 1" quill stem, and with narrowish rims with 135mm hub spacing).
The drivetrain for those not in the know is the not-so-common CX500 hybrid group, with 30-40-50t chainrings and with bar-end shifters instead of the group's Rapidfire mtb-style shifters.
I've had two of them, still have one. They take big tires, are quite strong and are off-road heavy. I was told that they were made by Giant. I took this picture the day after having won a B-class CX race on it in muddy conditions, where it spared my better usual bike from the muddy race's abuse.
