Bottecchia fan
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 3,520
Bikes: 1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo (frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame), 1974 Peugeot UO-8
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Originally Posted by
luker
I rode my bike through the bike boom. I was stationed for a good part of that at Scott AFB in Illinois. We did two self-supported multi-day tours through the general area (Illinois, Missouri) and I don't recall ever seeing another cyclist outside of a few college towns that we passed through. I also commuted to college from the base, round trip of about 25 miles. I don't recall ever seeing another cyclist on one of those rides, either. It was weird...that the bikes were flying out of the shops, and I suppose they were popping up on people's walls or something, ala seinfeld.
Like when I went to the Boulder, CO vintage bike swap - I figured "10-speeds" of one variety or other sold by the millions in the early 70's and would be plentiful. Instead, out of a couple hundred bikes there was one lonely Schwinn Varsity and something French that might have been a low end Peugeot or Gitane or something at one time. Everything else was a balloon tired cruiser or Stingray chopper style bike, most from the 50's and 60's. It's like the 70's never happened. The coolest bikes there were a couple of imaculate Peugeot touring models (maybe UE-18's or something similar) that this old couple had purchased in Paris in the 70's and road to the swap meet on and those were not for sale.
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1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo(frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame),
1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame),
1974 Peugeot UO-8, 1988 Panasonic PT-3500, 2002 Bianchi Veloce, 2004 Bianchi Pista