Originally Posted by
Road Fan
As a high schooler in the late '60s and college freshman, I spent a LOT of time haunting the bike shops of the North Side of Chicago. My memory may be fuzzy, but I recall in the EARLY '70s being disappointed that lower-end Italian bikes were starting to show some Japanese parts. Plus if some historian has established the the Bike Boom was in fact the years you say, I stand corrected.
...You're speaking mainly in generalities and drawing hard specifiec conclusions, which I don't think has a good basis. I can't argue with the trends you claim. Even if you have examples of Italians of 1970 with all Italian componentry it doesn't disprove my recollections. At the same time I have no evidence, why would I have kept literature on bikes I wouldn't have considered buying?
...But what can we prove? Nothing.
The period of the North American bicycle boom is quite easy to establish based on published sales figures. Starting in 1945, there was a general upward trend in sales from under 1 million, to 7 million in 1970. That’s an increase in annual sales of only 6 million bicycles over 25 years. Then 1971 saw sales increase by 2 million, jumping to 9 million. In 1972 sales were 12 million. Things peaked in 1973 with sales of 15 million. 1974 saw a slight decline to 14 million, then in 1975 the boom collapsed with sales falling to the pre-boom figure of 7 million. Based on these figures it’s evident that 1971-1974 were the boom years.
Yes, I was talking generalities but then, so were you. Like yourself, I have plenty of first-hand experience from the boom era. I started racing during the era and was wrenching in an LBS, taking over as manager in 1975. Consequently, I was well aware of the state of the industry during the period.
As previously stated, I do not recall any Italian models with Japanese components during this period. However, memory is fallible, so I did consult my literature. Looking at 1973/1974 entry level models for 12 full-range Italian brands (Atala, Bianchi, Bottecchia, Chiorda, Corsa, Cortina, Doniselli, Fiorelli, Frejus. Legnano, Maserati and Moretti) there were no models that were Japanese equipped.
Furthermore, I looked at literature for other, major European brands, as they were trendsetters that the smaller manufacturers followed. The earliest, and only boom era case, that I could find of Japanese components on European models, were on 1974 Motobecane entry level models. Gitane introduced Japanese equipped models in 1976, with Raleigh following in 1977. Peugeot held out until the mid-1980s.
I’m sure there are probably some isolated cases of European manufacturers who may have used Japanese components during the boom, most likely due to shortages or importer preference, but the objective evidence would seem to substantiate that the Italians (and European manufacturers in general) did not start using Japanese components, in any substantial volume, until the late 1970s.