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I know that it's silly but a Colnago. Had and sold two over the years. I don't think that a Colnago would be actually superior in any definite way to what else is here, but ... Currently scheming on one that is unfortunately overpriced. Have to see what happens with it.
And Kucharik shorts |
Originally Posted by ManekiNico
(Post 23539905)
Not so much a brand as a product line: Descente cycling jerseys. Those things used to be ubiquitous!
Descente is still around, but they seem to only make ski wear now. |
Originally Posted by Insidious C.
(Post 23539969)
Lejeune, the most out-of-reach bike at the LBS for this drooling 13yo. I still get a tingly feeling when I see the name.
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Originally Posted by Deal4Fuji
(Post 23540252)
Growing up in Jacksonville NC (home of Camp Lejeune) I've always wanted one as well, but they don't show up in large frames around here often...at least I've never seen one.
In 1974 I worked a deal on a Lejeune, a better, smaller size for racing. Sold that in later 1975 as I had a Masi and a Harry Quinn. when the chance opportunity arrived to buy back the Lejeune in 1983 I snatched it up. Still have it and one of my favorite bikes still. Even with strong competition it is an enduring favorite. |
Frejus. When I was in my teens, a friend of a friend had matching Frejus road and track bikes, both painted in a lovely light coffee shade with orange-red decals. It was love at first sight.
Whoever it was at Frejus who was picking the colors (paint and contrasting panels) had impeccable taste. Which is understating the case. I can't think of any other Italian (of course) bike marque whose designers were so audacious in picking contrasting colors that should have clashed but were ineffably perfect together. (And mixing pastel and pearl. Shouldn't have worked; but it did.) So I always wanted an identical matching pair of Frejus bikes. The closest I got: a white Frejus with blue panels (pedestrian by Frejus standards) and, later, a Bianchi Specialissima and Eco Pista, both in celeste. Those scratched an itch, but not the itch. Here's the Frejus page at Classic Rendezvous. There are some beautiful examples there. For instance (this is my Grail color combination, lusted after in my teen years): https://classicrendezvous.com/wp-con....com__1-8.jpeg |
Any brand or maker with a connection to my other sport: rowing (see my profile pic?).
Calfee bicycles: Craig Calfee got his start in carbon fiber fabrication while working at Van Dusen Racing Shells outside Boston. The story goes, after a bike accident which totaled his bike, Craig decided to build a bike frame using the techniques he used building racing shell outriggers. Peter Mooney: Peter was a rower in Cambridge UK before emigrating to Cambridge USA. Princeton Carbon Works: I coached (in rowing of course) one of the founders while he was a undergrad. Bont: rowers that make cycling, skating and rowing shoes. Shimano: makes rowing shoes and footstretchers. Strava: started by former rowers. |
As much as I love my Campagnolo and Bianchi, I always liked Suntour. It's what is on my 1985 Cannondale.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...439e91388f.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...87d596b21d.jpg |
1980s Cannondale gloves. Best my bony hands ever had.
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Originally Posted by Rocket-Sauce
(Post 23540279)
Any brand or maker with a connection to my other sport: rowing (see my profile pic?).
Calfee bicycles: Craig Calfee got his start in carbon fiber fabrication while working at Van Dusen Racing Shells outside Boston. The story goes, after a bike accident which totaled his bike, Craig decided to build a bike frame using the techniques he used building racing shell outriggers. Peter Mooney: Peter was a rower in Cambridge UK before emigrating to Cambridge USA. Princeton Carbon Works: I coached (in rowing of course) one of the founders while he was a undergrad. Bont: rowers that make cycling, skating and cycling shoes. Shimano: makes rowing shoes and footstretchers. Strava: started by former rowers. You two might have a couple things in common. I'm about 5 years behind, but hope to hold his wheel then as now. |
And Lemond, in any flavor!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f0f387b964.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c360b7504b.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...95b259ea0e.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d82cb6db8b.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a3d6739fd2.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bbe6412343.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2266a5f57c.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...34fc3bc704.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...10ef36bd74.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5ab1467ccc.jpg |
Suntour. (Of course.)
Peugeot, Raleigh, Bob Jackson. Vitus. All of the great Anglo-Asian import brands of the 70s and 80s... Nishiki, Centurion / Diamond Back, etc. Schwinn, especially the late 70s and 80s ones. There's any number of small outfits whose bikes I always lusted after that have disappeared since I came into the sport / hobby, but they don't really seem in the spirit of the thread, and there's too many of them to list anyway. But first, most, and always... I miss Suntour. --Shannon |
Vetta, CT Wallis, Peugeot Team Line, Mavic, Stronglight, 3Rensho, Fausto Coppi, CBT Italia, Landshark, Rieckert, Mecacycles, Bontrager, Klein, RVT and Veneto
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Not ownership, but working on -- One of the shops I worked at, 1975-78, among other brands they had Panasonic. Assembled many, many of them, and impressed with he build quality. Rarely came back for service/repairs. I am not into Japanese bikes, but it I was to own one, I'd consider it.
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Originally Posted by tiger1964
(Post 23542259)
Not ownership, but working on -- One of the shops I worked at, 1975-78, among other brands they had Panasonic. Assembled many, many of them, and impressed with he build quality. Rarely came back for service/repairs. I am not into Japanese bikes, but it I was to own one, I'd consider it.
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Originally Posted by tiger1964
(Post 23542259)
Not ownership, but working on -- One of the shops I worked at, 1975-78, among other brands they had Panasonic. Assembled many, many of them, and impressed with he build quality. Rarely came back for service/repairs. I am not into Japanese bikes, but it I was to own one, I'd consider it.
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Originally Posted by Trakhak
(Post 23542268)
Similarly left cold by Japanese bikes, at least compared to the European bikes I lusted after in my early bike days. Given that you're (guessing) a Maryland native and I'm originally from Connecticut, I wonder if this bias of ours simply reflects the fact that European bike brands were mostly distributed to the East Coast and Japanese brands to the West Coast.
Oh, and picked up a Panasonic DX1000 (?) Frame and fork in the 75-78 periods, I think it might have been a warranty replacement that was not needed so I got it form the shop cheap, and I built up and raced local Criteriums in 1980 on it. Forgot about that. |
@Trakhak - I woke up to quality bikes slowly. My really first exposure was in Frankfurt where I bought an equivalent UO-8 with an extra set of sew up wheels. Rode the clinchers for every day and the sew ups for serious rides. When I was in Austria, I would go 50 some miles in less than 3 hours, maybe 2:50.
When I returned to the US the LBS had Motobecanes and I started subscribing to a cycle magazine and cruised through the common bike advertising literature. that was in eastern Washington State. I lusted for Campagnolo in 1970 and settled for a copy of the brake set with Suntour Superbe mounted on the then Le Champion. The influence was in magazines and that specific LBS. That is the root of my bias towards Campagnolo and European bikes, though I confess dearly wanting a custom frame. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5200b453dc.jpg Couple of years ago. "Not as good as I once was but good once as I ever was." https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5cd9ac8205.jpg |
True Temper.
American made steel tubing, available to me out of a small warehouse near the base of the St. John's Bridge in Portland, Oregon. I can still get Reynolds and Columbus tubing locally, but having a US made product to build a frame from... |
When I originally built up Fredo, I was working with limited funds, so I decided that if a component was both lighter than Campy and cheaper than Campy, I would try it instead of the Campagnolo equivalent. This led me to an Avocet seatpost (OK I guess), and saddle (pretty good), and Galli Ti brakes (not impressed). It also led me to the original Suntour Cyclone derailleur set, front and rear, and they worked great, so I stayed with Suntour when looking for a RD with more capacity. A post here on BF (I forget who) recommended the Suntour V-GT Luxe as a dependable model, and it has done the job well. I went with Suntour shifters on my rebuild, first with Suntour stem shifters and now Suntour barcons. My Paramount was pretty much all Campy, but Fredo never was.
So I'm a Suntour fan, too. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fe919e8859.jpg |
Pendleton
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Originally Posted by merziac
(Post 23542497)
Pendleton
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Originally Posted by Insidious C.
(Post 23542521)
Brian Wilson's passing reminded me of my all-time favorite shirt, a blue Pendleton board shirt. Dang cat sprayed it.
My Dad was a big Pendleton guy, military press, closet full. Wish I had some of them. Do have one newer, board shirt, white, black, brown and green. |
It's Schwinn for me, and probably always will be. By the time I was fully aware of the brand, they were probably circling the drain on some level, but when I got my first LBS bike, it was a Schwinn World made by Giant and in a giant-sized frame. That was the summer of 1989, and I still have it. In the intervening years, I've done stuff like putting on better tires, improved brakes, new handlebars etc. I wrecked it two weeks into owning it and ended up with a broken collarbone, so the damaged handlebars were on it until I was in my mid 30s. I'll probably give it to my youngest brother since he's a couple of inches taller than me and would have an easier time throwing his leg over it.
In addition to that one, I also have two Super Sports, one from '67 and the other from '72. I would like to get a Sports Tourer, or maybe turn one of the SS's into a ST-adjacent bike with some weight trimmed. I also hope to own a New World or one of the post-WWII 3-speed Continentals, or a 3-speed World Traveller from the 50s like my dad had in his teens. It's a sort of nostalgia for a time I didn't experience, for bikes I didn't get to ride when they were brand-new right off the shop floor. I also like the English 3-speeds, though that could be just as much an interest in the bikes as it is an interest in the culture that made such bikes. I'm not a Rhodes Scholar, so I didn't get to buy a Raleigh Sports or Roadster off of a departing graduate to use during my time there. |
The Clash. Talking Heads. The Church. Echo & the Bunnymen. Zappa. Toots and the Maytals. Prince. OMD. Nirvana. The Jam. The Cure. Grandmaster Flash. Public Enemy. Joy Division/New Order.
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