Great forum!

Thought I'd just introduce myself briefly before I annoy you all with questions, opinons and suspect facts from my fogging memory.

I'll admit to be drawn back while watching this year's Tour. Anyone else remember trying to follow it in the newspapers and hoping the week would get more than a half hour TV coverage on Wide World of Sprots? this OLN coverage simply is amazing. Got me so worked up I ordered "Stars and Water Carriers" and "A Sunday in Hell" on DVD! Might have to get that Fausto Coppi Bio too.

First serious bike was Motobecane Super Mirage in '76, followed quickly by a Gitane Interclub later that year. that was my intro to tubulars and I never looked back. Over the years I've owned: Raleigh International, Raleigh Pro, Bianchi Campione d'Italia for off the shelf bikes. Frames I 've built up, Eisentraut Limited Touring, Benotto (Still own it - Nuovo Record), Sannino, hmm, the '86 Bianchi frameset's name escapes me now - didn't like the short top tube, Arthur Metcalf, MKM, a Batavus pro, and one Cannondale - for about a week. heh. Oh, and some way-long Raleigh 3spd that I made into a fixed-gear. Its sitting in my living room right now taunting me. Good thing it doesn't have pedals or I'd be too tempted go out and ultimatey end up hurting myself!

Question, anyone think 14 years is too long to age Clement Criterions? LOL!

welcome..........

guess you'll just have to glue those tubs on and find out....

I have a pair of L/F Record-Mavic GP4's hanging in my shed, taunting me, in the way you describe!

All those bikes you owned......funny how the one's you remember most fondly or fit you best aren't always the ones you keep longest or have the most memorable rides on?

I used to ride a moto mirage from '74. It was my first taste of a good, decent import road bike. That thing was my dream and ended riding it many hundreds of miles as a teen.


Some years later I picked up an "arctic cat" 10sp that was assembled by Peugot (I think). That one served me well as a re-entry.

Now I'm back in it with an '85 Trek road racer.


It's still fun, isnt it?! Welcome to the forums, Scoupe.





Olds

Scoupe,

I've got some really nice Clement Paris-Roubaix tires, probably same vintage
as yours. If they hold air, and the base tape is secure (got any liquid latex?)
if glued properly I see no reason why they wouldn't be ridable.
Give them a good once over checking for signs of deterioration, dry rot,
cracking etc.

Marty

Welcome to the club, Scoupe. I enjoy the differences among my four road bikes. The Bianchi is the fastest, most responsive road bike I have ever owned, the Capo is the most ornately beautiful, and the Peugeots are practical, enjoyable all-rounders.

I sitll fondly remember some of my project bikes, such as an Armstrong 3-speed to which I fitted a 14-16-18-20 Cyclo hybrid gear cluster and a Cyclo clockspring (ala Simplex TdF) derailleur, which I later replaced with a first-generation Campag. Record. The resulting 12-speed transmission had a nice set of gear ratios spanning 40 to 100 gear-inches, perfect for the hills of west Los Angeles.