First Drop Bar Bicycle?
05-20-10 | 12:19 PM
#26
You gonna eat that?
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 14,917
Likes: 543
From: Fort Worth, Texas Church of Hopeful Uncertainty
Bikes: 1966 Raleigh DL-1 Tourist, 1973 Schwinn Varsity, 1983 Raleigh Marathon, 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS
Something that got handed down to me when my older brother got his license.... maybe a Free Spirit. I know I had that bike in college, but I think I had some other POS before that one. I didn't obsess about it back then. Two wheels and a chain? It was good.
__________________
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi 
"However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
05-20-10 | 12:30 PM
#27
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,067
Likes: 73
From: USA
Bikes: 84 Pinarello Trevisio, 86 Guerciotti SLX, 96 Specialized Stumpjumper, 2010 Surly Cross Check, 88 Centurion Prestige, 73 Raleigh Sports, GT Force, Bridgestone MB4
A white C-Itoh with stem shifters and drop bar and circa 1973.
Previous black 3 Speed "English Racer" from Raleigh circa 1966. I flipped the bars down.
Previous black 3 Speed "English Racer" from Raleigh circa 1966. I flipped the bars down.
05-20-10 | 01:50 PM
#30
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 351
Likes: 0
From: Boston, MA
Edit: It was actually 23.5". When did road bikes change from inches to cm? I'm sure it must have been in the early 80's when I was more focused on cars and girls, perhaps not in that order.
05-20-10 | 02:09 PM
#31
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,745
Likes: 82
From: Edmonton, AB
Another Sears Free Spirit guy here. Silver 10 speed. Had those awesome brake lever extensions so you could brake from the tops. Bought it sometime in the mid 80's with money earned from a paper route. I think it was $110. It was too big for me and with the seat all the way down, I rocked side to side while pedaling. But I grew into it, rode the snot out of it, and sold it when we moved to the country where there were only gravel roads all around. Apparently it was stolen a few months after I sold it.
05-20-10 | 02:19 PM
#32
Cat 6
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 7,522
Likes: 236
From: Mountain Brook, AL
Gitane Interclub bought new in either '72 or '73. All the lawnmowing money I could scrape up, charging $4-$5 a yard in NoVa back then. Sold it to my brother around '83.
__________________
72 Frejus (for sale), Holdsworth Record (for sale), special CNC & Gitane Interclub / 74 Italvega NR (for sale) / c80 French / 82 Raleigh Intl MkII f&f (for sale)/ 83 Trek 620 (for sale)/ 84 Bruce Gordon Chinook (for sale)/ 85 Ron Cooper / 87 Centurion IM MV (for sale) / 03 Casati Dardo / 08 BF IRO / 09 Dogma FPX / 09 Giant TCX0 / 10 Vassago Fisticuff
72 Frejus (for sale), Holdsworth Record (for sale), special CNC & Gitane Interclub / 74 Italvega NR (for sale) / c80 French / 82 Raleigh Intl MkII f&f (for sale)/ 83 Trek 620 (for sale)/ 84 Bruce Gordon Chinook (for sale)/ 85 Ron Cooper / 87 Centurion IM MV (for sale) / 03 Casati Dardo / 08 BF IRO / 09 Dogma FPX / 09 Giant TCX0 / 10 Vassago Fisticuff
05-20-10 | 03:36 PM
#35
You gonna eat that?
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 14,917
Likes: 543
From: Fort Worth, Texas Church of Hopeful Uncertainty
Bikes: 1966 Raleigh DL-1 Tourist, 1973 Schwinn Varsity, 1983 Raleigh Marathon, 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS
I remember Grant's and I remember them going out of business.
__________________
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
05-20-10 | 03:50 PM
#39
Super Course fan
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,720
Likes: 9
From: Lost on the windswept plains of the Great Black Swamp
'82-'83 Panasonic sport 500, won for raising money for St.Jude Children's' hospital. I Think it was June '83. No one thought a fat 6 year old on a little BMX could ride 30 miles, so most people pledged quite a bit per mile! There were some surprised people!
The next summer I did it again and got a Peugeot P8!
The next summer I did it again and got a Peugeot P8!
__________________
I have a white PX-10, a Green Dawes Galaxy and an Orange Falcon, now I'm done.
I have a white PX-10, a Green Dawes Galaxy and an Orange Falcon, now I'm done.
05-20-10 | 04:43 PM
#40
Phyllo-buster
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,268
Likes: 2,692
From: Nova Scotia
Bikes: roadsters, club bikes, fixed and classic
1970 Raleigh Glider 10 speed...a knock off of the Grand Prix with Simplex gears. It quickly got stolen and our house insurance got me an Orbea OCI with Zeus Alpha components and half step gearing.
05-20-10 | 05:30 PM
#42
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 4,571
Likes: 16
From: Oxnard, CA
Bikes: 2009 Fuji Roubaix RC; 2011 Fuji Cross 2.0; '92 Diamond Back Ascent EX
Early '70s department store bike that I got as a Christmas present. All I remember about it was that it was an ugly shade of green and I couldn't wait till I was able to save enough money so I could buy at better bike. Didn't have it long before it was upgraded to a Schwinn Super Sport in a much better shade of green.
05-20-10 | 06:09 PM
#43
Hebrews 10:20a
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 141
Likes: 1
Bikes: '74 Viscount Aerospace GP
c. 1975 Schwinn Varsity. Bought brand new, rode it for a year or three, then it was stolen and trashed. Bought the Viscount Aerospace G.P. to replace it, and still ride the Viscount today.
-James
-James
05-20-10 | 06:14 PM
#44
Dolce far niente
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 33
From: Southwest Idaho
1968 or so 8 speed Varsity. It was my brother's bike. He thrashed it, got hit by a Bekins truck while riding it, and then gave it to me when he discovered cars and girls. I finished it off, and it was replaced with a shiny new Varsity that I rode until 1971 when it was stolen.
Sort of wish I still had it - bet then again it was a real wreck when it finally became a cast-off.
Sort of wish I still had it - bet then again it was a real wreck when it finally became a cast-off.
__________________
"Love is not the dying moan of a distant violin, its the triumphant twang of a bedspring."
S. J. Perelman
"Love is not the dying moan of a distant violin, its the triumphant twang of a bedspring."
S. J. Perelman
05-20-10 | 06:24 PM
#45
perpetually frazzled
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 2,469
Likes: 9
From: Linton, IN
Bikes: 1977 Bridgestone Kabuki Super Speed; 1979 Raleigh Professional; 1983 Raleigh Rapide mixte; 1974 Peugeot UO-8; 1993 Univega Activa Trail; 1972 Raleigh Sports; 1967 Phillips; 1981 Schwinn World Tourist; 1976 Schwinn LeTour mixte; 1964 Western Flyer
My first was a rather low-end Peugeot from the early '80's. Steel rims, turkey levers, and a Shimano FFS with a stem shifter. It was given to me by a family friend, and I later gave it to a thrift shop. Stupid high school stuff - I'm now wishing I'd have kept it. Yellow Peugeots are rather hard to find, and I've never found another with the FFS.
05-20-10 | 06:58 PM
#46
Thrifty Bill
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 23,642
Likes: 1,106
From: Mans of NC & SW UT Desert
Bikes: 86 Katakura Silk, 87 Prologue X2, 88 Cimarron LE, 1975 Sekai 4000 Professional, 73 Paramount, plus more
1970 or so Schwinn Continental. Had it until the first week in college, when it was stolen, which allowed me to move up to a Peugeot UO8.
05-20-10 | 07:59 PM
#48
shaken, not stirred.
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,515
Likes: 1,448
From: The Shaky Isles.
Bikes: I've lost count.
1979 Mercian brought a couple of years ago.
I came from commuters and recumbents to road bikes.
I came from commuters and recumbents to road bikes.
__________________
Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live. ~Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"
vBulletin: snafu
05-20-10 | 08:09 PM
#49
Passista
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 8,248
Likes: 1,211
Bikes: 1998 Pinarello Asolo, 1992 KHS Montaņa pro, 1980 Raleigh DL-1, IGH Hybrid, IGH Utility
I "inherited" a '40s French bicycle from my uncle about 1963, when I was 12. All steel except for the aluminum stem and brass wingnuts, and the drop bars were turned upside down. Originally it had a 3 sp Super Champion (48-20/18/16), but was already converted to single speed when I got it.
