John Sessoms wrote: >> From: >> "Bob W" >> The costume certainly has; spandex & aerodynamic helmets, and >> >> bicycle >> >> >>>> engineering has made incredible improvements. >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >> I'm not so sure about that. I don't wear spandex or a helmet. My >> bicycle is a steel one and wouldn't look particularly out of place in >> that film (except for the 21 indexed gears perhaps). I have a Brooks >> saddle and a Carradice saddle bag, same as them. >> >> British cycle touring is a bit of a time warp. >> >> When I was in my 20s I used to sneer at the sort of middle-aged man >> who was a member of the CTC, carried an old camera and was in the RPS. >> >> >> Now I'm almost 50 and a member of the CTC and the RPS and have a Leica >> of my own I switch between sneering at my younger self, and horror at >> what I've become! >> > > Spandex is the greatest thing since sliced bread as you get older. Helps > keep certain parts of the anatomy from rubbing and producing friction > burns. > > And I do use the helmet. I was a teenager in the 60s and I'm trying to > hang on to what little bit of my brain survived that experience. > > Your bike may be similar in many respects to those, but I expect the > engineering that went into producing it is greatly improved, even if the > appearance hasn't changed all that much. Most modern "touring" bikes are > a "hybrid" design with straight handlebars that allow you to ride in a > more upright than the curved under handlebars used in racing bikes (even > if it is called the Tour de France it's a race, not a pleasant day's > ride in the country). > > The materials and methods of fabrication create a much more durable > bike, generally a lighter weight, and lower cost than those old touring > bikes. It may look the same, but it's a whole lot better piece of machinery. >
Oh, and as a further note, my bike uses pretty much the same technology as those British touring bikes, only real difference is the modern threadless headset (which isn't really an improvement for road bikes), the fact I use a track hub threaded for a single-cog freewheel instead of a Sturmer-Archey 3 speed and the dual-pivot brakes (which are actually a real improvement). Even the frame is old-fashioned double-butted 4130 steel built with brazed lugs just like those British tourers, the only difference is that my frame is Butted, which didn't really become common until some time in the 60's or 70's. Apart from my rear wheel(which is 130mm spaced like the current standard, '55 era would be 120mm), fork, headset and stem, everything on my bike is interchangable with any non-Raleigh British bike of that era (Raleigh used nonstandard 26tpi threads on everything instead of british standard 24tpi threads). -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
