Did they even have fat tires for bikes in 1912? Did clincher rims exist? I always thought the fat tire age was essentially ushered in by the Pre-WWII Frank Schwinn designs, Elgins, Hawthornes, etc...)
Those early Tour riders were indeed a brave (if not totally insane) breed for sure... But today, where the roads are paved, skinny is clearly the tire of choice amongst racers. Yet at the GDR (Great Divide Race), racers have plenty of tire choices, but here they clearly believe that fatter is better. I'm not convinced the early riders had much of a choice... I hope some of our resident historians can set me straight on this. Thanks for the AWESOME picture!!! BB On Feb 27, 8:37 pm, Eric Norris <[email protected]> wrote: > I was looking at my Tour de France calendar and it occurred to me that the > February page can teach us something about tire choice in the Golden Age. > The photos at the link below are from the 1912 Tour. Remember that in those > days (as shown in the photo), much of the riding took place on unpaved roads > that sometimes degraded to goat paths in the high mountain passes. > > Nevertheless, the rider in the photo (walking his bike over a summit) appears > to be riding tires that are about the same width as a 700x28 -- maybe a > 700x32. I wonder why he didn't select a wider tire, given the atrocious > roads. > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/35176895@N03/sets/72157626037266187/ > > --Eric > [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
