Mr. Spadoni 

If you can open the link, check out the Washington Post article on the Little 500. If single speeds on a cinder track aren’t CV, I don’t know what is.
Didnt go to IU, never seen the race, but did ride one of the bikes that a friend of friend had for summer trading. What a beast to ride!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...-race-indiana/

WaveyGravey

Thanks for posting this article. I subscribe to the post and saw this. Very cool.

gugie 

Cutters FTW!

nlerner

I wondered about the logic behind a fixed gear with a coaster brake. For extra stopping power?

delbiker1 

Looks like a serious, fun event. I see the attraction. Reminds me of neighborhood racing in a shallow gravel pit as a teenager. It's been a very long time since I attempted to mount a bike in such a way as the young lady shown in the video.

obrentharris 

I'll bet @Mad Honk could tell us some stories.
Brent

Robvolz 

I read that the non-college locals were actually called "stoners" (from stone-cutters) but the makers of the film were worried about a different connotation, so they changed to to "cutters"

Mad Honk 

Sherman,
I CAN tell a few stories, Do you have a couple of days?
I rode in the twentieth race in 1971 and the race that year used AMF bikes with 26" wheels and balloon tires. The first races used Schwinn frames which were a lot heavier and were great for strength training. The race has evolved with a lot of changes, but the basics are still a single speed bike with the same gear for all teams. IN grad skool I worked as a mechanical steward for the race. It paid $200 for the entire spring season of running the bike shop under the stadium seating and being on premises for all races during the run up to the big event. I wound up spending a lot of pre-race nights checking bikes for safety violations and the occasional gear violation. Calling a team mechanic and overseeing them get the bike right. You can likely get a confirmation from alexihnen as to how this works; he was on the student board and did the same things I did. I think he even shows a Little 500 number plate as part of his avatar.
The bikes utilize an Ashtabula type of crank system, and a single speed kick back brake system. I think I can still overhaul one of them in my sleep. The rear hub has changed over time from a Bendix style hub to the current Shimano model. I don't think a new Departure hub was ever used.(likely because the brakes could not stop as quickly as the other models).
The bike exchanges utilize differing methods, but the basic one is the rider exits the bike on the right while standing on the pedal braking and the rider getting on the bike jumps on from the left and steps on the pedal to mount. But if the pedal is missed the rider has to jump on the bike to mount. Another method is to do a bike exchange by a hand slap from the leaving rider to the new rider.
The cinder track has been the same through out the series. The first track surrounded the football field that had been used since the early part of the 20th century. It was where I raced and where we filmed "Breaking Away". Th race is currently held in the Armstrong Soccer stadium names for Bill Armstrong who was a University personality who ran the IU foundation, the parent organization for the Student Foundation that runs the race. There are still a lot of friends that I have from the time of being involved with the Little 500.

BTW Sherman - The Wayback parts came from the stash of Charles Eckert who coached the Stetina brothers that raced in the 500. Smiles, MH

Mad Honk 

Rob,
The derogatory term was actually "Stonies" the folks related to the stone cutting history of the area. The town in 1971 was deeply divided and the college students dared not go west of the main N-S street in Bloomington. I know of two students who are no longer with us due to those circumstances. There were still vestiges of a racial divide as well (my name was pronounced as a racial slur by many folks and I got a double dose of that divide both in Gary and in Bloomington).
There have been many changes over the past 50 years and the city is now pretty well an example of diversity and inclusion. And I, for one am pretty glad about it. Smiles, Mad Honk

JulesCW 

They are not fixed gear -- they are single speeds -- without the coaster brakes they'd have no brakes at all!

nlerner

Well, that makes more sense! When the brakeless fixie craze was passing through the Boston area some years back, I swear I saw a few brakeless single speeds!

Classtime 

I wish there was more Ashtabula C and V in the Little 500. Not too long ago Versus showed the race and it was boring with very little bike exchanging among the teams at the front led by ringers. Breaking Away is one of my favorite movies and I show it to my students on some stupid "instructional days" after final grades are submitted. They initially object to the all white cast but then relate to the class consciousness aspect. Can you spot the diversity in the Little 500 photo in the WP?

noglider 

From the article:

nlerner

^ I guess I wasn’t imagining that.