Nightcap

I don't know what the most popular bikes were, but mine was a red-gold flake C. Itoh ten speed, purchased from paper route money. It was apparently popular, because I didn't keep it long - somebody stole it.

philbob57

An awesome teacher, too. I doubt that many other language teachers got results as good as he did. But, yeah, that unsupported trip when he was 16 is beyond my imagination. My classmate's trip to KY or TN was unsupported, too, but the fact that he had a 10-speed bike makes it less amazing to me. It's not, though. His trip was in the awesome range, too.

repechage

I kind of always wince when someone notices that I am on a different bike all the time and declares, "you must be a collector".

There is a point of view I must admit, I no longer race, the local Masters scene has way too many guys on PED's, no drug testing locally, currently anyway. Too expensive to conduct. Only rides that do not feel like "training" rides psychologically are with my family or son. Old racers do not make good tourists.

noglider 

I say I'm a bike nut or cyclephile.

USAZorro

It really depends on how "enthusiast" is defined. I'll go out on a limb and suggest the bike would need to be 25 lbs or less to qualify as something that someone wanting to engage in spirited club riding would have owned. I don't know the answer to that bit of trivia, but this criteria would have reduced qualifying Schwinn models to only the Paramount.

If we're talking about the late 60's, I'd take a wild guess that the PX-10 was very close to the top.

nwerle

i was there


nwerle at gmail write back and get a photo of rally

where are you?

Old Fireleg

Congratulations and thanks to the Thread Starter and all the contributors!
As a European, I read with great interest all the comments about an "unknown age and world" to me. The memories recall may go beyond bicycles and touch on sociological and historical depths.
Thank you again and look forward to the follow up!

KonAaron Snake 

You had the Frejus bikes being sold in NYC...and their quality was quite high pre-boom. I'd say on the east coast, that was one you'd consider.

Bad Lag

Raleigh and other labels of "English Racers" were popular.

ultrarider7

In 1966 I used my confirmation money to buy a Schwinn Continental and it was around $100. My old man thought I was absolutely crazy to spend that amount of money on a bicycle! If only he could see me now...

Trakhak

That would have been the 1970s, maybe after Nixon's Whip Inflation Now (WIN) era of price freezes. PX-10s were considerably cheaper in the '60s.

The bike shop in New Haven where my parents bought me my first racing bike in 1964 stocked Schwinn (including the Paramount), Raleigh (including the Professional), Frejus, Legnano, and Peugeot. As I recall, the PX-10 was about $125,
the Frejuses and Legnanos (with Campy Record) were about $140, and the Paramount was an incredible (to me at the time) $175.

By the way, the premise of this thread is flawed: applied to bike use in the United States in the 1960s, "popular" is the wrong term, given the vanishingly small proportion of adults riding lightweight bikes in those days. The bike boom in the early '70s was quite a shock to those of us who were used to knowing everyone in town who rode a road or track or touring bike.

The Golden Boy 

If Schwinn was as dominant as they appeared to have been- with all the marketing and the omnipresence of Schwinn- I’d guess the average person who looked to get a “good” bike would be looking at the Continental or the Super Sport.

himespau 

I'd have thought so as well. My hometown still has it's Schwinn Cyclery.

KonAaron Snake 

Here's a question...would anyone outside of the US buy a Paramount? I'd think not, and at the prices listed above, I'd be purchasing a Frejus, Holdsworth (we have a local shop that sold them to enthusiasts), or, if I could get one, even a Cinelli.

tiger1964 

To OP's Question, until I see sales #'s, I'd guess Raleigh or Peugeot.

A cycling friend of mine for over 50 years relates his first visit to a bike shop back then, his father took him to a Schwinn dealer and the salesman suggested for a slightly-built 11-12 year old a Schwinn "Fastback", saying "it's light; at about 60LB it weighs no more than your son" to the father. Amazingly, he made rides up to 30 miles on that when we were young, until he stepped up... to a Suburban (again Schwinn, not Chevy, not sure which weighs more). A genuine lightweight road bike had to wait until he could buy his own.

So, of course, today he rides modern carbon-fiber... I cannot blame him.

merziac

The MOST "enthusiast's" in the 60's would have bought Paramount's, they were the only bike at that level with widespread availability here by far.

By the 70's, Raleigh Pro's, PX-10's, then also Moto TC's, Cinelli SC's and a flood of custom builders, Merz, Newlands, DiNucci, Gordon, Sachs, Eisentraut and a slew of others, some huge, some small but collectively had a huge impact on cycling as many "enthusiast's" wanted something even better than off the peg top of the line as more people got on board and walked in to a shop saying "give me the best you've got" not having a clue about it.

KonAaron Snake 

West coast biases

By the 70's, Raleigh Pro's, PX-10's, then also Moto TC's, Cinelli SC's and a flood of custom builders, Bill Boston, Tom Kellogg, Serotta, Redcay, Sachs, Weigle, Mooney and a slew of others

Thought I'd improve your list

merziac

Tx, I knew you would help me out.

Besides, I had Eisentraut and Sachs, geez.

KonAaron Snake 

Eisentraut was California, no? After Paramount.

merziac

Well sure, after being born in Chicago, growing up in a racing family working for Wastyn who raced with his Dad and Ernst.

He definitely started East of the Mississippi at a very young age.

Road Fan

At least in Chicago, lightweight Japanese bikes were unknown in the late 60s, maybe Nishiki started to appear in 1969 or so, but I wouldn't call them lightweight. My brother had an Azuki that was very smooth, good-steering, and easy to pedal (wide-range). The Raleigh Record, Gran Prix, and Super Course were here, and the Peug UO-8 and PX-10 were known to enthusiasts if not common. Had I not been otherwise distracted (school, girls, music, a great lightened three speed) I could imagine having a real bike club. Actually I and two other grade-school buds rode nearly every day about 20 miles along what is now the Lake Front Path along Lake Michigan. I had a '50s Hercules three speed lightened by pulling the fenders, chain guard, and adding steel drop bars,

My bud Bruce had an early Columbia 10 speed, and my bud Ken had a Royce Union three speed with no fenders and front brake only. Ken had also removed his shift trigger, and rode it as a 48/18 (I guess) single speed freewheel bike. Tried to get some more enthusiasts in my high school, but what HS Junior is going to say "bikes above cars?"We generally made it from the Bryn Mawr start of the path to the old Chicago Public Library (9 miles?) in about 35 to 40 minutes - 13 to 15 mph? We didn't see large packs of riders to contend with because ... I think there weren't too many like us in those days. Memory is rose-colored ...

So that is what one small group of enthusiasts did as the 1960s turned into the 1970s. John Lennon (I now know) loved his Super Lenton but we were clueless about that one. When that bike was in its heyday in UK, we three were upset we couldn't ride our tricycles to kindergarten!

63rickert

Watch this from mid-60s and see what you can pick out


Several Chicago riders I knew in there and probably more Americans than Canadians. In Chicago it was basically what Oscar Wastyn sold. Which was a lot. Majority of riders still had connections to the old country so they had access to everything. At the level the OP is talking about Paramounts would be the most common but they hardly dominated. On a club ride with twenty riders there might be three Paramounts and one of those would be a Wastyn build. Actually twenty would be a real big ride. Going back that far there was still a healthy representation of those who had raced when racing was sixday. They would be on old black bikes. Could be Durkopp or BSA or Schwinn or Gloria, they would be black.

Besides Wastyn there were stores with an owner/ex-racer or just a guy who worked there who knew racing or a regular who came in and talked with owner about the old days. From there you could find a bike. And a club. Helped if you spoke German or Flemish or Italian. If not, being bike-crazy would be enough.

Kent T

The Raleigh Professional or International was the second most available high class road bike in that era. As Raleigh had the second best dealer network back then.

63rickert

Something else worth mentioning. In 60s bikes were not 'old' in a year or two. Certainly by time I was paying attention in late 60s most were on Campagnolo. At the races it was nearly all Campagnolo. But it could easily be old Gran Sport and there was no big rush to totally convert to Nuovo when that became available. Club rides you'd see history. Old guys who rode fixed because they always did. Old track iron with tabs brazed on for Cyclo three speed. Even at the track there were still steel cranks and very old frames into the 70s. Those who had been around would have an accumulation of bikes but that meant three or four and then a couple real old ones. No one had ten or twenty or more. Since the inventory was old and came from everywhere there was no single brand that took over, not even Schwinn.

Classtime 

That Canadian bike race video makes me want to abandon my mid 80s Japanese Steel and reverse the sale of my PX-10. I got to watch the 1969 Somerville Crit from the downtown roof tops at a time when my dads English Racer had taped North road bars. I remember the tape being masking tape. The bikes of the Somerville race were very brightly colored if I recall correctly--like some Atalas I've seen. After the race, a friend of my dad let us abuse his white 10 speed as we tried to figure out the shifting of it.