SpeedofLite 

An interesting coincidence. seeing this 1975 Bike World article and this recent thread https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ggestions.html
within a day of each other.

iab

Harald Wooster is the best - "Spokes/lacing. Straight gauge, 15, laced 4-cross. Anything else is effete. Even crappy cadmium plating - it seems to work better than chrome-plating or stainless."

Wheel snob, awesome.

SpeedofLite 

Dang, I must've missed his tandem article that is "just about the last word on the subject".

DiegoFrogs

I'm going to have to telephone Bike Warehouse about a set of these Suntour derailleurs. But only between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., because I'm a cheapskate.

stardognine

I’m looking at that $4 air horn. That oughta get pokey people off the bike path. 😁😉

uncle uncle

So, apparently the "tough bike" market aka, a bike built for durability, didn't really catch on with the public, because if it had, we'd all be discussing our latest C-list found C&V Tough Bike. It is really weird that Biking World Magazine would associate durability to middle/lower priced bicycles... obviously, others tapped to provide content for the article equated "durability" to Campagnolo's and Phil Wood's bullet proof designs, which were not found on lower priced fare. Maybe the current C&V crowd here online uses the term "all-a-rounder bicycle" as a term/category closest to the "tough bike" envisioned by Bike World Mag. I think Bike World Mag had an interesting kernel of an idea, one that could have grown into an ongoing series. I have never read their product, so, I haven't a clue if they did or not. So, what would your "tough bike" build look like?

bikemig 

Frank Leavitt is my kind of guy. He said the reason to buy a tough bike is because of that big economic crisis that is coming. Yeah and bikes are selling like hot cakes during the pandemic.

uncle uncle

A quick refresher, using the world wild webs for research, shows that the world economy from 1972 to 1975 was in decline, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the downward slide was going to continue. I think buying a bicycle back then, with the economic outlook, and especially the ongoing debates of oil supplies, made sense for some people. Riding a bicycle, leaving the car in the driveway, equated to saving money. I think that reasoning (bike = saved money) might be a small driver of the bike boom we are currently experiencing... I like Frank because he was riding a reasonably cheap Mercier, who can't be down with that?

Salamandrine 

This is pretty interesting. Tough bikes eh? You can see that all the motivation and need for the mountain bikes that would come in just a couple more years was already there. It's starting to morph into something, but not quite gel. I actually remember some of these crazy people with their individualistic off road 3 speed and other abandoned evolutionary paths. Old fashioned roadster bikes do indeed roll well on dirt roads, but I wouldn't want to pedal one over the Santa Cruz mountains. It's been a while since I read anywhere how anyone could think that steel rims were better.

Also diggin' the Bike Warehouse ad. I want to buy some Hi-E hubs for $21!!! Maybe pick up some velvet or denim bar tape to go with it.

Ironfish653

Have you guys seen the prices people are asking for Worksmans? There’s demand out there, even for the ones that look like they were pulled out of the scrap dumpster at NNSY.

uncle uncle

Thanks again for posting another thought provoking scan Speed.