OldsCOOL

Turkey levers, stem shifters and dork discs. Yuck.

Camilo

I started in around 72 or 73 by buying a used Gitane (I think Gran Sport?) from a friend - $50. It was probably too big and never was a magic carpet ride, but I learned how to shift, and tore the entire thing down to the bare frame (which I stripped and rattle-canned, and rebuilt. Learned how to adjust bearings and make do when I didn't have specialty tools I needed. Huret derailleurs, steel, knurled rims.

The one and only resource I had to figure all this stuff out were books. Nobody I knew to ask, of course no internet. I used Richard's which was OK (still have it), but it was the encyclopedic Glenns that was the absolute best repair book I ever read. Like having Sheldon Brown and Park Tool websites in one huge book.

In about '76 or '77, I bought the only complete, brand new road bike I've ever owned, a Windsor Carrera for $140. This was a very great upgrade and I did enjoy it quite a bit until it got stolen about a year or two later from my back porch. Suntour (?XGT?) derailleurs, alloy crank and rims. Bar end shifters.

That caused me to buy what for a long time was my absolute favorite bike (with many good thoughts about it to this day), a lightly used mid-70s Raleigh SuperCourse MKII in red. I went to that guy's house to answer a want ad for the bike and rode it around the block. It was instant bonding. I knew from the first pedal that the bike was comfortable, felt sporty, and just worked well. No doubt I liked it and I happily rode it into the mid 90s. Plastic Simplex RD, STEEL cotterless crank.

Throughout these three bikes I owned in the 70s, we mostly just rode around the city (Minneapolis), sometimes running errands, sometimes going to a lake, sometimes drinking (or other intoxicants), but I actually commuted quite a bit with it, and many Saturday errands. Did a couple of ~100 mile weekend camping trips but never liked it that much.

I went to school for a semester in Chicago in the mid-70s, and rode the crappy old Gitane countless times from about 4800 north near the lake into the loop and beyond both south and west to various seminars, work, etc. because it was better than walking to and from the subway or el stations, and then transfering to busses, or driving and finding parking. I got very proficient and comfortable riding in all traffic, but also enjoyed riding along the lake north and south as those park paths were very little used in those days during commuting times and I could cruise very nicely.

No racing, never even considered it, didn't know anyone who did, never appealed to me, still doesn't

Then I stupidly thought I needed a newer bike so I sold the beloved Supercourse for about $75 in around '94 and bought a used low end Bianchi with indexed 6 or 7 speed, I believe. Shimano Exage all around, I think. Oh, the bike wasn't so bad, it worked very well, and I did like the indexed shifting, but it was a little too small, and was never the pleasure to ride that the Supercourse was.

I kept that bike until about '07, not riding much at all through about 05. 05 I really started enjoying it, and found some compatible people to ride with, which got me riding quite a bit for the next couple of years.

So I bought used Cannondale R2000 CAAD 7 (about 3 or so years old, excellent shape.. Ultegra). That bike was really nice and showed me what a stiff frame felt like when accelerating - pop, you're going forward! That bike was the right size and, except for being a little too aggressive in fit, really was more comfortable than the too-small, noodly Bianchi and I always enjoyed it.

The Cannondale got me riding even more, getting decently fit, and remembering how much I enjoyed it in the 70s and 90s (didn't ride much in the 80s or early 2000's).

So, beign older and having some money, about 4-5 years ago, I did what I'd wanted to do since I was 20-something in the 70s: get a "top end" bike. So, I bought a brand new carbonfiber Felt Z frameset (not a whole bike, haven't done that again), which not only fit me a little better and was suited to my aging body,, but just was a great riding frame, very sure and steady, and fast, downhill compared to previous bikes.

For the first time I bought all the parts I wanted (new and used, so it still doesn't count as a complete new bike!) and built a bike up from the frame with top end components. I'm still "upgrading" that bike when I find stems, seatposts, handlebars, etc. that are more expensive and lighter (note I didn't say "better") , but it's fairly close to as good as it gets. I only buy good used or deeply discounted close out situations though.

I then, over the next few years, have done the same thing with a used Jamis Nova Pro cross frame (built up for for commuting) and a vintage mid-80s Sannino frame (built modernish, but retro look), and converted a MTB type tandem into a road set up.

The lower end bikes of the 70s that my friends and I had were Gitanes, Peugeots, some Motobecanes and Raleighs, and whatever REI was selling at the time. Of course there were a lot of low end Schwinns and Free Spirit and on down the line.

The "real" cyclists, or at least the more pretentious ones had bikes I envied: Mercier, Bottechia, and of course higher end Raleighs, Gitanes and Peugeots. I didn't see a lot of Bianchi or Colagno, and every once in a while would see a custom frame.

My buddies and I only road in jeans tucked into a sock, or cut off shorts. I didn't own a pair of bicycle shorts until, probably 1998, the same year I bought automatic pedals. Love at first ride with both.

To show you the level that most of had, we thought we'd really graduated to high quality stuff if it had an alloy cotterless crank.

Jim from Boston

Nice write-up, bringing back memories of all those names from the 70’s. Just yesterday, I wrote up my cycling inventory in a PM:

qcpmsame 

Camilo, great write up, I can identify with your experience quite well. Cannondale has become my drug of choice, got my first one, an SR300, in 1991. Suck with them ever since, having a blast with my CAAD 10 now. I did the top end thing in 1979 with a Raleigh International, full Campag save the brake set (went with Sun Tour Superbe Pros) and experienced what a really well made bicycle could mean to me. The steel crank set, mine was a cottered, 3-piece, on my 1972 Bottecchia, it was interesting to experience having a cotter pin go south and the unique pedaling stroke that gave me for a bit. The Schwinn shop I purchased the Botty from fixed it free, even though no warranty came with my Italian mistress.

Great write ups, for a resurrected Zombie thread.

Bill

locolobo13 

Forgot all about Glenns encyclopedic manual. Still have my copy. Complete with greasy fingerprints.

jimmuller 

Pardon me for being bothered by this but your first sentence implies that cycling for "a lifestyle of healthy leisure" is not "serious cycling". I at least do not now and never have aspired to competitive cycling, not as racing nor in fast club rides. (Oh, I'm competitive and like competition of various sorts, but that doesn't drive my cycling interest.) But I do like to ride far, and since far takes time I like to be moderately fast too. I like riding a responsive and seemingly light bike. I consider that serious cycling, even when I'm on my bike-boom UO8 riding to work. The concept of competitive cycling was pretty rare back then and I knew no one who knew anything about it. But plenty of riders back then, like the high school sophomore in a class I was teaching who rode his Varsity the 50 miles from Richmond to Williamsburg one Saturday, would have considered their riding serious.

I would also dispute the notion that the BB was mostly about "heavy department-store type bikes". I don't have sale figures, but a walk through bike racks back then showed a zillion lightweight derailleur bikes mostly from Europe or Schwinns. The conversations about bikes I recall were about things like whether I should have bought a Gitane or a Raleigh, or who had ever seen a Motobecane, or whether a PX10 would have been worth the extra cost. The obvious advantages of such bikes over traditional cruisers is what made them attractive.

Books, yes. Anybody's Bike Book by Tom Cuthbertson was my starting point, IIRC. And it is true that for those of us just getting started any bike with alloy cotterless crank was higher quality!

dweenk

Wow Jim! Anybody's Bike Book.

In 1971-72 my future wife and I were living in Gaithersburg, MD, we saved our money and bought 2 Fuji's (S-10-S Special Road Racers). I was lusting after the Fuji Finest in the window of the shop, but our finances could not justify that. We used them to ride to work and around the back streets and Montgomery County fairgrounds. I couldn't afford to take our bikes back to the shop for maintenance, so I bought Cuthbertson's book. I built my own crude repair stand and learned a lot. The confidence I gained working on the bikes led me to doing the maintenance on our car (1968 VW Beetle). I accomplished that by buying How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive by John Muir.

We still have my wife's S-10-S. I sold mine long ago and upgraded to a Nishiki Competition. We still ride and always have.

I became a bit competitive on mountain rides with my brother-in-law while we were in the bay area of California, but never have raced. We ride for exercise and serenity now.

Stucky

Oh, no, Jim, I didn't mean to imply that. I'm the same way- I couldn't care less about racing; I've never even so much as watched a bicycle race; and when I watch Breaking Away, I get bored by the big race scene/fast-forward through it.

What I meant, was that a lot of the people who bought bikes during the boom, did so because of the image created by the advertising- as opposed to doing so because they really had a yen for/love of cycling. Ditto the jogging craze of the late 70's/early 80's (I even tried that one! I lasted about 2 months...). So you had a lot of people who, instead of learning anything about bikes, would just happen to see a shiny 10-speed in Sears while they were there getting an 8-track tape player or earth shoes or mood ring ( ) and they'd remember the images from magazine ads and TV commercials of prosperous-looking smiling people with attractive women amidst pretty scenery, and say to themselves "I think I'll get a bike, so I can enjoy those things!". But of course, the realities of actually riding in their own neighborhood were quite different. i.e. pretty girls didn't magically appear to accompany them; they'd get hot or cold or wet; they'd get tired from the big hill at the end of the block; it was hard to find the time to participate in the activity, when it was still light and the weather was nice, etc. etc.

In other words, it wasn't so much cycling that was being sold- but rather a false idea of what cycling was... I mean, in the commercials, you'd never see someone out of the saddle struggling up a hill; or a driver leaning on his horn for 10 seconds and cursing as he'd pass the cyclist [In fact, you usually wouldn't even see a car in a bike ad/commercial- as the mythical places where the models rode seemed to be car-free zones...]. You'd Never see a model sweating or panting.....

And while the health benefits of cycling or jogging were usually touted, the reality of the fact that you'd have to actually expend some effort and sweat to reap such benefits, was omitted....and instead it was inferred that one would reap such benefits by carrying a picnic basket on their bike, as they rode leisurely to a serene spot in the woods with their pretty girlfriend on their shiny new Free Spirit.....



Guess it depended on where one lived.

Jim from Boston

I was dimly aware of a competitve racing culture even in Detroit in the 1970’s, but I was already hooked into bicyclism, and sought out all kinds of information, though not interested in participating [in racing].

Regarding the apparent “disdain” of “serious cyclists” you denounce, @jimmuller I had never heard of the term “Fred” until I read Bike Forums, and I wrote my “Fred Manifesto.”

Stucky

That's just it: The bike boom wasn't about those who were already into cycling; it was more of a marketing-driven movement to entice the average consumer into buying bikes. And while I'm sure that a small percentage of those who bought bikes at the time, may have become life-long cycling devotees- for the majority, it was just a passing fad.

The turkey-levered stem-shiftered bikes of the time were the equivalent of today's grip-shiftered thickly-padded-seat Walmart bikes- designed to entice the casual shopper to make an impulse purchase; while being in a different world than a 105-equipped CAAD10.

Jim from Boston

Actually though, as noted above that while I may have had a predilection to get involved in cycling, the boom was already in progress, and did not necessarily entice me to become one of the small percentage of those who bought bikes at the time to become a life-long cycling devotee. Actually perhaps a stronger prompt might have been the Aerobics phenomenon (by Dr. Ken Cooper) which I recall preceded the cycling boom in 1968.

mort1369

I mostly rode Sting-Ray style bikes back then. One of two reasons I stopped riding in 1980. The other being a '73 Nova hatchback.

Artkansas 

The most outstanding event I remember from the 1970's was the first International Human Powered Speed Championship held at the Irwindale raceway in 1975.

I didn't compete, but I got to attend. The event was fairly informal, so you could go right up and watch the crews getting ready for their runs and talk with them. It was the first place that I saw recumbents being ridden. Many people thought that a faired diamond frame bike was the way to go.

I think it was a turning point for bicycles. It lead to the first human powered aircraft, a renewal of interest in recumbent bikes, and the human powered missiles running on Battle Mountain.

thumpism 

What do you believe attracted people to bikes in the 1970s?
Necessity and thrift, followed by style, fitness, fun.

Was cycling, in the 1970s, a individualistic type of sport? Or was it a sport that people built communities around?
Both. There were bike clubs where I lived, but if you were not on a club ride you were usually out there alone unless you lived near a campus. City parking problems were easily beaten on a bike.

Were the majority of cyclists in the 1970s riding to race? Or just for the enjoyment of getting out on a bike?
Enjoyment and basic transportation. Racing was around but a quaint subculture.

Do you think the introduction of the 10-speed derailer peaked people's interest in biking?
It certainly was an improved device and had the aura of Euro-cool, whatever that was perceived to be.

Were people buying bikes in the 1970s buying bikes for the first time? Or were they upgrading to something better?
Both. I'd been riding coaster brake and 3-speed bikes for 15 years by the time 1970 arrived and the 10-speed was an upgrade. Others may have just stepped in at that point.

Was the bike boom just a fad?
Nope, not when the price of gasoline doubled overnight (TO FIFTY CENTS!!!!!!) during the Arab Oil Embargo.

Do you have any stories about your experiences racing in the 1970s?
No, I used to tell folks, "Hey, I'm a tourist, not a racist."

Was cycling an "elitist" sport in the 70s?
It could be, if you were that type of person. There were also some fast students with long hair and pedaling in bell bottoms.

Do you think people were attracted to cycling in the 70s as a form of escapism from the pressures of society?
Nah, we had drugs for that.

What prompted your interest in bikes?
What kid never wanted a bike?

What prompted your interest in competitive cycling?
Not applicable.
--------------------------------------
I'll come back and edit this with some personal bike history.

DaveLeeNC

Here is an interesting 'counter-story'.

Back in 1973, even though I was only 23 years old (single engineer working for IBM), I bought a house (lack of privacy issues WRT apartments). I had been living there maybe a year when the owner of the field behind me decided to build a house (no big deal in my mind). But to install the sewer system he needed to run a sewer line through my yard (basically back to front along the north property line). Somewhat disruptive but not a big deal. We agreed on $300 for my trouble (and it was some as while his contractor dug up and replaced the sod, it took more work to get it back to decent).

And I decided 'if I am going to do this I am going to do something that I will remember with this money'. I had always wondered about bike commuting to work (8 miles one way). So I bought some kind of a Raleigh road bike. I don't recall the shifting - down shifters (friction - 6 speeds maybe). I rode it one weekend out in the country, and of course it was uncomfortable but not unbearable. But I recall clearly how hard it was to 'get out of the traffic areas'. And my biking skills were low, but I found riding in that traffic harrowing - not so bad once you got to open roads.

I was in decent physical condition (did some running) but hardly in biking condition. But one Monday I rode that bike to work. Dealing with all that traffic was like one of the worst experiences of my life. I got a ride home and never rode that bike again. I sold it for a song a couple of years later.

Knowing what I know now I would have spent a tad more time just building my cycling skills and then worked harder than I did in finding a longer, but more sane, route. I remember looking and a better route was not obvious, but surely .... That was 1973 or 74 and I didn't ride again until I moved to California in 1996.

dave

roccobike

I bought my first adult bike during the bike boom. It was a green Raleigh Record. I considered a Schwinn Varsity, but the Raleigh was less expensive and 7 lbs. lighter. Peugeot was too expensive. I bought the Raleigh for one of the most important reasons that anyone buys a bike for, the girl I was dating was into cycling and I needed a bike so I could ride with her. Eventually I dropped her, but kept the bike. I rode it quite a bit at first, but other interests, like an LT-1 Corvette, occupied my time and the bike went to the basement. When I got married, I pulled out the Record to ride with my wife who had a Rollfast 3 speed. While in my 30s I tried to get back into cycling but that Raleigh had a Huret-Alvit rear derailer that couldn't stay in tune. I tried to get it corrected at a bike shop but alas, the Huret-Alvit was quite possibly the worst rear derailer ever designed. The Raleigh sat in the basement until my son took it out one day. He too found the rear derailer a handful consistently shifting to the highest gear making riding it nearly impossible.
Fast forward to 2005. I went to a yard sale and picked up an old Nishiki Ariel MTB for fun and to ride with my two boys. A couple of rides on that mountain bike and I was hooked. I dug out the old Raleigh, tried to tune up that POS derailer, but landed up giving up and selling it to make room for a newer, more worthy road bike that turned out to be a used Cannondale Silk Road 500. Since 2005, I've been riding regularly. If only I had purchased a better bike in the 80's to replace the Raleigh with that POS derailer, I probably would have been a serious cyclist much sooner.

qcpmsame 

I had one of those Huret disasters (not on a Raleigh Record though,) I used it for about 2 weeks then I went to our local Raleigh dealer and purchased a replacement RD, a Shimano Eagle, and rode very happily. finally put the starter bicycle on the for sale block when I got my Bottecchia, a friend took it to college with him. The Huret were in the same class for me as the plastic/delrin Simplex items, a bad execution of a simple idea. When I finally (1979) moved to a Raleigh International, with Campy Record, I thought I had gone to heaven.

Bill

osco53

I had a bicycle in the seventies.
It was for fun.
I didn't notice any bicycle movement..

Stucky

Exactly! I was a kid when the bike-boom started. Kids had bikes. Period. I wasn't aware that there had been a bike boom, until I read about it years later. I thought seeing ads for bicycles; the occasional adult buying one; and tons of different bikes in the Sears catalog, was just business as usual. When you're a kid, you think whatever is going on at the time is just the normal way things have always been, because you have nothing to compare it to.

EriktheFish

It's fun to read the stories posted by folks about my high school riding years, but I can't help but wonder why this question was asked. The OP posted this in '12, the thread was resurrected in '14 and then again in '15. The OP made only 2 posts in their career here on BF since becoming a member in '12 and both were on this topic. Why would someone ask this and then disappear? Student with a school assignment???

qcpmsame 

Erik, that's a good guess judging from the 2 posts, his other was the same body, posted in the C&V Forum. Not sure why it gets resurrected in the 50+ Forum regularly, but I have gotten pulled in each time, even though I recognize that its a Zombie thread. Very interesting discussions have come out of it, too.

Actually, I didn't hear anyone use the term "Bike-Boom" until a few years afterwards from the early 70's that many relate to that term. I simply wanted a nice bicycle as it was my primary transportation, something better than the muscle bikes we all were riding and a 10-speed filled the bill. It was really addictive to ride, for me, and I could get around much better with a nice bicycle, I had flat pedaled my legs off on the 20" wheels and low gearing the stingray clones had.

Its a pretty neat thread to revive from time to time, just my opinion and thoughts about my favorite topic.

Bill

transporterjr

I don't really recall a bike boom per se, in 75-77, at age 15-17, I rode my Schwinn Continental (40 lbs for the large frame) on the back roads in the next town, logging 40 miles days with friends. We would see 1 or 2 serious bicyclists out there. Today, on any given weekend, you would see 20-50 people out on the same roads. I see the bike boom as NOW!

I remember a lot of people buying Raleigh Gran Prix's, but most did not ride that far. We had people tell us we were lying when we said we rode 40 miles!

qcpmsame 

The 70's "Bike Boom" was from 1971 through 1973-4, by '75 bicycle shops were shuttering that were not prepared for normal business levels. The people that opened shops quickly, to try and catch the wave (quick bucks,) couldn't cut it and closed up shop. Many of the department stores and other such business that had badged bicycles with their own logos stopped buying and sold off stock at bargain basement prices (the bikes were usually not worth the cut rate prices, either.) Same thing happened to a lesser degree with Mountain Bicycles a little later, too.

Here in Pensacola, the two long time shops, a Schwinn and a Raleigh, both family owned, came through the crash, but eventually closed in the mid 80's, when the patriarchs of both families passed away. We have just had one shop here that got really big, and had multiple lines of manufacturers, close up several locations and cut back drastically, as this wave is tapering some. However we just got a new Trek Store, and I have seen a Yeti dealer sign out, in town.

Bill

jimmuller 

I bought my first lightweight derailleur bicycle in 1972 at Agee's Bicycle Shop in Richmond, VA, on West Broad St IIRC. I understand they are still in business but I wouldn't know if Agee himself is still involved, nor whether that location is still open. Perhaps a Richmond resident will chime in.

The bike itself is still "in business" and gets ridden quite often.

Stucky

Apparently, Agee's still has the W. Broad St. location: Locations - Agee's Bicycles-Sales and service for 104 years