JGM411

On August 1, 1973, I became the owner of a yellow continental. I just finished fixing it up so my son can use it at college.

that bike replaced an amf Hercules that I got when I was 7 years old in 1967. That was a Christina's present. I still own that bike as well. So, I could have voted for the Raleigh easily enough. However I voted for the schwinn.

auchencrow

Welcome to C&V JGM!!

ZeRinger

Hmmm... well I wasn't born until October of '74 but I'd have to go for the Fuji as well... Raleigh not far behind.

Andy Antipas 

I was 13 in 1973 and my father bought me a beautiful yellow UO-8. I kept that bike through college into grad school. I hated those steel wheels. Around 1985, I upgraded it and gave it to my girlfriend at the time. The UO-8 created a soft spot for Peugeot and things French. When I started racing in the early 1980s my first racing bike was a PSV-10 upgraded over time with SLJ der, retrofriction shifters, and stronglight 105 crank/BB. That was also a good bike.

obrentharris 

I was a kid who liked to tinker on things and modify them. I rode a stock U08 that I bought used in 1968 until a friend whose family was quite involved in this weird sport called cycling let me borrow his sew-up wheels for an 80 mile ride down the coast.

Trumpet blared! Angels sang! The heavens opened up to reveal a heaven full of lightweight bicycles that had tires you could actually inflate to 100 lbs!

On the 25th of April, 1970, three months before I graduated high school, I took the money I had earned working in the library processing center down to Sugden and Lynch Bicycles in Menlo Park, CA and purchased the finest bike I could afford, a Peugeot Px10E, frame number 860245 with a spare Clement Elvezia tire and a saddle bag to hold the spare tire and tire irons for the Grand Sum of $175.14 with tax. Oh I wanted the Campy-equipped Mondias he sold but those cost another 100 dollars. I had also ridden my U08 to Spence Wolf's garage/shop in Cupertino to drool over the Cinellis he imported but those bikes were another hundred dollars more than the Mondias. I loved that PX-10. I still have the receipt but, alas, not the bike. By 1973 I had modified the dropout on the PX10 to accept a Suntour VGT Luxe derailleur, had dropped out of college for the first time and was working in a bike shop saving my money for an all-Nuovo Record Bob Jackson... but that's another story.
Brent

David Newton

This is too real to me, because I bought my own Peugeot UO8 in 1972, white with Aztec lugs, my first 10-speed.

Road Fan

In 1973 I had already had two pretty great bikes: a Falcon and a Cicli Rossignoli. I knew the rides of the Schwinn (coal cart), the Raleigh (less harsh but much prettier) and the UO-8 from riding bikes owned by my friends. I didn't know any Fuji owners - we were not receptive to Japanese products at that time. The UO-8 had a nice supple ride back then, but nowhere in the league of the Rossignoli. So in the scope of Awk's excellent collection, I'd go with the Peugeot.

balindamood

The Japanese were simply better at building middle-of-the-line bicycles consistantly, and by the early to mid 70's, their components worked better also. They did not always fully understand some nuances of design, but they sure worked better.

Road Fan

Awk, I wonder if it's just age? those who actually knew those older bikes back then versus those who've read more modern perspectives about French bikes, Simplex derailleurs, and steel rims, and knew nothing about how crummy Huret Allvits shifted, how well Simplexes worked on new bikes, how even the cottered steel cranks were trusted more than swaged aluminum spiders, and the slow start Japan had back then.

trekday2100

Rode both friends Varsity and Continental. The Continental was OK and was way better than the DBS Winner I rode in junior high. Did not see many Fuji's in S.F. and the ticket was anything Italian. I lusted after a Coppi in some shop near Marina Greens for many years. If the Fuji was available for a test ride the shifting would win me over hands down.

jimmuller 

In 1973?? A Fuji?? Are you kidding? I'd never heard of a Fuji back then. There warn't none. At least not in my neck of the woods. Warn't no such animal. The choices for 10-speeds were Peugeot, Raleigh, Gitane, Schwinn. Fuji, smoodgie.

On the other hand, I did buy a UO8 in '72 and still ride it, so it turned out pretty good.

spacemanz

That's what I've been thinking too, there WEREN'T any Japanese bikes in America back then, as far as I knew. We did have some Shimano fishing reels though, that weren't too bad. About the same as Zebco.

ascherer 

In December of '73 I was a high school senior and had bought myself a Zeus Pro from my earnings working in a textile mill that summer. But transported to a younger me...I had a Schwinn Varsity earlier, so I knew the Continental was no great shakes. I wanted a European bike so no Fuji, although I had respect for the Finest. I lusted after a PX10 or a Raleigh Pro, so the UO8 and the Grand Prix would have been let-downs, but knowing the younger me I probably would have opted for the Raleigh becuase I just never thought too much of the UO8. If today's me were choosing I'd give the Fuji a longer look.

Straightblock

I graduated from high school in 1973 and was riding a gaspipe C.Itoh. My best friend John had a Grand Prix, and I knew it was a better bike than mine, but not enough of an upgrade for my taste. I was already looking at Paramounts, PX10's and Raleigh Pros, either in the LBS or in their catalogs. I rode the Itoh to college for a year and a half until it got totaled when I got hit by a car. When I got the insurance check, I skipped over the bikes in the poll & bought an Ital Vega Nuovo Record with a full Columbus frame & a Campy/Ofmega build.

For the poll I'll honor my old buddy John for getting me into cycling, and pick the Grand Prix.

SteveSGP

As much as I like UO8s and Grand Prix, I'd have to go with the Fuji.

I'm not sure how common the Fuji was back then but I do know the saddle on my bike came off a 1974 Special Road Racer that I worked on a couple years ago so they were around.

OldsCOOL

That selection of bikes in the poll....reads like mid-summer craigslist. Gimme the Few-Gee, please.

OldsCOOL

In '73 I bought my first decent road bike. It was a Motobecane Mirage with the pricetag of 150.00. I was going into my junior year of high school.

rootboy 

The benefit of hind sight, I would think. Or maybe it's an age-related thing. I'll agree with Road Fan, above; Japanese bikes were not very high on the want list, at least in my 1973 world.

jon c. 

Many of y'all seemed to know a great deal more than we did in HS. We loved to ride, but my recollection is the only thing we knew about 'better' bikes was that Campagnolo made the best components and we couldn't afford them. And we knew that there were these bikes for racing in mountains that actually had more than 10 speeds. I don't remember ever seeing anyone riding in spandex in person.

qcpmsame 

Okay, I cut myself some slack and voted, I chose the Raleigh, because the only two of your choices I could buy here in the sticks were the Raleigh and the Schwinn and that Continental, in opaque blue, as Schwinn called it, still makes me shudder when I think about the B***h, that summer and 73-74 in school. And, in 1978 I got a Super Course and an International in the same summer.

At least I now have a good bike I picked, a beautiful wife I lusted after in high school and still do, and am away from teachers telling me daily that I was to stupid to go to college and it was a good thing I wanted to go into the Corps (it was to tell the truth, but not because they wanted to embarrass me.) Things turned out pretty well I guess, and now I have BF to read each morning, too.

Bill

peazweag

The PEUGEOT I like french bikes & funky threading

mickey85

I own both a Continental and a UO-8 (I believe the pug is a '72, the continental is a '74). Between THOSE two, the Pug is about 1,00000 lbs lighter. The Schwinn is a workout to pick up, and that's without the wheels!

Given my current knowledge, it'd be between the Peugeot and the Raleigh. The deciding factor would be that the zzzzzzzzing! Every time I brake would drive me insane on the Peugeot.

If I was 17...well, I was given an early 80's UO-8 (with FFS!) in high school and loved it...so I probably wouldn't change.

rootboy 

Plus ten speed mountain bikes, in 1973? I don't remember them. But then, there's a lot I don't remember from 1973.

T-Mar

At that time I was wrenching in a shop that carried Peugeot and Raleigh and I can tell you that it wouldn't be either.

Up until this time the UO8 had been the best selling model of the boom but the sales were just about to fall off the cliff into the deepest, darkest ravine. Potentially, it was still a good bicycle but Peugeot had overextended itself trying to meet demand and there were just too many quality control issues. On top of that were the French eccentricities. First was the threading. Second were the Simplex derailleurs with a high shift effort, spongy feel and antiquated push rod front derailleur design. Third were the MAFAC brakes. Very complex to set-up for the average person and a reluctance to hold their settings, often resulting in squeeling, though the best brake when set-up properly. On the plus side, the UO8 had the most resilient ride of the four.

The Raleigh was a decent alternative but was not immune to the quality control issues and suffered the same Simplexitis. The Weinmann brakes set up much easier, giving overall better performance for the average user. The hubs lacked QR skewers.

Schwinn was not even in the running. We didn't sell them in Canada but I imagine they pretty much parallel the situation of CCM. A well recognized name, the bicycle your father and grandfather rode and what you grew up on. However, this was a time of unrest and rebellion amongst teenagers and the last thing you wanted to seen riding was a symbol of corporate America. The only way you rode a Schwinn was if you couldn't afford to buy your own bicycle and couldn't cajole your parents into buying you a European or Japanese model. The merits of the bicycle itself didn't even come into play, even though they were few.

So the winner is Fuji. The best quality control of the bunch, by far. Far superior shifting derailleurs thanks to the SunTour VGT slant parallelogram rear derailleur and parallelogram Compe V front derailleur, though the front did work backwards. Aluminum rims when the others had steel. Cotterless, aluminum crankset when the others used cottered steel. On the purely cosmetic side, it had more chrome, courtesy of the rear stay treatments, which gave it it a higher end appearance. While it had a relatively dead ride, especially compared to the Peugeot, it was also a far more rugged bicycle which was not something to be overlooked on a generation who had grown up thrashing around on Stingrays.

In Canada, our equivalent of the Fuji was the Sekine SHB/SHC. It was a bit more downscale with chrome only on the fork ends. Shimano versus SunTour derailleurs and steel rims, but still it knocked the UO8 off it's perch over a very short period of time. It was almost as if Peugeot had gone out of business.

In the end, the vast majority of buyers were not sosphicated enough to appreciate the difference in ride and component performance, Most would settle on the Fuji purely on the basis of the extra chrome. However, there was probably also a perception that it was a better bicycle based on the overall neatness of the appearance. These buyers were instinctively picking up on the better quality control. The Canadian buyers did this with Sekine and I'm sure the same thing happened with Fuji.

leaping_gnome

In 1973 I was 17 and my bike of choice was a CZ 250. My Peugeot PR-10 was still a year away. At the time my friend had a Raleigh "English Racer" that I liked very much so I have to go with the Raleigh based on sentiment, not specs. Japanese bikes were still just on the horizon and Schwinn was scorn. I had an Orange Crate at the time - I hated it.

Jim