Classic & vintage road icons....?
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06-28-22, 05:46 AM
#28
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At least here in the USA in the 70's, the Raleigh and Schwinn shops had a fairly large presence. As such, many of us grew up with our noses pressed against the shop window and lust in our hearts! ... it wasn't just me, was it?....
Quite a few of the bikes in those Raleigh catalogs are seared into my brain! I did buy the semi-iconic Gran Sport in the lagoon blue with white panels and rode that for a long time. Much later, I picked up a mint International in the copper paint, which is probably between semi-iconic and iconic. There is still a part of me that would like to have one of the blue mink & silver Professionals, though!
From the catalog that I held onto for so long... the Mark IV Raleigh Pro.
After I got my International, I lucked into a 753 Team frame! I think it's just as iconic as the Pro, and since it was widely raced, probably even more so.
Here's mine, and it rides just wonderfully!
Steve in Peoria
Quite a few of the bikes in those Raleigh catalogs are seared into my brain! I did buy the semi-iconic Gran Sport in the lagoon blue with white panels and rode that for a long time. Much later, I picked up a mint International in the copper paint, which is probably between semi-iconic and iconic. There is still a part of me that would like to have one of the blue mink & silver Professionals, though!
From the catalog that I held onto for so long... the Mark IV Raleigh Pro.
After I got my International, I lucked into a 753 Team frame! I think it's just as iconic as the Pro, and since it was widely raced, probably even more so.
Here's mine, and it rides just wonderfully!
Steve in Peoria
06-28-22, 06:34 AM
#29
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At least here in the USA in the 70's, the Raleigh and Schwinn shops had a fairly large presence. As such, many of us grew up with our noses pressed against the shop window and lust in our hearts! ... it wasn't just me, was it?....
Quite a few of the bikes in those Raleigh catalogs are seared into my brain! I did buy the semi-iconic Gran Sport in the lagoon blue with white panels and rode that for a long time. Much later, I picked up a mint International in the copper paint, which is probably between semi-iconic and iconic. There is still a part of me that would like to have one of the blue mink & silver Professionals, though!
From the catalog that I held onto for so long... the Mark IV Raleigh Pro.
Steve in Peoria
Quite a few of the bikes in those Raleigh catalogs are seared into my brain! I did buy the semi-iconic Gran Sport in the lagoon blue with white panels and rode that for a long time. Much later, I picked up a mint International in the copper paint, which is probably between semi-iconic and iconic. There is still a part of me that would like to have one of the blue mink & silver Professionals, though!
From the catalog that I held onto for so long... the Mark IV Raleigh Pro.
Steve in Peoria
Last edited by alcjphil; 06-29-22 at 07:13 AM.
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06-28-22, 06:56 AM
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/201638067551
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06-28-22, 09:36 AM
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This raises an interesting aspect to the OP question. He said “A 60s- mid 70s white PX-10 is immediately recognizable and conjures a nostalgia even among folks who haven’t ridden a bike in years”. So should the extent of recognition to be considered for the title “icon”? I, for obvious reasons, prefer the Mk IV but clearly the SBDU bikes are revered but to a limited audience. I was unaware of SBDU until “ages hence”. Just a guy in the neighborhood chasing girls. The Mink blue Pro would have much more recognizable. Some exquisite Italian bikes were worth a pedestal but most folks would say “gee, never heard of that one.”
For me in the early 70's, a Schwinn LeTour might have been the most exotic bike most folks would be exposed to. Compared to a Varsity, it was clearly lighter, faster, and better. A Schwinn Paramount would be even more aspirational, but nobody had anything that refined.
A handful of years later, while in the Marines, a buddy had an Eisentraut, which I knew nothing about. For that era, he might have been one of the top 5 framebuilders in the country! (sounds like a topic for a new thread). My buddy had grown up in San Diego, one of the cycling hot spots, so he was exposed to just about anything that might exist. We would have very different ideas of what would be iconic, no doubt.
Steve in Peoria
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06-28-22, 09:40 AM
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06-28-22, 09:43 AM
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for me it's the Schwinn Continental! My father kept the one he bought when he was 15 after saving up money from mowing lawns. As I got into my teens and was tall enough to ride it, it was my first journey into road cycling. I still have the frameset and intend on doing a "lightweight" resto mod one of these days.
06-28-22, 10:13 AM
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If you take a closer look at the movie though, it tells the real story. Dave and his bike, were both anomalies in the town depicted in the movie. The far more recognizable and familiar bicycles were/are the average single speed, coaster brake bike.
Also, to answer the question, it could be the Masi-Trek that was heavily debated.
Also, to answer the question, it could be the Masi-Trek that was heavily debated.
Last edited by seypat; 06-28-22 at 10:16 AM.
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06-28-22, 10:21 AM
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We all like to talk about those epic racing machines. This is probably closer in some form/fashion to the way people were introduced and experienced cycling, at least in the formative years.
Last edited by seypat; 06-28-22 at 10:35 AM.
06-28-22, 01:01 PM
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I imagine that 3rensho would fit into the iconic class. Can’t think of the early 80s without dreaming I owned one.
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06-28-22, 05:13 PM
#39
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For those who favor "the road less traveled," Capo Sieger, anyone? 
This specimen is from the early 1950s and features Capo brand derailleurs. My 1960 Siegers came with Campag. Gran Sport.
This specimen is from the early 1950s and features Capo brand derailleurs. My 1960 Siegers came with Campag. Gran Sport.
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Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
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Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
06-28-22, 05:25 PM
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I don't know about C&V me, but the teenager me would have said "Schwinn LeTour, in Pearl Orange" was iconic (or at least semi-iconic). And I think the teenage bicycle fans around me would agreed. It had the Schwinn name (that's when we thought Schwinn was the top of the crop), and could be accessorized to meet all our bicycle adventure needs, as soon as we had the shop install the alloy wheel upgrades, ditch the bike safety levers, swap for downtube shifters, and install a Pletscher rack on the back (to lug our studios books around). None of us would have touched a Varsity or Continental.
Last edited by uncle uncle; 06-28-22 at 08:05 PM.
06-28-22, 06:26 PM
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Schwinns, particularly the Varsity, the miami vice ironman and mid-range raleighs seem to be it to me. Other than the PX-10, arguably the most iconic.
06-28-22, 07:38 PM
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Some of the bikes mentioned are iconic and others are more in the “unobtainable” category for me when I was young and these bikes were new. I loved my root beer brown Varsity in the first few years I rode it and it was a true icon. When I rode it to high school there were many who had them in various colors. It wasn’t until maybe the mid seventies (after HS) when my eye wandered away from the icon and towards a more practical bike for longer , faster riding. I knew about the PX10 , a friend had one but it was the lighter Japanese bikes that caught my eye , not any icon bike.
06-28-22, 08:14 PM
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06-28-22, 08:30 PM
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06-29-22, 07:12 AM
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Kind of surprised that this one has not been mentioned, unless I missed it somewhere
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06-29-22, 07:39 AM
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Last edited by smd4; 06-29-22 at 07:42 AM.
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06-29-22, 07:52 AM
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Never heard of the Peugeot PX-10. Peugeots just weren't very plentiful in the land of Schwinn and Western States Imports, growing up in the 1970s/1980. I must have been about 10 or 11 in the mid-1970s when my best friend allowed me to see his mom's Schwinn Varsity or World or whatever it was in his garage, and spoke of it in reverent tones. He told me Schwinn was basically the best bike you could buy. Later, visiting the bike shop, the high-end Centurions did it for me. When I started learning more about bikes, any Bianchi in Celeste was "iconic." And I don't even like Bianchis much--but I understood their significance. Even in the mid-1980s, still never heard of the Peugeot. A Cinelli SC was basically unobtanium then, and outside of the Interbike shows, only one bike shop I knew had one--and they weren't about to part with it unless it was for full retail.
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