Classic Road Bikes

[AZjeff]

Great thread!

I still have my Trek 500 from the mid 80s. Sent the frame back to Trek for a repaint and it came back a different color of red. Lugged R501. It's going to be a town bike someday if I ever finish it. The Shimano 600 group went on an early Allez lugged carbon noodle frame so this is a total mutt bike. Gave up road riding 15 years ago, not enough roads or respect here.

 

[853okg]

Very pretty bike. Eddy got Ugo DeRosa to set up his shop and it was obvious given the result. Nagasawa also learned from Ugo. The Delta brakes are quite rare. I had one of the first made (Record C group, ‘86) and replaced them with Cobalto calipers.

 

[ET16]

I'm new to the forum and am a rider/collector of steel road bikes. I do have a couple of modern Ti bikes but nothing feels like one of these to me.


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Ha. Delta brakes. I've got them on a De Rosa.

 

[853okg]

Here's a pic of the Blue Gerch in 1986, I was chasing down a fast Canadian who I wouldn't let go The jersey still fits but the motor isn't the same.

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I raced mountain bikes as well, this is the is 90s in Durango at the Iron Horse Classic.

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This is Alpe D' Huez in 2011 on a rented Trek after beating cancer, just before the Tour came thru.

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I'm currently in treatment for stage 3 NH Lymphoma (complements of my time at Camp LeJeune). I'm looking forward to getting thru with it for the 2024 season.

Good luck! Both my parents and I got the cancer, I’m sure, from Camp Lejeune, and my mother had what you have. I was born and raised there. Such a tragedy. She beat it, and you will too!

 

[853okg]

Only a few were made by Roland. The above posted Lemond is a Trek produced model, they didn't treat Greg very well. I have a LeMond GLX made by Billato in Italy, I haven't got it built up yet. Most steel frame LeMonds that aren't Treks are Billato built, they were imported by a company called Ten Speed Drive Imports in FL.

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I'm fortunate to have met and spent some time with Greg on few occasions, a great bike racer and person.

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From the post above with the Specialized Allez, great bike! I have an 86 like they used in American Flyers with Kevin Costner as well.

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Great bike racer? You likely have no idea. I had the great honor/misfortune to have competed against him. It’s impossible to overstate how awe inspiring he was, and right out of the gate. He beat George Mount in the Mt Tamalpais hillclimb while still a boy and outsprinted Kenny DeMarteleire in the Jr Worlds. Which is nearly inconceivable if you saw the previous year’s points race. I don’t think there’s been a more perfect human for riding a bike. Every knock on his career, in my opinion, stems from the fact that he is not as insecure or immoral as his rivals.

 

[Gillsy]

I had a Schwinn Continental all through school in the 70's. Not a bike to write home about but there were many of them everywhere and it was a favorite of many. I don't ride anymore but I do have my dad's Raleigh 3spd if I ever want to circle the block.

Schwinn was a big name in the 70's. My brother gifted me with a yellow Le Tour. I've been riding ever since. Now I'm on my third Cannondale. I just love riding.

 

[MRC01]

Back in the 80s I built and raced a Vitus 979 with Campy Super Record with G40 wheels and bladed spokes. I worked in a bike shop building custom bikes & wheels and saved my money for years to buy that bike used. I loved that bike and put thousands of miles on it, wish I had a photo.

Nowadays I ride a 2021 Fezzari Empire road bike (photo of that bike on a different thread), a 2014 Fezzari Timp peak mountain bike, a 1999 Santana tandem, and a Franken-bike made from my brother's old Trek 330 from the 1980s that I turned into a "single speed" with a 2-speed internally geared kick-back hub.

I do like vintage bikes and every year it seems I restore one for a friend or two. Yet I find that the Fezzari Empire is the best road bike I've ever owned. The comfort, efficiency, smoothness & road feel, speed, wide gear range, are all a step ahead of any bike I've owned over decades of avid cycling. Between this bike and the MTB I put in 5 to 10 thousand miles per year depending on what endurance events I'm riding and the training for them.

 

[LDB]

Schwinn was a big name in the 70's. My brother gifted me with a yellow Le Tour. I've been riding ever since. Now I'm on my third Cannondale. I just love riding.

My Continental was yellow. Everyone then knew the yellow bike was superior to all others.

 

[slo town]

Although a bit off topic, some pics of Bob Roll and me. I gave him a ride from Morro Bay to Santa Barbara during a stage of the Amgen tour. He is EXACTLY like the guy you see and hear on television broadcasts.

Scott

 

[Greenbeforeblue]

My Continental was yellow. Everyone then knew the yellow bike was superior to all others.

My personal favorite was the Opaque Blue. However, my Varsity was Lime Green and probably responsible for why I'm still a good climber at nearly 65 years old, because it was so heavy One of my grandsons rides it now.

 

[Pablo]

My personal favorite was the Opaque Blue. However, my Varsity was Lime Green and probably responsible for why I'm still a good climber at nearly 65 years old, because it was so heavy One of my grandsons rides it now.

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I had a root beer brown Varsity. And legs like tree trunks.

 

[Gillsy]

My Continental was yellow. Everyone then knew the yellow bike was superior to all others.

Low drag, and fast Bro!

 

[slo town]

I had a root beer brown Varsity. And legs like tree trunks.

I remember those like yesterday.

Scott

 

[Pablo]

I remember those like yesterday.

Scott

They called them odd names over the years, chestnut brown and such.

All us poor wienies wish we had Continentals.

 

[MRC01]

I had a root beer brown Varsity. And legs like tree trunks.

The brown Varsity was the classic. The apocryphal story is about some guy we all knew who was planning biking trip through Europe. Before the trip, he painted his expensive racing bike brown with Schwinn Varsity graphics as a form of theft protection.

 

[slo town]

The brown Varsity was the classic. The apocryphal story is about some guy we all knew who was planning biking trip through Europe. Before the trip, he painted his expensive racing bike brown with Schwinn Varsity graphics as a form of theft protection.

Theft protection....

A helpful hint. If I stop for coffee or something during a ride I always park my bike in its biggest gear. That way someone can't quickly speed off on it. FWIW.

Scott

 

[y_p_w]

I still have my 1990 Bottechia SL frame. It came with Campy Xenon, but was modified over the years. I don’t ride it, but it doesn’t take up much space.

 

[borgward]

I'm new to the forum and am a rider/collector of steel road bikes. I do have a couple of modern Ti bikes but nothing feels like one of these to me.


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[borgward]

Great thread!

I still have my Trek 500 from the mid 80s. Sent the frame back to Trek for a repaint and it came back a different color of red. Lugged R501. It's going to be a town bike someday if I ever finish it. The Shimano 600 group went on an early Allez lugged carbon noodle frame so this is a total mutt bike. Gave up road riding 15 years ago, not enough roads or respect here.
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I'm new to the forum and am a rider/collector of steel road bikes. I do have a couple of modern Ti bikes but nothing feels like one of these to me.


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Found a 70's Schwinn World Sport in a thrift store a few years ago. Not top of the line but top of the middle. Made in Taiwan. Enjoyable to use for exercise and sight seeing. I hope these mid century bikes don't get noticed by collectors and wind up hanging on their wall.