While at a lbs today

Quoted message said:

but the most interesting was
the NORCO, the TREK and the SCHWINN.

On Craigslist in Minneapolis, some dude is selling two GORGEOUS
Preludes that have been on the market for maybe three months. Such a
shame, they're really appealing. Once when I took my Tempo in for a
tune-up, the older dude in the college bike shop called over his two
employees to show them old Columbus Tenax tubing and single-pivot 105
brakes. I love owning an interesting older bike.

For car guys, it's the same thing. There's an age through which all
cars pass on their way to becoming classics. That's when they're most
interesting to me: before they become the 57 Chevy or 63 Vette, when
they're just a cheap old car.

"bryanska" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Welcome back! 🙂

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ken M said:

I had time to look at some of thiner "pre-owned" (a.k.a. used) vintage
bikes, I was there to test ride a recumbent, but always enjoy seeing
what else they have to offer. I saw a NORCO BIGFOOT?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My main bike is a Norco Bigfoot. There are lots of Norcos
being sold and ridden here in Vancouver BC. Mine is an
older '80s model (I think I've described it to you before --
rigid fork, old style cantis, good setup for backcountry
touring.) I believe Norco still makes a Bigfoot model but
recent models are fancified with suspension 'n stuff.

My Bigfoot might be old, but like Johnny Walker it's still
going strong. Well, the frame (the part that says "Bigfoot"
on it) anyways. Most of the rest of it, including the fork,
consists of replacement parts transplanted from other old bikes.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ken M said:

I had time to look at some of thiner "pre-owned" (a.k.a. used) vintage
bikes, I was there to test ride a recumbent, but always enjoy seeing
what else they have to offer. I saw a NORCO BIGFOOT?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My main bike is a Norco Bigfoot. There are lots of Norcos
being sold and ridden here in Vancouver BC. Mine is an
older '80s model (I think I've described it to you before --
rigid fork, old style cantis, good setup for backcountry
touring.) I believe Norco still makes a Bigfoot model but
recent models are fancified with suspension 'n stuff.

My Bigfoot might be old, but like Johnny Walker it's still
going strong. Well, the frame (the part that says "Bigfoot"
on it) anyways. Most of the rest of it, including the fork,
consists of replacement parts transplanted from other old bikes.

Yeah I had remembered you said that your main bike was a NORCO, and that
is what made me take notice in the BIGFOOT. It looked to be a pretty
decent ride. And it looked to be a first or second generation MTB,
hardtail, rigid fork, 26 inch tires, less aggressive geometry, compared
to todays MTBs. If I needed a beater bike that might be something I
would have bought.

Ken
--
[T]he bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting
calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles
per gallon. ~Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ken M said:

Quoted message said:

My Bigfoot might be old, but like Johnny Walker it's still
going strong. Well, the frame (the part that says "Bigfoot"
on it) anyways. Most of the rest of it, including the fork,
consists of replacement parts transplanted from other old bikes.

Yeah I had remembered you said that your main bike was a NORCO, and that
is what made me take notice in the BIGFOOT. It looked to be a pretty
decent ride. And it looked to be a first or second generation MTB,
hardtail, rigid fork, 26 inch tires, less aggressive geometry, compared
to todays MTBs. If I needed a beater bike that might be something I
would have bought.

A lot of credit for my satisfaction with my "beater" bike goes to
the Sugino crankset I've got on it. I wouldn't be surprised if
it's survived 10 (recent manufacture) LX lifetimes under my watch,
and it was used when I got it. I killed an LX crankset on another
bike (a more recent Norco Mountaineer, in fact) in less than a
year's time.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ken M said:

Quoted message said:

My Bigfoot might be old, but like Johnny Walker it's still
going strong. Well, the frame (the part that says "Bigfoot"
on it) anyways. Most of the rest of it, including the fork,
consists of replacement parts transplanted from other old bikes.

Yeah I had remembered you said that your main bike was a NORCO, and that
is what made me take notice in the BIGFOOT. It looked to be a pretty
decent ride. And it looked to be a first or second generation MTB,
hardtail, rigid fork, 26 inch tires, less aggressive geometry, compared
to todays MTBs. If I needed a beater bike that might be something I
would have bought.

A lot of credit for my satisfaction with my "beater" bike goes to
the Sugino crankset I've got on it. I wouldn't be surprised if
it's survived 10 (recent manufacture) LX lifetimes under my watch,
and it was used when I got it. I killed an LX crankset on another
bike (a more recent Norco Mountaineer, in fact) in less than a
year's time.

I didn't mean to offend, if I did, the NORCO looks just like a bike I
had before I bought my Raleigh. It looks like something, that, in
comparison to my main ride, I might not care to much if it were stolen.

Ken
--
[T]he bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting
calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles
per gallon. ~Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ken M said:

Quoted message said:

A lot of credit for my satisfaction with my "beater" bike goes to
the Sugino crankset I've got on it. I wouldn't be surprised if
it's survived 10 (recent manufacture) LX lifetimes under my watch,
and it was used when I got it. I killed an LX crankset on another
bike (a more recent Norco Mountaineer, in fact) in less than a
year's time.

I didn't mean to offend,

Hey, none taken :-)

if I did, the NORCO looks just like a bike I

Quoted message said:

had before I bought my Raleigh. It looks like something, that, in
comparison to my main ride, I might not care to much if it were stolen.

Yeah, its plain-jane-ness is a desirable feature for a city bike.
I would mourn the loss if it, though. It's not too good in look,
but it's heap elephant-strongk. My bike is my pickup truck.
And the milk crate on it is the truck bed.

I was just griping about LX cranksets. Unfortuately they're
prevalent on a lot of entry-level bikes. If I were to recommend
an entry-level hybrid or MTB with LX, I'd also suggest upgrading
it to something more durable, especially if the bike is to be
put to work for a lot of utility/transportational riding.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

bryanska said:

Quoted message said:

but the most interesting was
the NORCO, the TREK and the SCHWINN.

On Craigslist in Minneapolis, some dude is selling two GORGEOUS
Preludes that have been on the market for maybe three months. Such a
shame, they're really appealing.

I was talking to my nephew who lives in Minneapolis. He wanted to buy a
Rivendell, until the shop explained to him that there are many local
frame builders, that used to work at Trek in Wisconsin (but were laid
off as Trek outsourced most frame building to Asia), that could build
him an equivalent lugged frame for a lot less.

Apparently a lot of cyclists in Minneapolis are aware of this, which
hurts the market for classic lugged frames like the Schwinn Prelude.

"SMS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was talking to my nephew who lives in Minneapolis. He wanted to buy a
Rivendell, until the shop explained to him that there are many local
frame builders, that used to work at Trek in Wisconsin (but were laid
off as Trek outsourced most frame building to Asia), that could build
him an equivalent lugged frame for a lot less.

Interesting, could this "person" explain exactly which Trek frames were
"outsourced" to Asia?

bfd said:

Interesting, could this "person" explain exactly which Trek frames were
"outsourced" to Asia?

I doubt if he could state exactly which models have the frames built in
Asia. But it's pretty common knowledge that Trek no longer builds the
frames in the U.S. for its low-end to mid-range models.

SMS said:

bfd said:

Interesting, could this "person" explain exactly which Trek frames were
"outsourced" to Asia?

I doubt if he could state exactly which models have the frames built
in Asia. But it's pretty common knowledge that Trek no longer builds
the frames in the U.S. for its low-end to mid-range models.

The guys who were building lugged steel frames at Trek were laid off or
re-trained long before the outsourcing of the low-end models to Asia.

bfd said:

"SMS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was talking to my nephew who lives in Minneapolis. He wanted to buy a
Rivendell, until the shop explained to him that there are many local
frame builders, that used to work at Trek in Wisconsin (but were laid
off as Trek outsourced most frame building to Asia), that could build
him an equivalent lugged frame for a lot less.

Interesting, could this "person" explain exactly which Trek frames were
"outsourced" to Asia?

The guy at the local Trek dealer told me any frame or rather complete
bike that has a price (msrp) under $1000 is outsourced to china.

Ken
--
Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed
with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with
the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike
and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a
good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from
the finals? - Lance Armstrong in "Dodgeball - A true underdog story"

Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

bryanska said:

Quoted message said:

but the most interesting was
the NORCO, the TREK and the SCHWINN.

On Craigslist in Minneapolis, some dude is selling two GORGEOUS
Preludes that have been on the market for maybe three months. Such a
shame, they're really appealing. Once when I took my Tempo in for a
tune-up, the older dude in the college bike shop called over his two
employees to show them old Columbus Tenax tubing and single-pivot 105
brakes. I love owning an interesting older bike.

For car guys, it's the same thing. There's an age through which all
cars pass on their way to becoming classics. That's when they're most
interesting to me: before they become the 57 Chevy or 63 Vette, when
they're just a cheap old car.

The TREK and the SCHWINN looked pretty good. Both looked as though they
would need a good tune up and maybe a drive train upgrade. But both had
that older "retro" look to them, the TREK must have been one of the
first years they had the aluminum frame because the word ALUMINUM was in
big letters on the frame. And both had old style toe clips and straps.

Ken
--
Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed
with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with
the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike
and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a
good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from
the finals? - Lance Armstrong in "Dodgeball - A true underdog story"

Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

Ken M said:

The TREK and the SCHWINN looked pretty good. Both looked as though they
would need a good tune up and maybe a drive train upgrade. But both had
that older "retro" look to them, the TREK must have been one of the
first years they had the aluminum frame because the word ALUMINUM was in
big letters on the frame. And both had old style toe clips and straps.

I don't know how many incarnations there have been of the Trek 1000, but
I occasionally ride with a Saturday morning group that averages at least
about three 1000s. They all have completely different paint schemes but
seem to have basically similar levels of hardware.

In article <[email hidden]>, bfd (bfd853

@comcast.net) said:

"SMS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was talking to my nephew who lives in Minneapolis. He wanted to buy a
Rivendell, until the shop explained to him that there are many local
frame builders, that used to work at Trek in Wisconsin (but were laid
off as Trek outsourced most frame building to Asia), that could build
him an equivalent lugged frame for a lot less.

Interesting, could this "person" explain exactly which Trek frames were
"outsourced" to Asia?

When I was in the market for a mountain bike circa 1991, I ended up with
a Trek 930. A review in one of the MTB comics in the UK stated that the
930 was the cheapest Trek MTB with a US-built frame, costing back then
about 400 GBP.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
We had that Maurits C. Escher in to do some building work once. I
haven't been able to leave the house since.