[rollei_list] Re: OFF-TOPIC - Bicycles
- From: Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 18:54:48 -0700
Marc,
Since you made a remark alluding to my age, I would like to inform you that I
just went back to work the day after my 77th birthday. Same job in Aerospace
Engineering.
Jerry
Marc James Small wrote:
> Hmm. I'm a friend of John Forester, the fellow who wrote a number of books
> and articles around 1980 which revived interest in serious bicycling.
> (John is the son of CS Forester, the creator of Horatio Hornblower, but, to
> my fairly certain knowledge, neither John nor his father nor, for that
> matter, Horatio Hornblower ever used a Rolleiflex camera.)
>
> A good basic bicycle has been available in the US for the past thirty years
> which is light of weight, capable of rough service, and realtively easy to
> use. This came about when frames started being made from aluminium alloys
> instead of from steel or, in Jerry Lehrer's youth, wood. <he grins> It
> took the Japanese thirty years to learn how to get the stuff right, but
> Japanese gear clusters and brakes and shifters built since 1980 or so have
> been first-rate. If I were seriously into bike-racing, yes, the best is
> worth it, and those European fiber-frames and the like are worth the
> funds, as are tube tyres and all the rest. But for simply puttering down
> to the market, a solid bike can be had for not a lot of money. Get a
> 10-speed or better and get toe clips, but much of the rest is so much
> nonsense.
>
> I rode regularly until 1997 or so. About two years back, I dug my bike out
> and inflated the tires and went off to ride it. I fell off three times,
> proving that you CAN forget how to ride a bicycle! I then spent hours in
> my back yard, relearning the intricacies of balance and so forth. And
> then, just when I had it all in hand, my Physical Therapists told me NEVER
> to ride a bike again due to my bad knee, so there it goes.
>
> But a solid and decent bike can be had at a decent price in the US, and a
> REALLY good bike can be had for a LOT of money, on par or more with the
> forthcoming Leica Digital M. But the most of us would not be able to
> appreciate the difference. From years in the darkroom, I do know the
> difference between a Rolleiflex or a Leica and a more plebian type, but I'm
> not sophisticated sufficiently in bicycles to note the differences with
> increasing levels of quality. Now, for kayaks, I'm a Klepper guy, but that
> is a tale for a different day.
>
> Marc
>
> msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!
>
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