Beaver Cleaver's Bikes

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

Quoted message said:

"Leave It To Beaver" re-runs are being shown on cable, and I ran into two
episodes about bicycling while channel surfing.

In one episode, Beaver wins a new bike at a movie theatre when he's

supposed

Quoted message said:

to be grounded at home for misbehaving. The bike is "a real English racing
bike" that he eventually donates to charity.

In the other episode, Beaver wants to ride his brand new bike to school

with

Quoted message said:

a couple of friends. His parents think it's too dangerous. His father

tries

Quoted message said:

to dissuade him by pointing out that taking the school bus would be faster
and much more comfortable. They finally give in and let him ride to

school.

Quoted message said:

On the first day, he lets another kid try out his bike which has "hand
brakes, a gear lever to make climbing hills easy, and real racing tires."
The kid takes the bike for a ride "around the block" and never comes back.

What's amusing to me is what was considered a "racing bike" in that era
(circa 1960). Both of the bikes had upright bars, wide saddle, etc.

Yes, it is odd that these bikes got this name in the U.S.
Sheldon Brown notes:

"English Racer
This is a term used by ignorant people in some parts of the U.S. to refer to
a 3-speed "sports" type bike. This is a very foolish designation, because
the bikes involved, while usually English, have absolutely no connection
with racing."
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_e-f.html

That's a bit harsh, but accurate.

So, why did this name get currency? Well, a couple of kids in the
neighborhood had these, and they were a lot faster than the rest of us, who
had various forms of single speed bikes.

We'd never seen "10 speed" bikes in our neighbhorhood in the early 1960's,
and had no conception of racing beyond who could get to the corner faster.
The English 3-speeds would definitely do that.

Sat, 2 Oct 2004 12:58:29 -0500,
<1096740141.LDXZ/wwW80hLl6AmcgGcHg@teranews>, "Mike Kruger"

Quoted message said:

So, why did this name get currency? Well, a couple of kids in the
neighborhood had these, and they were a lot faster than the rest of us, who
had various forms of single speed bikes.

We'd never seen "10 speed" bikes in our neighbhorhood in the early 1960's,
and had no conception of racing beyond who could get to the corner faster.
The English 3-speeds would definitely do that.

John Stoffel had the first one in my gang and I'll never forget the
look on his face when I beat him with my gas pipe J.C. Higgins on 24"
balloon tires. The course was two miles to Wolf Road and back.
I was highly motivated because I believed that if I beat him my
grandfather would buy me an "English racer" too. As it turned out, I
had to save for and buy my own though he did help me pay for it - a
metallic red Robin Hood. From then on it was simply a matter of my red
bike being faster than John's black one.
--
zk

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

Quoted message said:

From then on it was simply a matter of my red
bike being faster than John's black one.

Well, duh, we all know red bikes are faster.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Mike Kruger said:

"English Racer
This is a term used by ignorant people in some parts of the U.S. to refer
to a 3-speed "sports" type bike. This is a very foolish designation,
because the bikes involved, while usually English, have absolutely no
connection with racing."

That's for sure! But if you flip the bars upside down and pump up the
tires nice and firm, an old 3 spd can be rather speedy. 😄

Weren't most club bikes from the 50s and 60s basically three speeds, but
with drops instead of upright bars?

Claire Petersky said:

Well, duh, we all know red bikes are faster.

yeah, but they corner like [censored].

White bikes tend to oversteer btw--so be careful out there.

Quoted message said:

Weren't most club bikes from the 50s and 60s basically three speeds, but
with drops instead of upright bars?

Sometimes I wonder If I need more than 5 speeds.
Mostly I stay in the middle front ring and spin my ass off.
The fascinating thing is that there were fixed gear 2 and 3 speeds 50 years
ago.
It was a fixed gear rear hub.
Details on sheldon's page.

Fx199 said:

The fascinating thing is that there
were fixed gear 2 and 3 speeds 50 years ago.

try 100 years...and aren't those old penny-farthings fixed gear? I don't
think they came with a flip flop hub though. LOL 😄

:P

Every ridden those old two speeds where you backpedal just a smidge to
switch gears? I remember borrowing my grandpa's old bike when I was a kid
in Sweden and it had that type of gearing.

Odd.

Quoted message said:

Subject: Re: Beaver Cleaver's Bikes
From: maxo [email hidden]
Date: 10/2/2004 9:07 PM US Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>

Fx199 said:

The fascinating thing is that there
were fixed gear 2 and 3 speeds 50 years ago.

try 100 years...and aren't those old penny-farthings fixed gear? I don't
think they came with a flip flop hub though. LOL 😄

:P

Every ridden those old two speeds where you backpedal just a smidge to
switch gears? I remember borrowing my grandpa's old bike when I was a kid
in Sweden and it had that type of gearing.

Odd.

Dude, those 2-3 speed fixed gears were pretty complicated...OK dude?
NOT 100 YEARS AGO!
There were tiny gears inside a hub...never mind.....bye

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 00:28:44 GMT,
<[email hidden]>, maxo

Quoted message said:

Claire Petersky said:

Well, duh, we all know red bikes are faster.

yeah, but they corner like [censored].

White bikes tend to oversteer btw--so be careful out there.

A Scott branded Taiwanese butted cro-mo compact rigid MTB I've
acquired has a white front fork and head tube breaking to black on the
main triangle and stays where it breaks to red.

Rides like [censored]. Would repainting it help?
--
zk

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:UVD7d.1207$>

Quoted message said:

Well, duh, we all know red bikes are faster.

Must be nice to be able to pick and choose your own colours.

Us pros just get handed a few team issues at the second pre-
season camp and that's that.

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 02:27:46 GMT, <CsJ7d.591732$gE.509034@pd7tw3no>,
The Artist, "Fabrizio Mazzoleni" <[email hidden]> lamented:

Quoted message said:

Must be nice to be able to pick and choose your own colours.

Us pros just get handed a few team issues at the second pre-
season camp and that's that.

You could choose to ride for CSC. At least they're riding on decent
looking bikes.
--
zk

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

Quoted message said:

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 02:27:46 GMT, <CsJ7d.591732$gE.509034@pd7tw3no>,
The Artist, "Fabrizio Mazzoleni" <[email hidden]> lamented:

Quoted message said:

Must be nice to be able to pick and choose your own colours.

Us pros just get handed a few team issues at the second pre-
season camp and that's that.

You could choose to ride for CSC. At least they're riding on decent
looking bikes.
--

Out of the question, there's been too many personal issues between me
and Bjarne Riis over the last few years. And I've never gotten along very
well with Ivan Basso, he's too vain for one thing.

The only upside with CSC would be having team osteopath Ole Kaere Foli,
it's great having someone like him on your team during a three week stage
race.

Quoted message said:

Zoot Katz [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

You could choose to ride for CSC. At least they're riding on decent
looking bikes.

Not to denigrate Cervalo but it seems you are succumbing to nationalistic
jingoism as Lotto-Domo, T-Mobile, and Rabobank all have bikes that are at least
as cool looking as CSC. <g>

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Fabrizio Mazzoleni said:

Out of the question, there's been too many personal issues between me
and Bjarne Riis over the last few years. And I've never gotten along very
well with Ivan Basso, he's too vain for one thing.

Do you find it difficult to maintain your fetching modesty, what with
you being so talented and all?

*innocent look*

-km

Zoot Katz said:

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 00:28:44 GMT,
<[email hidden]>, maxo <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Claire Petersky said:

Well, duh, we all know red bikes are faster.

yeah, but they corner like [censored].

White bikes tend to oversteer btw--so be careful out there.

A Scott branded Taiwanese butted cro-mo compact rigid MTB I've acquired
has a white front fork and head tube breaking to black on the main
triangle and stays where it breaks to red.

Rides like [censored]. Would repainting it help?

Absolutely!

Black is fantastic on it's own, but it does not *play nice* with other
colors unfortunately.

I find orange to be a happy blend of being able to quickly countersteer,
yet having some of the speed of red since it's in the warmer end of the
spectrum.

Good luck!

Fx199 said:

Dude, those 2-3 speed fixed gears were pretty complicated...OK dude? NOT
100 YEARS AGO!
There were tiny gears inside a hub...never mind.....bye

LOL, easy on the RedBull there mate.

You might very well be right about the fixed versions, but hub gearing has
been around for well over a hundred years. The classic Sturmey Archer hub
has been relatively unchanged for the last 70 years.

And those gears are not so tiny....never mind...bye

😉

😄

Quoted message said:

Subject: Re: Beaver Cleaver's Bikes
From: maxo [email hidden]
Date: 10/3/2004 11:29 AM US Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>

Fx199 said:

Dude, those 2-3 speed fixed gears were pretty complicated...OK dude? NOT
100 YEARS AGO!
There were tiny gears inside a hub...never mind.....bye

LOL, easy on the RedBull there mate.

You might very well be right about the fixed versions, but hub gearing has
been around for well over a hundred years. The classic Sturmey Archer hub
has been relatively unchanged for the last 70 years.

And those gears are not so tiny....never mind...bye

😉

😄

haha, yeah, yeah, the fixed gear part was the point I guess LOL

Fabrizio: << Out of the question, there's been too many personal issues
between me
and Bjarne Riis over the last few years. And I've never gotten along very
well with Ivan Basso, he's too vain for one thing.

The only upside with CSC would be having team osteopath Ole Kaere Foli,
it's great having someone like him on your team during a three week stage
race. >>

Yeah until he writes his tell-all book.

03 Oct 2004 15:29:01 GMT,
<[email hidden]>,

(Hunrobe) said:

Not to denigrate Cervalo but it seems you are succumbing to nationalistic
jingoism as Lotto-Domo, T-Mobile, and Rabobank all have bikes that are at least
as cool looking as CSC. <g>

bah! Their TT machines are probably made by Cervélo anyhow and just
painted in that inferior livery.
--
zk