Eugene A. Sloane 1916 ~ 2008

[fiamme red]

I'm very sorry to see this obituary. The Complete Book of Bicycling was the real beginning of my cycling education.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/chi-hed_sloaneapr01,0,7770360.story

[Kane]

In the days of Diettro Pietro, fiamme reds, unicanitor (sp?) and nuevo record, there was also Eugene Sloan who did for biking what Colin Fletcher did for walking.

In the days of his first edition a high end Italian bike cost $200. Buy the time I purchased my first 'good bike' an Ital Vega Super Speciale inflation had driven the price up to $550. The Raleigh Pro was $450 on sale but they only had a 23 inch frame.

Eugene Sloan looked over my shoulder with the sage advice from his book. I rode with my shoes for a month before I brought the cleats to the shoe repair guy so that he could hammer the nails holding the cleats.

In those days it was very uncool to ride a bike and believe me the babes did not turn their heads as they drove past.

Nevertheless, Sloan was the inspiration for a generation of bike riders in America. I'm glad he lasted this long and I'm sure he had a great life.

Cheers,

Kane

[A.L.Breguet]

nice tribute obituary.
I wore my cop[y out.
super champion, mafacs, 531, wool shorts, crappy paint jobs, ah those were the days....

[PK9]

Very sad news.
I met him way back in the mid-70s when I was in high school in Evanston -- he was a very nice guy.

[merckx]

I still have the book. It is nestled in the bookshelf between The Stranger and the poetry of William Carlos Williams. I must have read that book about a thousand times when I was a kid. What a great book in that great time.

[N Sloane]

I have been impressed by all of the posts and mentions throughout the internet on the death of my father, Gene Sloane. My older brother is blown away, he never realized the impact Gene had on the sport or more accurately, that Gene still holds such a good feeling in the bicycle community. I have been touched, amused and impressed by the tidbits that people have shared about The Complete Book of Bicycling. One favorite was a post on Velo News; the fellow noted one of his favorite quotes from Gene "There is something about a man on a bicycle that brings out the worst in a dog." The poster went on to say that he had the broken pumps to prove it. I thought that quote was quintessentially Gene, though.

Thanks, again

Nick Sloane

[wasfast]

It's cool that you can learn more about him from the public.

I'm yet another kid from the bike boom era. There weren't all that many bicycle books in the library at that time, at least with some depth and current info. The Complete Book of Bicycling got plenty of "open time" from me reading it. I must have read it 4-5 times.

A true milestone book.