When 20lbs was light ...

[GuyGadois]

Going through a box of old cycling magazines I bought. I love the old ads (and those tube socks)!


1973 Bike World Magazine
https://img.skitch.com/20110321-rw4maf9m2q5p26gubfdkytwkau.jpg

[GuyGadois]

When a Serotta could be purchased at Nashbar for $270

https://img.skitch.com/20110321-qfpc2dy1fn298bsqs5bny296xu.jpg

[avalonracing]

Hmmm, the Serotta or the Nishiki??? They're both the same price... Let's see now....

[ultraman6970]

U hae to consider that many brands had top of the line and nishiki had some crazy ass fast machines, that the only ones in the market right now are just the lower end doesn't mean they did not have good stuff.

Darn, still remember those days when average was like 9 kg. Darn i'm old!

[GuyGadois]

about the size of an iPad...

https://img.skitch.com/20110321-fdyqjhn72mpwndb39xmejnjecp.jpg

[oliver1850]

.

[dancinkozmo]

...the gang at satellite industries can sure write nifty ad copy !

[AngryScientist]

thanks for the ads, nice stuff. both the prices and the weights are nostalgic.

[Fixed]

nice
thanks
cheers

[Ahneida Ride]

when 20 pounds was light, $473 was heavy.

1973 $473 now = 4730 frns (at least)

[Mark McM]

There are a number of component evolutions that have increased bicycle weight over the years:

Dual control brake/shifters ("brifters?") increased weight over downtube shifters and brake levers

Dual pivot brakes increased weight over single pivot brakes

8/9/10spd cassettes spelled the end of lightweight rims, which couldn't take the different tensions required for highly dished wheels (in the '80 350 gram tubular rims were the norm for racing, and lightweight wheels used 280 gram rims).

So far, electronic shifting systems are heavier than equivalent mechanical systems, so this may be another weight increasing evolution.

[drewski]

Alex Singer expanded his reputation for excellence by winning the 1946 Technical Trials with perhaps the lightest cyclotouring bike ever built, a machine that weighed just shy of 7 kg (15.4 lbs.) fully equipped with fenders, lights (including a battery-powered standlight), racks, even the pump, but weighed without tires (lightweight tires were difficult to find just after the war).

From the classic rendezvous site.

[old_fat_and_slow]

Getting a Serotta through trashbar for $270, WOW ! Unbelievable.

Why do I always find out about this stuff 30 years too late.


When did Serotta get away from lugged construction and go TIG?

[flydhest]

when 20 pounds was light, $473 was heavy.

1973 $473 now = 4730 frns (at least)


Ahneida is on to an important distinction. So, supposed you used the CPI as your measure of prices. If these bikes rose in price at the same rate as the overall price level, what would $473 be equivalent to in 2011 dollars?

$2280.

How much would you pay for a 20 pound bike that had 10 gears and no brifters or indexed shifters, but that was brand new, so there was no scarcity value or "collectible" value?

http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

[false_Aest]

*** is telex?

[biker72]

I think a Schwinn Varsity in 1973 was approaching 40 pounds.

[roydyates]

*** is telex?
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telex

It was an international network of teleprinters used by businesses through the 70's and 80's. I assumed it died with the emergence of fax but wikipedia thinks it still exists!

[russ46]

avalonracing
Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Baltimore
Posts: 2,126

Hmmm, the Serotta or the Nishiki??? They're both the same price... Let's see now....

And I bit for two Nishiki's. In hindsight, would have given anything for Google being available at that time!

[Bob Ross]

I think a Schwinn Varsity in 1973 was approaching 40 pounds.


I got my first geared bike in 1970 or '71: A Schwinn Varsity Sport. Rode it all through junior high, high school, and college. Never weighed it, but my friends used to make fun of how heavy my bike was around '76 or '77
when they started showing up on these super-lightweight Atala bikes

...which weighed 28 lbs!

[Fixed]

one of the best things about the old days .. wheels every wheel fit every bike .
made wheel changes easy
cheers

[MadRocketSci]

cpi shmee-p-i

in 1973 about 5 ounces of gold....

or 7000 FRN's now...

[Ray]

I got my first geared bike in 1970 or '71: A Schwinn Varsity Sport. Rode it all through junior high, high school, and college. Never weighed it, but my friends used to make fun of how heavy my bike was around '76 or '77 when they started showing up on these super-lightweight Atala bikes

...which weighed 28 lbs!

I skipped the Varsity and went for the Le Tour in high school. Rode that thing everywhere. It was much lighter than the Varsity, probably came in under 40!

-Ray

[Ralph]

It averages out. My first Schwinn Chrome 15 speed Paramount weighed about 25 lbs and I weighed 150. Now my bikes are under 20 lbs, and I'm 160.