Back in the mid '70's I was living in Butler, New Jersey and since I was working in NYC, I decided to pick up a decent road bike to put the local hills to good use. There was a bike shop down in the Pompton Plains area right on Rt. 23, and I stopped in because I heard the guys running the shop were semi-serious racers and they customized bikes. Sounded better than buying a bike at toys r us lol.
Anyway, I was checking out the bikes in the shop and the owner showed me a few Paris Sport bikes that would suit my 5-10 frame and 165 pound weight. One really caught my eye, a metallic gold beauty with black highlighted frame lugs. The owner said they had "built" the bike at the shop for an aspiring racer/trainer. He noted that the "sew up" tires were great as long as I avoided road debris and potholes. Back then, a "custom built" bike for around $400.00 seemed like a lot, but remember gas was $ .32/gallon!
I wound up buying the bike and alternating between riding and running for exercise. In 1977 we moved to Massachusetts and I really got caught up in serious running and very little riding. Over the next seven years I mostly ran... 12 miles every morning, 18-20 on weekends when I wasn't competing. Ran seven marathons, probably a hundred 10Ks or shorter races. Then I had a serious motorcycle accident in late '84 that wrecked my knee and sort of killed my running career. I got back on the Paris Sport a year later and road it for about a year then hung it up in the shed.
My knee injury was pretty severe, had two more surgeries over the years, then finally a couple years ago I had a full knee replacement. In the interim I had bought a full suspension mountain bike, but my doctor suggested that I stick to street riding. So I'm selling the mountain bike, thinking of selling the Paris Sport, as tweaking it with new regular rims and tires would still have me riding a technological dinosaur! Probably should've sold it years ago, but I had/have this sentimental attachment to it and even though it just hangs in the shed, I usually ignore any comments by my wife that I should get rid of it if I'm not gonna use it. Maybe I'll just pull it off the rack and polish up the aluminum!
Anyway, I was checking out the bikes in the shop and the owner showed me a few Paris Sport bikes that would suit my 5-10 frame and 165 pound weight. One really caught my eye, a metallic gold beauty with black highlighted frame lugs. The owner said they had "built" the bike at the shop for an aspiring racer/trainer. He noted that the "sew up" tires were great as long as I avoided road debris and potholes. Back then, a "custom built" bike for around $400.00 seemed like a lot, but remember gas was $ .32/gallon!
I wound up buying the bike and alternating between riding and running for exercise. In 1977 we moved to Massachusetts and I really got caught up in serious running and very little riding. Over the next seven years I mostly ran... 12 miles every morning, 18-20 on weekends when I wasn't competing. Ran seven marathons, probably a hundred 10Ks or shorter races. Then I had a serious motorcycle accident in late '84 that wrecked my knee and sort of killed my running career. I got back on the Paris Sport a year later and road it for about a year then hung it up in the shed.
My knee injury was pretty severe, had two more surgeries over the years, then finally a couple years ago I had a full knee replacement. In the interim I had bought a full suspension mountain bike, but my doctor suggested that I stick to street riding. So I'm selling the mountain bike, thinking of selling the Paris Sport, as tweaking it with new regular rims and tires would still have me riding a technological dinosaur! Probably should've sold it years ago, but I had/have this sentimental attachment to it and even though it just hangs in the shed, I usually ignore any comments by my wife that I should get rid of it if I'm not gonna use it. Maybe I'll just pull it off the rack and polish up the aluminum!
