The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 133

World-famous Canadian bicycle racer Torchy Peden with his good, old bike the very one he rode for Canada in the 1936 Olympics. At right are the classier bikes of today. '5 1 lj IV 7 HJ By Manuel Escolt PETER KENT'S FACE has an expression that could pass for rapture and he reaches for superlatives as he describes one of the bluest of the bicycle world's blue bloods. -j "Don't tell me this isn't a work I of art," he says, caressing the grey-painted frame with its shiny chrome spearpoint lugs wrought like fine jewelry. "Look at the har-mony of lines, the flowing elegance." The object of Kent's reverence, is a Cinelli, adorned with 10-speed gears and equipment from the-; world's top manufacturers.

"I don't just SELL a Cinelli," explains Peter Kent, whose father, Paul, runs Bloor Cycle and Sports Ltd. in Toronto, probably Canada's biggest bicycle dealer. "I try to find a good home for it, someone who knows what he's getting and appreciates it. "A dollar is a dollar, I know, but I hate selling one of those machines to someone who really doesn't know what it is, doesn't know what he's getting." Kent's attitude would be understood immediately by the guys who sell Rolls-Royces or Ferraris: I mean, what's the point of selling a status symbol to a person who won't realize he's got one? The cycle craze gripping Canada has, in fact, created a new snob- bism that ranks with ownership pride in the aristocrats of the automobile world. j' Keeping up with the Joneses in 1972 could mean whizzing on a classy Italian, French or British machine an activity likely to make a $750 dent in your bank ac-count.

Or if you really wish to one-. up Joe Jones you could shell out another $250 and have Signor Cino Cinelli custom-build your bike in his Milan workshop not too far from the home of that other renowned Italian status-maker, the Ferrari. But don't expect immediate delivery. Cinellis, like Ferraris, are put together with the painstaking craftsmanship and precision that goes into assembling a $2,000 Swiss watch. Signor Cinelli, a former cycle-racing champion in Italy, per-, sonally designs the frames and pervises their construction by six craftsmen.

OK, you would like to get into the Cadillac-Lincoln Continental-Ferrari-Rolls-Royce-Alfa Romeo-" Aston Martin league of bicycles. Peter Kent is a 26-year-old graduate in political science, economics and law who' prefers to sell bikes for a living. He has been around them since birth and he's practi- cally on first-name terms with the men who build the great machines. Let him be your guide. Names to remember in the lop division are Mercier and Singer of Manuel Escott is a Toronto i France, floldsworth and Bob Jackson of England, and Cinelli and Legnano of Italy.

There is a coterie of designers and manufacturers (they'd hate that designation) who are so exclusive that even- knowledgeable people in the business have never heard of them. "Their car eauivalent would hp Jensen, Aston Martin and Lambor- ghini, I guess," said Peter. One of them is Ellis Briggs of England whose machines are al- most unobtainable because they produce so very Another is Herse of Paris who is so exclusive that he will sell only to individuals. ft 'll The larger manufacturers can ho a little snooty, too, according to Kent. "It look us two years to obtain agreement from Singer to sell his bicycles.

Actually, Singer produces only 150 machines a year.of which we get 14. Thev move fast, though. 1 when they come in. We've already sold nine of our quota in about six weeks." No dealer In his right mind would try to make a livinK from these aristocrats. The Kents, for example, have been waiting almost a year for a supply of Bob Jacksons.

The ultimate in bikesjM Peter I 'J" IThe Cinelli is not just a bicycle. It is a Cinelli. You can tell. by the harmony, the elegance and the price tag. Retail: $700.

2 The Holdsworth is one of England's two answers to the continental monopoly on aristocratic bikes. Its Canadian price is $625. 3 The Bob Jackson is England's other proud bicycle. If you can do without pedals and things, the version pictured here can be bought for $363. All dressed, it costs 4 Trie Singer, a French bike, can be bought for the same $750 you were planning to spend on a secondhand car.

The air pump is optional. 5The Botteccha'. is built by Carnielli of Italy and is a steal at $385. It comes with an empty water bottle. f.

Dealers need not apply, ever vein geis very excited aooui jnt 10 WmM Mogailiw, SfH. 9, 1972 pnliiwvt, MogoilM, Up. 9, 1973 11 freelance writer..