chas talks story

The great thing about riding with Charles is break time when we stop for lunch or a bite. He always has some interesting stories to tell from back in the day. Here're a couple...

"Portrait of the artist as a young man ( ~32 yrs). This is a 73cm frame that I built back in 1976. I used heavy gage Columbus forks, chain stays and top tube. The rest was aircracft quality straight gage 4130 tubing. That's a meter stick I'm holding. The bike had a 38" standover height."

"Picture of me after the 1976 Sandia Crest Race in Albuquerque, NM - 7,500' to 10,600' feet in 25 miles, most of it in the last 9 miles. The bike is a custom Gus Betat frame that I had built for me in 1975. I wanted a bike for climbing and that's what they built for me. With the 39" wheelbase that's about all it did! The whole bike weighed about 20 Lbs. with a tricked out leather saddle. We had an Ideale 90 saddle with an aluminum frame laying around the shop. The leather was trashed. We also had a Brooks Pro with broken seat rails so I married the 2 together - an aluminum framed Brooks Pro! The only things Campy on this bike were the hubs and seatpost bolt! I eventually modified the forks and changed the rear triangle on this frame. That was the beginning of my frame building. BTW, I still have that CoolGear jersey."