I like this as well. - it’s got everything: public urination, dirty french rivals, traffic being held up…
In 1928 Opperman won the Bol d’Or 24-hour classic, paced by tandems on a 500m velodrome in Paris. Both his bikes had been sabotaged by the chains being filed so they failed. His manager had to find a replacement, his interpreter’s bicycle which had heavy mudguards and wheels and upturned handlebars. Opperman rode the bike for 17 hours without dismounting. He was 17 laps of the track behind the leader but after 10 hours rose to second place to Achille Souchard, who had twice been national road champion.
Opperman punctured after 23½ hours and got off his bike for the first time since the broken chain. “He had met Nature’s lesser calls as he pedalled, to the roar of the indelicate crowd”, said a report. Opperman won by 30 minutes to the cheers of 50,000 yelling “Allez Oppy”. His manager suggested he continue to beat the 1000 km record. Opperman declined but his trainer and the crowd persuaded. He cycled 1h 19m more alone to beat the record.
He became enough of a hero in France that "a gendarme in Montmartre held up the traffic and waved him through in solitary splendour with the cry: “Bonjour, bonne chance, Oppy!” Opperman had a hero’s welcome when he returned to Melburn.
‘Oppy won the 1931 Non Stop Paris-Brest-Paris tour (726 miles, 1166 kilometres), breaking all previous records over the distance in the time of 49 hours 23 minutes. After this win he was idolised in the French press and by the French public.’
nope: tried to get some off my aunty when I was down south. She was all like, oh the cycling club history book is at the bottom of the cupboard… not getting it out… faaark.
Alex618 said "malvern stars are a bit gay but for an entry level race bike …. " and “anyway, malvern stars are known as a bit gay because of the kmart type bikes they branded in the 80s and 90s - the brand name will never come back from that”
I disagree. I think the brand has already come back a long way from that. The high-end Oppy road bikes are the ongoing salvation of the brand’s credibility. You could almost pretend the ‘K-Mart bikes’ of the 80s and early 90s never happened. Malvern Star was owned by foreign companies during that time – first Philips, and then Raleigh. It appears that those companies tried to milk the Malvern Star name for all it was worth without any regard for its future. Malvern Star returned to Australian ownership in 1992 under Pacific Brands (which also owns Repco Cycles).
The current challenge for Malvern Star would seem to be building a credible brand that stretches from price-sensitive low-end kiddie ‘pavement’ bikes to cost-is-no-object full carbon SRAM Red time trial machines (and includes MTBs, hybrids, ‘comfort’ bikes, commuters, single speeds, womens’ bikes, DragStars, retro cruisers, etc). I reckon that Malvern Star needs to keep Oppy as its premium road sub-brand, and adopt new sub brands for different market segments. There are certainly enough revered but defunct old Australian bike brands for that purpose. How about a Speedwell MTB, or a Swansea hybrid, or a Super Elliot pista? And how about using the Repco brand for commuters and SS bikes (anyone for a new Repco Superlight single speed)?
I also really don’t like the “bit gay” phrase. I know its meant to be a hip, butch, un-PC phrase — but its also fairly insulting. That phrase seems intended to convey some sort of limp-wristed, ineffectual, Diet Coke, fashion-victim image. I know a lot of gay people who aren’t the least bit like that, and I know a few hetro ‘hipsters’ who are.
Words change meaning over time: Gay used to mean happy, then it meant homosexual, and it’s now overlapped into meaning a bit shit and lame. It happens. Sure it’s still not PC to use it in the derogatory sense, but I don’t see any point in getting your knickers in a bunch about it.
As for the whole bike branding thing: it’s got some merit. Pacific brands own a lot of classic bike names, it’d be nice to see them used wisely. The Oppy name has sort of held up for Malvern Star, and I’d for sure ride a Repco superlite cross bike. If I was in the market the oppy roadie would be on my list of considerations.
The problem is Pacific Brands suck. Next month they’ll cease BONDS being made in Australia, offshore the work to Asia, sack approx. 2,00 workers all while the execs have awarded themselves bonuses of millions.
