A nice bicycle parts story

Our regular customer has an extensive collection of vintage and antique bicycles. He called this morning looking for some 26 x 1.375" tires. These were the US decimal series 'lightweight' size in the 1930s through 1960s.  I commiserated and warned him they have become quite rare and expensive. We also chatted about this storm which has dumped six inches of heavy wet slush, and hasn't stopped snowing since yesterday morning. He's 150 miles south and has less snow. After his recent surgery, his neighbor lady has been clearing his walk.
He just called back to say that he was lamenting the tire situation when his neighbor offered that her antique store had once been a hardware store and there were 'some old tires' in the basement. Sure enough, out of a dozen crepe wrapped Carlysle USA tires, five are the unobtanium size 26 x 1.375".
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971