![[Steve Bauer Caurus Mountain Bike Image]](images/caurus.jpg)
Warp back to the year 1991, and I had outgrown my old 20" wheeled CAN$100 singlespeed BMX bike (it seems that save for a lucky few, most every kid starts out cycling with a bargain basement department store bike). I was primarily motivated to have something for the freedom of getting around town myself, and maybe there'd be a little fun in it at the same time too.
So, when Canadian Tire advertised the CAN$300 Steve Bauer Caurus bike discounted to CAN$200, the stage was set (note that $200 is closer to what this bike was really worth, vs. the fake $300 "price anchor"). Budget constraints at the time ruled out a genuine bike shop bike, but quality-wise the Caurus would be about equivalent to the cheapest opening pricepoint bikes sold at a proper bike shop, and a quantum leap over my previous BMX bike. After some negotiation with my Dad, I paid 50%, and he paid the other 50%.
I only owned this bike for 3 years, and I probably didn't exceed 1000 km total over that time. What I remember most is the freedom it gave me to go around town myself in my teenage years. Outside of the winter months, the Caurus took me to wherever I wanted to go - school, my part time work, the library, shopping, and to friends' places.
I ended up selling this bike to an acquaintance, in order to fund my foray into the world of road bicycles. A year after that, I found out that the bike no longer existed. It was involved in a collision with a car - the rider was OK, but the Caurus was damaged beyond repair. The rider was out at night with no lights - quite frankly, one of the dumbest things you can do, and an undeserving end to the bike. Rest in peace Caurus; thanks for serving me well and being the bike that got me hooked on cycling for life.
What (was) the Caurus? Who's Steve Bauer?
The Caurus was part of a Steve Bauer line sold during the early 1990s exclusively at Canadian Tire (also affectionally known amongst Canadians as "Crappy Tire", for which Canadian Tire famously lost their hilarious flailing attempt at taking the www.crappytire.com domain registered to a private citizen). Canadians of course will know that Canadian Tire is Canada's largest mass retailer (still bigger than Wally World).
Steve Bauer was a professional Canadian road cyclist. For a country where most sporting activities rank far behind (ice) hockey in mindshare, Steve Bauer was one of Canada's most successful pro cyclists. The Steve Bauer bike line was Canadian Tire's "higher end" offering. In 1991, this meant that the Steve Bauer bike was an entry-level bike in reality, but still a good step up in quality over the prevailing cheapie CAN$125-$150 bikes of the day.
As is typical for all mass retailer sold bikes, my Caurus was both poorly and incorrectly assembled. I even knew the kid who assembled the bikes sold there; I'm sure he was a nice guy, but the workmanship illustrated a lack of proper knowledge and training at that store. To be fair, poor assembly is the hallmark of all mass retailers, and is one of the major reasons why buying a bike from a mass retailer, for most lay consumers, is a sub optimal move.
As it turned out, those assembly mistakes formed the basis of my start in bike mechanics, and helped further develop analytical and problem solving skills at a formative age. I watched with some bewilderment as most of my peers didn't bother trying to figure out what was wrong with their bikes, electing to curse at them instead...
Most people buy their bikes through mass retailers, but the true good quality bikes are considered specialty items. These are mainly sold at independent bike shops. Some, to be fair, are found at a middle ground in the large sporting goods chains (still have to watch out for crappy assembly here though).
![[Spinning Canadian Tire Logo]](images/canadianTireSpinLogo.gif)
That said, Canadian Tire remains as the nation's #1 bike retailer, and nowadays they've expanded their product selections a tad higher up market. Around the 2000s, Canadian Tire began selling the mass market version of Schwinn (now owned by the Canadian company Dorel Industries). In 2004 they added Raleigh as the mid-line brand (previously sold only at bike shops). The Raleigh brand was dropped in 2009, and the CCM brand returned to fill the mid price points. In 2019, Canadian Tire purchased the Canadian rights to Raleigh, a major strategic move to make it an in-house brand. Raleigh branded bikes are once again in store for the 2021 season.
There is a bit of overlap in terms of what a mass retailer sells at their highest price points, and what a specialty retailer sells at their entry level price points. However, the specialty retailer actually knows a thing or two about bikes, and bikes sold there remain far superior in their assembly; plus, you actually have after-sales service and support available. Specialty shops also offer a far greater range of sizes than the 1 or 2 sizes mass retailers typically offer per model (proper bike sizing and fitting is one of the key elements to long term success). Although I recognize that there are circumstances where a low mass market price is very hard to ignore, your best bet in the long run has always been purchasing from a specialty bike shop.
The Caurus was the entry model in the Steve Bauer mountain bike line. Like the typical annoying SUV/CUV of today, the Caurus was mountain bike in style, but urbanized in equipment. Most mountain bikes sold never see serious dirt, and the Caurus was equipped in a manner better suited to city riding (back then, there were no specialized categories of so-called "comfort" or "urban/city" bikes).
In the 1991 era, what else in this price range but genuine straight gauge 1020 high-tensile steel. The front fork was rigid (front suspension was only just being introduced as a new technology). The frame was heavy, and it rode like it. Despite a large 20" frame with plenty of room, there were bosses for only one water bottle cage, though I suppose there could have been zero (and I guess they figured nobody would want to ride this thing for more than two hours at a time, tops...). The complete bike weighed in at something around 14.5 kg (32 lbs); heavy by normal standards, but a flyweight compared to the prevailing cheap bikes of the day (16-18 kg/35-40 lbs).
Araya aluminum alloy, a big plus. Big weight savings and real stopping ability in wet weather (vs. the sprinkle-a-little-water-on-'em and kill yourself steel rims). Tires? Kenda 26"x1.75" gumwall, with a small understated Steve Bauer logo (no cheesy juvenile 1/4 wheel circumference logos back then). They had a thin continuous centre strip and small side knobs that made them smooth and quiet rolling on pavement, but slippery in anything off-road beyond rolling hardpack (which on balance, this trade-off was in the correct proportion). 36 non-stainless steel spokes, and non-oversize JoyTech nutted steel hubs rounded out the wheel spec.
Nowadays, aluminum rims are standard fare, even on the cheapest of the cheap bikes. At the Caurus' price point today, at least a front QR hub is expected.
Coming from a singlespeed bike, moving to a terrain-conquering multi gear drivetrain (with indexed shifting at that!) was a transformational experience. The Caurus came equipped with Shimano Tourney 18-speed, the 2nd cheapest indexing system in Shimano's product line at the time. Shimano FD-TY20 front and rear RD-TY20 derailleurs, super-smooth shifting Hyperglide 6-speed 14-28T freewheel, Uniglide chain, Sugino triple crank, and SL-MY20 top mount thumbshifters formed the drivetrain. Though considered retro today, I still like the classic thumbshifters. Today's trigger and grip shifters hold a modest ergonomic edge, but those old thumbies were simple, cheap, and reliable. They worked.
Up front, the Sugino triple crank gave real off-roadable low gearing, enabling riding up steep trails. It was funny how easy it was leaving friends riding double-chainringed "mountain bikes" behind (well, when the Caurus' rear tire traction didn't give up that is). The arms were aluminum alloy, and the 48/38/28T steel chainrings were actually replaceable (rare at this pricepoint - even more so today!). The pedals were a generic plastic type, but worked fine and were toe clip compatible (something that I did add in my 2nd season).
Courtesy Chang Star, the Caurus had those newfangled cantilever brakes, instead of the common scary thin-caliper sidepulls that looked like they would bend right off the frame under hard braking. The cantilevers and alloy rims gave nice stopping performance compared to what I had been used to. The brake system had heavy steel cantilever arms, complete with full-length plastic levers (remember those?), and rather basic brake pads. Everytime the rims got wet, the pads would quickly dissolve into a black liquid mess covering the rims and staining the tire sidewalls. To be fair, most brake pads have the same problem, but the black mess was a definite annoyance, as I would at times get caught out in the rain when commuting.
Other notables include a matching red painted Kalloy aluminum internal cable routed hi-rise stem (a dumb early 90s idea that made it necessary to re-adjust the front brake everytime the stem height was changed), a red painted steel flat handlebar, a steel seatpost w/bolted clamp, and a white Steve Bauer branded foam Viscount saddle.
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