While walking about town, one of my favorite things to do is to puruse the commuter bikes locked up outside stores and study some of the gems being ridden around. Sometimes, I come across a really special bike, and marvel at the notion that the bike’s owner might not have any idea what piece of history they’re riding. For example, I saw an old Vitus, decked out in 7-speed Dura-Ace, beat up and locked up to a lamppost in Ballard yesterday, it’s owner no-doubt unaware that Sean Kelly taught the world the upper limit of the word Hardman aboard that same bike. Then there was the Concorde painted up in PDM colors, which to my knowledge was never available in the States, so I can only marvel at how that awesome piece found it’s way to be locked up outside a cupcake bakery (also in Ballard).
This past Friday night, I was walking by Prost on my way home from the local market when a full-carbon Bottecchia caught my eye. This was obviously not a commuter bike, this was a full-fledged race bike complete with the Dura-Ace 7900 groupo. Had this been a steel steed – like the Vitus – it would have occupied a completely different place in my mind, but I was surprised to find almost nothing interesting about this machine, despite the considerable significance of the name it bore on it’s downtube.
It got me wondering what it is about the old, handmade frames that captures my imagination so. Am I little more than a hopeless romantic, trying in vain to recapture the appeal cycling had when I was a younger lad? Am I the Jack White of cycling, trying to get on with Rule #5 and pretend technology does little to make us better cyclists and instead just makes everything too easy? As much as I’d like to think that’s the case, I also know that I would never give up any of my 10 cogs, brake-mounted shifters, deep-section rims, and stiff frame. The undeniable fact is that when it comes down to my Number One Bike, it’s Rule #43 all the way. Besides, Rule #10 implies that all that stuff doesn’t make riding a bike easier, it just makes us go faster.
I think the bottom line is that as more and more bicycle companies outsource their manufacturing operations to countries like China and Taiwan, the allure of the “hand-built bicycle” diminishes. My steel and aluminum Bianchis were hand-built in Italy, by an Italian framebuilder who cut the tubes, placed them in a jig, and welded them – making little mistakes along the way. Each of those bikes are completely unique and have a different ride quality from every other bike in the world; that’s the magic of “hand made”. The very top-end carbon frames still have this same quality to them since the sheets of fiber are laid into the mold by hand and, even though they’re built in Asia, the frames are all still slightly different from one another and you can still sense the human intervention in the assembly line when you study the frame.
But what of the the companies who know and care little for carbon and have turned to producing frames made of it purely to satisfy market demand? In this case, what does Bottecchia know of engineering a frame not made of tubes, but of fibers? These companies excelled at picking steel tubesets and identifying ideal geometries through experimentation, not engineering. To them, frame building was an art form, not a science. Seeing this carbon bike in front of Prost, the first place my mind jumped to was the stories of factories in China that produce identical frames for countless bands, each differing only in the address on the shipping labels.
I suppose that’s why those old bikes laying in dusty piles in the forgotten corners of good bike shops or leaning up against a downtown lamppost hold such intrigue; each are a work of art, with their own history hidden inside their tubes waiting to be retold.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
His name is Barry Miller. He raced through the 70's to 80's, and worked in well known bike shops during this time also. While in Harvard, MA; California, and Nashville, TN he saw the MTN bike explosion happen, has a Fat Chance Cycles MTN Bike with no suspension, just a Girvin Flexstem. He kills us on the trails.
He can recall PRO races from the 80's with no problem, relating Sean Kelly and Hinault to today's heroes.
I think I have footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGozkksBhOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TxRm6eTC_E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROp-r1CX6zQ
@wvcycling
Wow, mate. That guy is hard core. I love the old steel hardtails. It seems to me all the evolution is mountain bike technology since 1992 has gone into going downhill and neglects going uphill. Me? I am all about technical single track and steep climbs; I am riding a 1992 Bridgestone MB-0 with a Softride stem and Thudbuster seatpost. You may laugh, but that stuff works really, really well, and my bike is only about 17 pounds.
@WVCycling:
The Fat Chance bikes were damn cool. I was a huge fan "back in the day" and still own two of 'em:
http://yoeddy.blogspot.com/2009/01/personal-rides-fat-chance.html
http://yoeddy.blogspot.com/2009/08/personal-rides-fat-chance-team-yo-eddy.html
@Frank:
You need to demo some new mountain bikes. They go up and down hills pretty damn well, even with 5 inches of suspension front and rear. Hardtails are fun though and I've switched back. I'm digging my new 29er hardtail:
http://yoeddy.blogspot.com/2010/04/sette-razzo-29er-big-wheels-arrive.html
Also, dude - not sure about a 17 pound Zip, unless you've pumped the frame tubes with helium. Those bikes weighed 23 pounds stock. I know this 'cause I owned one. Your exact Zip as a matter of fact (!) :
http://yoeddy.blogspot.com/2009/05/personal-rides-bridgestone-mb-0.html
Great post and responses. Fun stuff.
@Joe
Hmmmmmmm, oh yes Joe, that is one fine-ass Colnago. That is the fork that sent me on a straight fork blade course for the rest of my life. I fondled a carbon/plastic Colnago in a shop and it left me cold but this frame/fork combo is the real thing. And years back a friend had a Ti bi-tubo, twin down tubes, very strange frame, it's the only one I've ever seen. Is this the workhorse you ride all over Southern England and leave outside of pubs?
@Dan O
It was a nice trip down memory lane to see the Fat Chance. Early on (can't remember the year) Chris Chance was nice enough to let me use one in an experiment to see if it might give an advantage going up Mt. Washington. I was not fit that year (I think big John was with me) and the hope was these new fangled mountain bikes would give some sort of advantage! I remember a time like 1 1/2 hours, nope it was a great bike but it did not hill climb like the above Raleigh 753 (1 hr. 5 mins). The really fun part was they still let you ride down so the Fat Chance was worth lugging up cause the 8 miles down was a blast. Maybe they stopped the riding down because the old ladies might have complained about being passed by bikes going 45+mph?
@Dan O
I'll try a few out - interested in the 29er thing for sure, but I'm just too in love with your old Zip.
The Zips actually weighed 19 pounds stock, but even with that, you're right about it not being 17 pounds. I must have used the same scale I use to weigh myself to get that number (I use a "happy scale"). I think it's more like 20-21 as-is. Those original handlbars and saddles were made of lead. I put a carbon bar on there and had to tie the front wheel to the ground to keep the front end grounded..
@Rob
And the Legend of Rob thickens. Jesus Christ. You knew Chris Chance? You rode the climb in 1hr 5min? Even today, that would have you in the top ten.
@frank
I believe Rob rode to 2nd place on the stripped down Raleigh that year. Oh, he was peaking. He suffered much less than Gianni who suffered like jesus on the cross on that horrid climb. Not a place for Big Pussies.
Anyway, getting back to where all this started off ... outstanding photo, Frank. (Love the guy in the background holding his drink bottles in the air, ensuring it's not just the four show ponies on the front preserved for posterity.) What are the details?
Hah am I literally the only reply to your amazing writing!