Then and Now(ish) - Part One

   There isn't much to write about regarding current build projects, as they are on hold due to part searches and paint curing. I also have a bit of a full house, so I don’t want to start any new builds until I clear some out. I was fortunate to make a couple of sales lately, just in time for some interesting bikes to come my way, two that were major bargain buys, and a few customer projects as well. More details are coming about those in the weeks to come.

   So, thinking of a topic about which to write, I was considering a feature on iconic bike designs. When searching for some photos, I noticed several online articles on a similar subject, so I decided to expand the focus and provide a look at the classic bikes and then some of their modern descendants. As I kept finding more bicycles I wanted to include in my list, I realized this entry will have to come in two parts!

   Because many of these bicycles are my all-time favorites, you may have seen one or two before in this blog, including this classic ridden by Marco Pantani during his magical 1998 season, when the Italian legend pulled off the Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double. The Mega Pro XL featured an aluminum frame with carbon fiber fork, and included wispy Campagnolo electron wheels that made it easy for Pantani to dance up mountains.

   2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of Pantani’s double, and Bianchi is marking the event by releasing a special edition, all-carbon Specialissima in a paint scheme similar to the one used by the Mercatone Uno team led by “Il Pirata” that season.

   Sticking with Bianchi for another pair, here is a 1967 steel classic ridden by Felice Gimondi, who won each of the Grand Tours and several classics during his career. I’ve always been picky about the celeste bikes I build, whether it is the color shade or the font used in the logo, and this is about as good as it gets!

   Looking then at the Oltre XR4 CV, ridden to victory by Dylan Groenewegen on the Champs-Élysées during this year’s Tour, the changes in technology and design are evident. The aero-shaped carbon tubes and deep rim wheels create quite a contrast, and I find it a bit sad not to see this bike in Campagnolo gruppo.

   Spaniard Miguel Indurain won five Tours de France, many on the strength of overwhelmingly dominant time trial performances. Before the UCI enacted rules on bicycle design, Pinarello created the carbon fiber Espada in 1994 with aid of Formula One auto racing designer Ing Giacchi.

   With the new rules in place, the 2013 Graal might look like a step backwards in design, but there are subtle tweaks, like the location of the front brake and electronic shifting, and major changes in (carbon) composition of components and wheels that actually make this a faster bicycle. Note: some of you might wonder why I’m not including bicycles by a certain pro squad that is now the exclusive user of Pinarello equipment, and my response would be, “I don’t do Team Sky!”

   Pinarello is now the brand on which the most Tours de France have been won, and Indurain’s 1993 Banesto team bicycle, made with Oria steel tubing, certainly helped “Big Mig” get the job done. The mix of Campagnolo C-Record components is interesting, particularly the substitution for the notoriously finicky Delta brakes.

   Seeing Alejandro Valverde ride the “Prince of Spain” bicycle to an incredible opening stage victory in the 2008 Tour was my first taste of the curvy Onda fork and chainstays. A visit in 2010 to the Lazzaretti bike shop in Rome had me slobbering over racks of Pinarello frames, and I immediately went on a search for an eventual FP2 purchase when I returned home.

   Cycling legend Sean Kelly is a favorite of mine, as is his Vitus 979, which I’ve used in several build projects the last few years. However, here is a photo of the Irishman on his way to victory in the 1987 Vuelta a España, aboard a Vitus CK9 “Carbone”. Much like the 979, it included aluminum pegged lugs onto which tubes where mechanically and chemically bonded, but the CK9’s tubes were made of carbon fiber, instead of aluminum.

   Vitus bicycles live on, with “King Kelly” as a major spokesman, and here is the company’s full carbon 2015 Vitesse EVO. This model was used by the An Post-Chain Reaction continental team that competed in the UCI Europe Tour.

   As discussed in earlier blog entries, Mario Cipollini helped to put Cannondale bicycles on the map. The CAAD3 (then only had one “A”) aluminum R4000 was cutting edge and inspired another project of mine. In the photo below, the legendary Italian sprinter is sporting the maglia rosa and riding a special pink version of the bike as leader of the 1997 Giro d’Italia.

   Cannondale first experimented with bonding carbon fiber and aluminum tubes in its 2005 Six13 (currently for sale) and eventually moved onto full carbon frames. The 2016 SuperSix EVO was quite the eye-catcher for the Cannondale Factory Racing team – now if they could just get rid of those butt-ugly POC helmets!

   The grandfather of today’s bicycles with compact geometry and gearing is the 1999 Giant TCR ridden by the super-talented Laurent Jalabert and his ONCE teammates. Not only was the bike stiffer, lighter and used less material, but it could also be made to fit more people in fewer factory sizes. The Frenchmen provided the innovative bike design tremendous exposure during the latter part of his career, winning the climber’s polka-dot jersey twice at the Tour de France, and amazingly claiming the sprinter’s green jersey, polka-dot jersey and overall title at the Vuelta in 1995!

   The somewhat clunky looks of the original TCR are long gone, as Giant is now known for its developments in aerobike design. The current iteration of the TCR “Advanced”, ridden by Team Sunweb, showed its versatility last season, as Tom Dimoulin won last season’s Giro d’Italia and Michael Matthews took home the sprinter’s green jersey at the Tour de France.

Tune in for Part Two next week...