I had a much-welcomed visit from my friend Brendan last weekend. It had been way too long since our last get-together, and we had a good time catching up on various subjects. The conversation always comes back to cycling and bicycle projects, and he had brought along a beautiful Bottecchia bicycle frame in the black and white Malvor team colors from 1983.
Brendan has excellent taste, along with a desire to trick out his machines with components that sometimes seem more like jewelry. It may be a thrifty streak in me, but maybe it goes along with my feeling that everything in my collection should be rideable and not for display, that my collection stresses function over form (ugh, sounds like I'm delving back into my early architectural studies).
In any case, we both have some really rare stuff, and I joked that, if we combined our collections, we could open a small cycling museum. Lately I've been bogged down with repair work, and the erratic spring weather hasn't allowed me a whole lot of interesting rides. Excuse me if I recycle a bit of info you may have already seen, if you are a longtime regular reader, but I thought it would be fun to set up this blog entry like a tour of this imaginary museum.
The built-up Bottecchia will be featured in an upcoming blog entry, but it would be the newest exhibit in our walk through the hallways. As always, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them:
The Italian Malvor-Bottecchia team existed from 1983 to 1990, and this frameset, constructed of Columbus SL tubing, reflects the colors of the debut team. Although not initially loaded with big stars (pictured is Swiss rider, Robert Dill-Bundi, who won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and Tour of Romandie), in later years the squad included legends like Giuseppe Saronni, Mauro Gianetti and Franco Ballerini. This bicycle is (will be) built up with Campagnolo Super Record components, many with tre-colori painted engravings!
This
1989 Eddy Merckx Century in Hitachi team colors, is just like the one the Belgian star Claude Criquielion rode to victory during that season’s La Flèche Wallonne. Although the team bike would have been outfitted in Mavic components, this version features Campagnolo C-Record
gruppo – the stuff the owner lusted after in catalogs when he was a teen during that era. However, it is equipped with the handlebars, saddle and pedals that Claude used.
Although many of cycling's biggest stars, such as Merckx (pictured with Ugo De Rosa himself), Argentin, Motta, and Moser rode De Rosa bicycles to victory, the bicycles were often secret custom jobs, eventually badged up in the colors of team sponsors. This
De Rosa Professional SLX from the mid-1980s is equipped in a beautiful Campagnolo C-Record group, 3T cockpit and Mavic wheels.
Belgian star Roger de Vlaeminck won every one of the five Monuments, including FOUR victories of Paris-Roubaix. Although he was best known for riding Gios bicycles, a special
Colnago RDV tribute version of their Master model was produced in the early 1980s. This one was slightly modified and repainted, perhaps for a small pro team. It has been outfitted in more modern Campagnolo components for performance on the road, and the #27 raceplate represents the number de Vlaeminck wore during his last victory in Roubaix.
Our musuem directors are big fans of Irish legend Sean Kelly, and this bicycle is a replica of the machine used in the earlier part of his career, though at this point he had already won both the Tour de France green jersey and Paris-Nice twice, as well as the Tour of Lombardy. The
Vitus 979, featuring aluminum tubes chemically and mechanically bonded to cast aluminum lugs, has been badged up in Sem-France Loire team livery of 1982-83, and includes Mavic SSC components.
Our first step into the more modern wing of the museum finds this 2012
Cannondale SuperSix 5 in the colors of the Liquigas-Cannondale team. The squad during that time was loaded with stars like Peter Sagan (pictured), Vincenzo Nibali, Ivan Basso and Elia Viviani. The bike is equipped with a reliable Shimano Ultegra group and Mavic Cosmic wheels.
Swiss great Fabian Cancellara
excelled in the classics, winning Paris-Roubaix, Ronde van Vlaanderen and
Strade Bianche, EACH three times! He also won four world titles and two Olympic
gold medals in the time trial and holds the record for the most days in the
Tour’s yellow jersey (29) without ever winning the overall title. The 2008 Cervelo
Soloist, is the bicycle Cancellara rode to victory in that season’s
Milano-San Remo. The bike has SRAM Force drivetrain, 3T stem and fork and Zipp 30 wheels.
Although this 1999
Look KG 231 is in an attractive gold/raw carbon scheme and not team colors, it is the same model used by that season's Crédit Agricole squad. Their roster was loaded with stars like multiple Tour de France stage winners Jens Voigt (of "shut up legs" fame), Pierrick Fédrigo, and Chris Boardman, as well as two Paris-Roubaix champs in Stuart O'Grady and Magnus Bäckstedt. A young Thor Hushovd was also present, before his Tour green jerseys, classic wins and World Championship made him a household name.
The legendary Alejandro Valverde had an amazing 133 pro victories, some of which came into his early 40s! This 2008
Pinarello Prince is a replica of the bike his Caisse d'Epargne team rode during his stint in the yellow jersey during that season's Tour de France. Valverde won the 2009 Vuelta a España and had twenty top ten Grand Tours finishes, but he is probably best known as the king of the Belgian Ardennes, having won La Flèche Wallonne a record five times and Liège–Bastogne–Liège four. The Spanish star had already set a record of six podium finishes at the World Championships before finally claiming the title in 2018.
Saeco squads from 1996-2004 were loaded with talent, and this 2002
Cannondale R2000 Si proudly shows the team colors! Ivan Gotti, Gilberto Simoni (pictured) and Damiano Cunego totaled five Giro d’Italia and three Tour of Lombardy titles while in the Saeco lineup. Youngsters eventually moved on to lead other teams, such as Paolo Savoldelli, who won the Giro twice, and Cadel Evans, who won the Tour de France and a World Championship. Unfortunately, the team may be best remembered for stars like Mario Cipollini and Danilo Di Luca, who won tons of races, but led very troubled lives. The bike has an insteresting blend of Ultegra and Campagnolo stock parts.
Technology used in the construction of the 1983
Peugeot Y-10FC provides a nice transition back to the vintage machines. Essentially a collaboration between Vitus and Peugeot, which involved aluminum lugs, much like Vitus' 979 and Carbone bicycles of the time, mechanically and chemically bonded to Peugeot’s specially designed carbon tubes. The company definitely had the mountain climbers, such as Robert Millar (pictured), on the Peugeot-Shell pro team in mind when they built this frameset! The bicycle features full Mavic SSC group of the period.
Sean Kelly won an astounding 193 professional races, including nine of cycling's Monuments, seven consecutive Paris-Nice victories from 1982-88 and a win in the 1988 Vuelta a España. These days the Irishman's knowledge and sense of humor shine during his color commentary for British Eurosport's.cycling coverage. The
Vitus 979 version in KAS team colors represents the bicycle he used during the peak of his cycling powers. The bike has been built up in full Mavic SSC components.
This 1989
Bottecchia bicycle is a replica of those used by the ADR team, which was led by Greg Lemond. Experts will point out that during his famous nine second victory in that year’s Tour de France, the American rode red/white or yellow bicycles that were actually his own TVT carbon frames badged up as Bottecchia, since they were the team sponsor. However, there is photographic evidence (right) that he rode the purple and yellow steel bikes at some point during the season. This version of the bicycle has been set up as a single-speed with Campagnolo, Cinelli and Mavic parts.
The 1995
Vitus 992 in Lotto-Isoglass team colors, is similar to the one ridden by Andrei Tchmil in that year’s Paris-Roubaix. The Soviet star had won the “Hell of the North” the previous season, and won many other Classics during his career. Similar in construction to the company's 979, the 992 featured ovoid-shaped tubing to create more stiffness in the frame. The bicycle has been assembled with mostly Mavic components with a set of Shimano Dura-Ace brake/shift levers for modern performance.
Since 1957, until his death last October at the age of 91, Irio Tommasini (photo right) had been building frames in his small shop in Grosseto, Italy. His company's high-end steel framesets have been famous for intricate chrome lugwork, engravings, cutouts and lavish - sometimes bordering on gaudy - paintjobs. This late-1980s
Tommasini Diamante has been built up with Campagnolo Super Record gruppo, including the famous delta brakes, and some pantografía parts.
For many folks who caught the cycling bug in the 1980s, it was Greg Lemond and/or Giuseppe Saronni (photo left). The Italian star had just outsprinted the American for the World Championship, and he did so on a bike just like this early-1980s
Colnago Super-Profil, so named because its top tube was "profiled" with a longitudinal crimp that was meant to improve stiffness. Thousands of the frames were sold in the color later called "Saronni red". The bike has been equipped with Campagnolo Super Record parts.
