New Tires For The Airolg

The Airolg from last year's l'Eroica is back on the road again thanks to a new bar/stem and some new treads.

Somewhere near Siena last October, someone had the bright idea of tossing out carpet tacks in tribute to last summer's Tour de France drama. Don't think it's a new trick - I'm reading the Ganna book and there are reports of Gerbi's tifosi (and Gerbi himself) littering the road with tacks back in the teens (that's the nineteen teens, btw). I ended up with a flat on the front and a smaller spare tubular than the big CX in the rear. It looked a bit odd, but rolled as well as my crude 70-year-old hubs would allow.

Thanks to Stu at Cyclocrossworld.com and a UCI rule change, I quickly found myself in possession of a bunch of Dugast (gasp!) 34mm diamond tread (otherwise known as Pippistrello's) cross tubulars! They went on tighter than a Vittoria on a Campagnolo clincher rim, but I got 'em on at least, with minimal damage (and rim cement) to the wood rims. The ride is bliss but I have just one question... what's max tire pressure on these things?

Those old bikes have TONS of clearance!

In addition to the new tread, I finally replaced the bar and stem on this beast. When Enzo built it up for me last summer, he loaned me a bar and stem off one of his Gino Bartali bikes. Alas, after the big ride, I went to his house and swapped everything out, buying a 60's set from him. When I got home and mounted them... they were crooked as a Masini-mounted Dugast! My last trip to the boot found me back at Enzo's and again with another set of 60's era metal. Not exactly period-correct, but with these old brake levers mounted and a BUNCH of cloth tape, they do the trick. Enzo was kind enough to throw in the "R" decal!

Love this head tube.

Crazy old shifter.

Enzo threw this decal on. Not sure what it's from, but he liked it.