Enzo's Eroica Stuff…

In the Italian vintage bike world, there's one guy you go to if you're looking for something truly hard to find. While Ermes and Roberto have their own garages full of parts, it's Enzo who had consistently the coolest stuff on display at Gaiole's market during l'Eroica weekend. Here are a few examples…

This Campy clanger was just a bit too new to put on my Galmozzi. And at 350 euros, I'm glad. I'd seen photos of them, but not in the flesh (remember, I'm only a year or two into this).

This Campy chain guide, similarly, was too new to spend the 120 euros on. Same - first I'd seen one.

This shifter is a very rare Paris-Roubaix type of affair. Even Enzo didn't know about it, other than the flip-side has a hogged-out section with a gear inside that makes the shifting and chain tension action. "BRV Socrates Modena". Evidently, there were well over a hundred lever type shifters in Italy in the 30's and 40's, all leading the example of the Cambio Corsa and Paris-Roubaix.

This Brooks-styled bike caught my eye. It's a Renaissance bike, much like my Cicli Masini will be.

Finally, Enzo's wife bought a stack of head badges that weekend. Included were an original Masi, and this Galmozzi, both worth far more than their weight in gold. She wouldn't sell it to me, but promised that the next one she finds is mine. Of course, she has looked for five years for this one, so I'm not holding my breath!

After l'Eroica, I got an invite to Enzo's secret lair, which I have dubbed Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory. That tale coming soon.

Meeting Masi

So my l'Eroica weekend started off with a trip to meet Alberto Masi at the famous Vigorelli velodrome shop. Ciocc invited me along, as he does a lot of work with Alberto (such as building most of his steel frames, and finishing most all new Masi products).

The shop itself is just a large workshop, with a hidden hallway leading into the back room, where Faliero must have done all the framebuilding back in the day. Alberto himself is obviously proud of the storied history that has its roots in this shop. As roads in Europe improved, post-war, bicycles had the ability to get faster and faster. It was Faliero who pulled the seatpost out of the frame and created what we consider modern road bike geometry. He built for most of the great champions.

Alberto told me a story of Hugo Koblet, who came in to pick up a racing bike built by Faliero. He leaned it against the wall, eyed it, asked for a cm lower saddle height, slapped his hands together, "perfect!". He grabbed it and walked out. This was in contrast to today's standards of millimeter-perfect, scientifically studied geometries and positioning. Alberto also told of Koblet's pink Studebaker waiting for him at the finish of the Giro that he won!

He was kind enough to give me a judgement on the two bikes in my car (the Legnano and the Galmozzi), which he was impressed by. The Legnano is not a reparto corsa frame, but was a high-end road frame to be sold in a shop. The Galmozzi was surely a high level frame, and he had nice things to say about it. From there, he saw my obvious passion for cambio corsa and pulled out a legendary piece of tooling...

Faliero's cambio corsa dropout alignment tool! He showed me the file marks on the side that his dad had customized.

Here is a similar tool that Steve M. sent me. It's a dropout jig for building a cc frame.

Alberto is aware of the American passion for the Masi steel frames. He also gets lots of requests from Japan and had a number of restorations on display, awaiting shipment to the far east.

In addition, there are a number of bikes hanging on the far wall from the racing days. A Faema frame, a Fuchs and a few other restorations.

Alberto was in a hurry to get to a lunch appointment, so he excused himself and invited me back when we could have more time to talk about the oldern days... I think I'll take him up on the offer.

Masini Coffee... at the Vigorelli!

So l'Eroica is over and I'm slowly digging through the photos while my body recovers. Where to start? How about last week, day one of my adventure. I was invited by Ciöcc to meet Alberto Masi at his shop on the side of the Vigorelli velodrome in Milan. To many, this is a holy place. Alberto's dad is considered by many to be THE maestro of Italian bicycle construction. Faliero is credited with coming up with the geometry of what we would recognize as a 'modern' bicycle. Anyway - that's another post altogether. THIS one's about what I found while waiting for Ciöcc to show up.

At Cafe Vigorelli, they serve... Masini Coffee! What a way to start my trip...

Introducing Cicli Masini

Cicli Masini... offering the best in true Italian vintage cycling. It's not a product (yet), and nothing's for sale (yet) except the idea of riding on the open road, whether in Tuscany on le strade bianche, in the Swiss Jura or through the headwind on the straight lines of Iowa... on fine vintage Italian bikes.

Inspired by the Mason family heraldic shield, the Cicli Masini logo features the family motto "Dum Spiro Spero" (As Long As I Breathe, I Have Hope).

Le Coq Sportif does l'Eroica

l'Eroica is just under a week away. Last year, Brooks got into it in a big way. This year, the race has exploded, with over 3000 entries (mine being one of them!). Here is Le Coq Sportif's video entry. They'll be journaling the event live, so check them out on Sunday here. Look for me!

And Now for Something From Out of Left Field

A new part of my job for the past couple of years is managing the GT sponsorships. That means I get to work with some real legends of the sport like Hans Rey and EC... and some real characters of the sport, as you can see here!

Nice hair, Erica! Can you believe this qualifies as 'work'?

Ride of My Life - The Story of the Bicycle - Part One.mov

Great BBC video of one guy building his dream bike... something I've done over and over! Great brands in there like Brooks, and personalities like Steve "Gravy" Gravenites, one-time head wrench for Volvo-Cannondale.

This begs the question: what's your dream bike? Mine (as of today)... a Cicli Masini (yes, it's coming) cambio corsa frame built up with an eclectic mix of 40's and 50's parts plus some modern Campy bits (new Ergo brake levers and brakes). Add the following: a Brooks ti saddle, Brooks bag and bar tape and clincher rims.

Historical Italian Constructor Registry

Here's one to bookmark! In the comments of this article, blogger P. De Sade is attempting to construct a registry of local Italian bike builders. In the past year, I've learned far more about Italian bike history than I thought possible, even without many written resources, thanks to guys like this on the net. With l'Eroica just a week away, I'm hoping to meet more of them in person... most likely as I'm handing over Euros to buy their vintage parts!

I Talked to the Shark Today

I usually like to wait a day or two to bother a recently-crowned champion after a big win. If I'm not at the finish, I'll try to pass on my congratulations to the manager, DS or whoever I can find, knowing the madness that ensues right after a Grand Tour for the winner. So I finally got through to Vincenzo, who is already in Melbourne for next weekend's world championships. He had heard that everyone at Cannondale had been following his exploits and thanked me for our best wishes and congratulations. This was a big one for Cannondale... our first Vuelta! But it's a HUGE one for the Niblet (as one of our product guys has christened him).

Congrats, Vincenzo... here's hoping that this is just the first of many!

Big things coming from Madrid, but first...

Amazing performance Saturday from lo Squalo. Before I go too crazy at the thought of a second GT win by Liquigas, I have to post this one. Usually the boys are distracted by lovely ladies on the side of the road. I guess this counts too!