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).
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!
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'?
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.
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 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!
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!
Swiss Walt Disney is coming out with the new Hugo Koblet film, Hugo Koblet - Pédaleur de Charme and I can't wait!
The Legnano is on the shelf for a couple of weeks. It seems I need to re-space the wheel or spread the rear triangle. The rear hub was a tight fit by 4mm and as it moves back and forth in the dropouts, it needs to fit just so. Unfortunately, it comes as I'm headed to the US to work for a bit. Oh well. I also have developed some pain in my wrist when I ride the old narrow handlebars with weird hand positions. Oh well.
The good news is that I'm able to shift fairly well at this point. I just need to get some good legs in the next 2 months before l'Eroica. Looks like I'll be resuming training on the new bikes again.
I found this chair at a start village at the Tour this year. I was also sent a great piece of digital artwork of l'intramontabile shifting a cambio corsa while climbing. Anyone know who did this, or where I can get a nice print?
A few weeks ago, I ran into an old Italian Coppisti who lambasted me for my Legnano... being a Coppi fan, a Bianchi was the only legitimate bike of the era. We argued for quite a while on the point, even though I had no real reason to... but he was Italian so I think I made his day.
Never one to shy away from the crowd of fans, I decided to go for a ride with the Liquigas boys yesterday. Of course, I brought the Legnano with me, which means full on retro clothes and the rest. To fully appreciate the technology of today, don't you need to understand the tech from the past? In the old days, riders actually had to think and plan before shifting! Everyone was quite interested in the cambio corsa and I tried to explain it as best as I could in Italian, French and English. 'My' mechanics Arco and Gian Carlo, who helped me with finding certain parts, were amazed that I built this thing up myself and that it works. Of course, they gave me loads of crap, all in good fun (I think).
Since the Liquigas guys were on a rest day, they were going to go for only an hour and a half. I figured I could stay with them even with my limited gearing. Once we got out into the countryside, you could hear me coming from a mile away - my alloy waterbottles bouncing around in their cages on the rough roads.
At one point, the guys stopped for a nature break. I kept going, taking the opportunity to shift gears safely. Unfortunately, they decided to turn around. Luckily, Francesco Bellotti came to get me. We chased - me spinning as fast as I could in my 40/14 - and finally got back on. Time to shift back to the 16, since the 14 was making some noise. I think the chain was a bit too tight for this ride - gotta look into it. ZZZIIINNNGGG - my fingers touched the rear tire slightly, but loud enough that Roman Kreuziger heard from behind and came up next to me with a big smile. "I knew you'd do that! You better be careful or you'll lose a finger in that wheel!" A good thing to remember, indeed!
