Finishing Touches

No photos of the Masini yet, but I can say it's almost finished. Kara has the saddle and is doing her thing, so I don't want to tease with photos of the incomplete item!

I just stopped by the mailbox here at world HQ, and to my surprise there was an envelope from Mr. Maasland (the most knowledgeable person in the Italian vintage scene that I've met). A more fitting finishing touch could not be imagined... Proper Columbus tubing decals from 1953, with original instructions and envelope! Grazie, Faliberto!

New Kicks

I guess I'm easy to shop for. My main man in California is hooking me up for this year's ToC, where we'll all be rocking Liquigas-Cannondale themed shoes...

On the vintage side, I think I'll throw down for something like this...

That Galmozzi

Since the race season hasn't officially started in earnest yet, that leaves weekends for building vintage bikes! I posted my Galmozzi with Cambio Corsa a while back and realized that I never posted the finished product. Here it is, along with me and... Angelo Galmozzi! I met him one morning with my friend Stefano, who scheduled a visit/interview with him on a Saturday morning. Stefano has the Galmozzi bug as well and is currently restoring a number of them, it seems! Enzo, as well, has come across a few of them recently, proving that once you dig deep, the rarest of the rare can become almost common... keep digging!

Now I just have to cut that rear brake cable housing!

Liquigas-Cannondale 2011

I love this video. It was fun working on it with the team, and really shows the personality of this great group of racers. Best of luck to my Liquigas-Cannondale friends in 2011!!!

Cicli Masini Head Badge Just Arrived!!

Thanks, and great work, Jen Green!

Lo Sport Illustrato 06/02/1949

Item three is ready, here! This issue covers the first eight stages of the 1949 Giro d'Italia. What I love are the team sponsors: Atala, Benotto, Bianchi, Bottecchia, Ganna, Legnano, Stucchi, Viscontea... One wonders if we're starting to head back that direction with the likes of: Leopard-Trek, Garmin-Cervelo, BMC, and my favorite of them all... Liquigas-Cannondale!

But et Club 06/09/1948

Here's the next offering of vintage magazines. This time, But et Club from 1948, covering the Tour de France and featuring Bartali and Bobet on the cover! Check it out and download it for your archive here.

Lo Sport Illustrato 06/15/1950

A great find at l'Eroica in October was a stack of old cycling publications! Download the first offering here. It's Lo Sport Illustrato from June 15, 1950, and it covers hugo Koblet's Giro victory. A must for fans of la Pédaleur de Charme

The Cambio Corsa t-shirt

The long weekend has been good to get out some of those lingering projects. I had this idea for a while now, so I got out my meager Illustrator skills and traced an old design to make this t-shirt. The idea would be to find someone to print some up on a high-quality shirt and take to l'Eroica for a VERY limited run for friends. Any interest?

"It was good enough for Fausto/Gino, so it's good enough for me" and on the back "All I need is two levers and four gears" ... not literally, but that's my best English interpretation at least.

A Gloria Christmas, part 2

So my old bike collecting bug has gotten a little out of control in just one year's time. However, when I met Paolo (of Biciclette e Decadence fame) and found out about a friend of his who might consider selling what is my Holy Grail bike, I couldn't pass up. The Gloria Garibaldina is considered by many to be the ultimate Italian vintage bike to own. There were quite a few made, as Gloria was a goliath company until about 1960, but few survived in good, original condition (not that this one is totally original, far from it).

Gloria developed a way to pump out these fine frames in a large number for the time. One way of doing so was to stamp the head tube and distinct flower-shaped 'lugs' from a sheet, roll it and then weld the seam. If you pull the fork out and look inside, you'll see that the flower 'lugs' are in fact recessed from the stamping process! That means that the flower lugs this bike is famous for are not even really lugs! Add to it that many of the components were branded with "Gloria", the unique rear dropouts, and the nickel-plated 'lugs' and you end up with a beautiful representation of the highest bicycle technology of the day.

I'm only going to post this one photo for now, as I don't want anyone else to find it and outbid me! I hope to pick it up on the way home from Puglia. It's safe to say that my collecting is officially over because to me, it doesn't get much better than this!

PS - an update on Mrs. Masini's Gloria... the Maasland told me last night that the grips are made of ox horn!