"Vintage" Bottles to Actually Drink From!

Riding old bikes is great... the obvious lack of mechanical advances makes for a more challenging yet very inspiring ride. However, every once in awhile you need a break from the difficulties of days gone by. Nasty aluminum water bottles corked up on the front of your handlebars can remain nostalgic only for SO long. I just picked up my latest mad creation... Zefal alloy bottles resprayed and made up in Legnano, Galmozzi and Cicli Masini colors. Ok, so the Galmozzi isn't pictured because it's just champagne colored. And through some Photoshop magic, you can see both sides of the Legnano bottle.

Not much riding going on right now, so these are relegated to sipping expensive import Mountain Dew!

Hugo Koblet DVD, Out Now!

The Hugo Koblet - Pédaleur de Charme DVD came out recently here in Switzerland. Amazon.de has it as well. They can ship to Switzerland I know, but I'm not sure to what other European countries they will ship. It's a region 2 (Europe) disc with subtitles in German, Italian, French and... English!

It's so much better with the subtitles! My Swiss German is absolutely zero, but that didn't stop me from seeing it in the theater on opening night. It's a great film about a great Swiss champion.

One thing stood out to me upon my second viewing. The oft-seen scene that's shown below when he first sees Waltraut Haas has a great gaffe for the vintage crowd, as Hugo and his teammate are wearing cycling caps with Rapha logos on them! They're white-on-white stitched, but eagle-eyed viewers will clearly see them.

I highly suggest finding this one!

Lo Sport Illustrato 06/16/1949

Last installment of the 1949 Giro d'Italia coverage by Lo Sport Illustrato is now here.

Just Won On eBay... Bartali Razors!

So I finally got around to clicking on my own ad. I found the right Bartali razor package that I wanted and hit the old "buy now" button! It's certainly not Oakley or Red Bull money, and I can't see today's heroes shilling for Gillette, but I love the Bartali endorsement for these razor blades! They were 'super fast' after all.

Speaking of Saddles... almost ready!

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!