Vintage Bike Swap, Reggio nell'Emilia!

Italians love (in no particular order): Mamma, calcio, ciclismo... and motorcycles and cars! I got tipped off that there was to be a big vintage car/moto/bike swap meet in Italy so - off I went! Early Sunday morning, I was speeding off once again toward the boot with Euros in hand hoping to learn a little and pick up a few of those small finishing parts for my 2 old bikes.

Upon arrival, I had not expected to see such a huge footprint. C.A.M.E.R. (Club Auto Moto d'Epoca Reggiano) took up the entire Reggio nell'Emilia fiera (fairgrounds). Unfortunately, it was mostly motos and cars, but the five or six stands for vintage bikes were put on by the cognoscenti of Italian collectors.

The first stand I loitered at for a few minutes had tubs full of FB cranks, hubs... whatever I would have needed if I wasn't already set. Gaslo tape, brake hoods, saddles, old shoes, wool jerseys, it was all to be found in abundance here, even with just a few stands dedicated to bikes.

Luckily, I overheard a little english which led me to meeting John Barron of Velostuf and Cinelli collecting fame. He, his wife and I proceeded to a few more stands and I was happy to lend a translating hand when needed, although he does pretty good by himself. I was also able to pick up a lot of info, history and tips from him.

The better-known Italians in the vintage world were here, and all proved to be extremely helpful. Guys like Ermes Leonardi, Roberto Doganieri, Enzo Pancari, and Luciano Berruti (who recently opened a museum in Cosseria with a large donation from his collection). Berruti is usually the guy doing l'Eroica on the oldest of bikes, with his long mustache and high wheelers.

So what was my haul, besides a sore back from the 9 hours of driving? Balilla brake hoods, Campy repro hoods, 3 colors of old housing, a new pair of old-style shoes, an Atala bell(!), and three gems... Gaslo bar end caps (these 2 aluminum pieces consistently fetch well over $100 on eBay); an old beat up steel Legnano sign; and an old "cardboard" Bianchi sign. I'll have to post these separately, as I also broke rule #1 - bring a good camera. Here is the best of what I could capture on my iPhone...

Monday I was able to put the new shoes to the test. Donning my best wool jersey and Rapha cap, I took the blue Galmozzi out for a quick spin, climbing an easy hill or two in the large ring (preparing myself for limited gearing on the older bikes). I'll just say... the bike rides like a dream and I'm now HYPER-motivated to do l'Eroica and other vintage randonees.

Who Has The Saddest Dog Around? I Do!

Tucker had his cataracts surgery yesterday and I got to pick him up today. Poor little guy looks really rough. The outer corners of his eyes sport big black stitches that stick out a good cm. Evidently, they itch like crazy too! If you pull up his lid (which I won't do), you can see the microfilament stitches on the top of his eyeballs! On top of all that, he's pretty drugged up, he stinks and there is a constant flow of crud coming from both eyes that I have to continually wipe out. Eight eye drops a day plus two new medications to go with his two seizure meds, and we've got a real patient patient! I'm pretty sure if the roles were reversed, he'd do it for me. The good news is... he can see!

I'm pretty sure it won't be long before he's back to race-support form from last year's Giro!

The Campagnolo Cambio Corsa Shifter!

So with all the vintage bike talk around here lately, I thought I'd channel the great Aldo Ross and his demonstration of shifting the Cambio Corsa system. Watch it a few times and notice the point of backpedalling! To see more, along with video of the Paris-Roubaix and his video setup, click here.

In addition, check Gunnar's posts about Cambio Corsa and clangers (of which I am in search of, BTW). UPDATED with patent designs and a photo of Tullio with said system.

Recognize This Statue?

On the way home from Italy recently, I purposefully made a 'wrong' turn onto the A8 towards the airport, forcing me to turn around at the Legnano exit. With some clever help from the iPhone and my TomTom, I navigated to the Piazza Monumento so I could snap a shot of Alberto di Giusssano. Alberto was the 12th century warrior who formed the "Company of Death" that defended the Carroccio of the League at the Battle of Legnano. This statue in the center of Legnano is the symbol of the city, the Northern League political party and, more importantly, of Legnano bicycles!

Best viewed while listening to Verdi's 'La Battaglia di Legnano'.

1940's Galmozzi... Yeah, I did...

While the wife was away, I did it. I keep telling myself 'last one'. Maybe just to make me feel better about this quickly-growing collection of old Italian bikes. But this one was too much. I ended up speaking with Angelo Galmozzi over the phone for quite some time. I got the whole story, politics, history and all.

I took it over to Ciöcc this morning to strip it and sandblast it. He was impressed and excited enough to give a call to his friend Alberto Masi to confirm a couple of things regarding the dates of such a bike. Best we can guess is late 40's.

Ciöcc got busy with some things while we were stripping the bike, but let me turn the switch on his sanding machine (I'd never run one before) and I got to work!

The rest of the photos are at my Flickr page here.

Museo Storico della Bicicletta, Cesiomaggiore

A while back, I had the opportunity to go to this great bike museum, located not far from the Passo Croce d'Aune (where a certain Tullio Campagnolo dreamed up the quick release and subsequently, the Cambio Corsa shifter). I was blown away by the amount of historic racing machines and snapped as many photos as I could in a short time. My complete set is on my Flickr page here. Here's a preview...

It Must Be Galmozzi Day

After some interesting conversation about whether to rebadge a Gamba to its constructor, Galmozzi (over at the Great Gunnar Berg's site here), it seems I've stumbled upon yet another bike, my size, that I must have...

This time, it's what you might consider a Holy Grail bike of mine. A Galmozzi with Campagnolo Cambio Corsa... conserved, good shape for a bike of its era. I can't say much more about it yet, as I'm waiting for a reply from the owner still.

As Holy Grail bikes go, supposedly, should I acquire this it would mean... that's it! No more! There's nothing better, don't bother looking. Collection complete. In fact, start unloading the others.

My New Galmozzi!

So... here it is... as I got it. I haven't even wiped off the dust with my finger. I'm thinking I'll put Fiamme red labels on it as opposed to the too-new and mildly aero rims that are on there. I'll also try to find a good set of GS or NR brake levers with decent hoods, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. Also, I got a VERY short NR seatpost of the same vintage and the flutes are blue and yellow. I'm thinking of putting that one on the Galmozzi, and use this one on the red/white/yellow Ciöcc.

The rest of the photos can be found on my Flickr page.

Nencini, Gelli and my new Galmozzi!

I had a nice weekend in Florence to celebrate the wife's birthday. She also had some meetings, so I was on my own for Friday and Saturday. With no bike to ride and two nervous wiener dogs to keep placated, I made a phone call to local Liquigas mechanic, Saul Nencini ('Nencio').

I headed to his shop (under his parents' house), where he was servicing a couple of local riders' bikes. Once they were set, we set about going through some of his recent finds, like the mint Campagnolo Grand crankset he found while in Argentina, or the PMP 90 degree crankset from back in the day. Then, he enlightened me to the bag of cork plugs that used to be placed individually into the eyelets of old tubular rims prior to glueing... very cool. After deciding that anything I still needed to finish the Ciöcc was going to be found in his attic at home, we decided to make the short trip.

On the way up, we passed this huge framed photo of Saul's dad... yes, THAT Gastone Nencini. You know, 'my Dad, who won the Giro in 1957 and the Tour in 1960'.

Upstairs, we certainly found some great Nuovo Record parts for my build and then I discovered something I wasn't expecting to find in Tuscany... the first... and second Galmozzi's I've ever seen live! The first was white and labeled 'G. Gelli' who was a local shop in Prato. Nencio really liked this one and wanted to keep it, as it was his size. The giveaway as to its true heritage was given away by the standard Galmozzi stamp on the headtube.

Nencio was a little amazed that I even knew about Galmozzi, let alone that the little known brand has become my Holy Grail of old bikes. When I saw the blue 56, I knew it had to be mine, so we quickly made a deal. I'm now the owner of a Galmozzi! I can't really say 'finally' since I've only become a little obsessed with them recently. I just never knew I'd find one in Gastone Necnini's son's attic in Tuscany!

More photos to come in another post, plus a link to the rest of the photos which are now on my Flickr page.

Introducing the Cane-nondale!