SPEAKING OF THAT ROSSIN BUILD...

As a kid, this ad and the cover of the July 1987 Cyclist magazine had me drooling over the Rossin Ghibli... the kind of name that seemed to translate into "best bike ever" in my pre-fluent Italian mind. A bike model that meant something, like the Tommasini Velocista, the Cinelli Laser, or a Somec Promax. OK, well at least these names meant something to me as a teen... a beautiful bike I'd never be able to afford.

Funny thing about adulthood - you can finally afford the things you dreamt about as a kid, but the means to that end is that you ran out of time to enjoy those things!

eBay is what eBay is. Namely, a rabbit hole of bike geek stuff begging me to spend my money on yet another money pit bike. Ghibli's don't pop up too often and when they do, they look like this...

Meet my next money pit. Yep, I overspent for this and will continue to overspend so I can turn THAT... into this...

The most iconic, beautiful, unobtainable Italian bike of my youth. BUT, it won't be just a Rossin Ghibli. I intend to build this up with the most ridiculous mix of parts from Campy's lost years: Croce d'Aune derailleur with Syncro shifters, Delta brakes, SGR pedals, Elekta saddle and biodynamic bottles. Quite possibly the heaviest and least functional assembly of parts to come out of the cathedral of Vicenza, but also quite possibly the most beautiful bike parts ever made. This thing may weight close to twenty five pounds, but it'll be the sweetest twenty-five pound bike ever made!

BACK IN 2016 WITH MY CAMPY ALPHABET

A year is long enough, no? Actually, I've been rather busy in the world of vintage bikes, just not enough free time to type it all out and upload it. Maybe a facelift on the old blog will be enough to kick start me back into blogging shape.

With a new bike build project (more on the Rossin Ghibli soon) comes a new jersey design (more on those soon as well). With a new jersey design comes some time spent in Illustrator. While my hack skills are improving, I'm still a bit of a hack. But I won't let that stand in the way of (re)creating something that I found lacking online, which is a good vector or high res version of the Campy alphabet. After all, how hard is it to draw a white rectangle on a blue box?

According to campybike.com, these first appeared on the rims, bottle and lubricant brochures in (maybe) 1985 and used through 1991. With Shimano dominating click-shifting at the time and a number of truly unsuccessful products (but yet some real beautiful components and new ideas), I like to refer to this period as Campy's lost years. I was focused on Campy's mtb offerings at the time and have to say I never owned a pair of Syncro shifters or Delta brakes (until now, that is).

You'll start to see more of this alphabet on here as I document the Rossin build (provided I don't get too busy and lose another year of blogging).

Here is a link to the entire google image gallery.

Without further ado...

52 YEARS Ago The Human Locomotive Ran Out of Coal...

This Radiocorsa tribute ran two years ago. OK, so it didn't take me the whole time to do the subtitles, but things sort of rand away from me... here it is.

SOME Kids In School Would Doodle Cars or Van Halen Logos...

Not me!

More Ferrari Bikes By Colnago

After my last post, I dug a little deeper in the archives to find more Ferraris.

The 2003 CF3

The CF3 presented to Schumi. Not sure where I got it, but I have this as a photo!

Going back in time, I presume, to the 2002 CF2 mtb?

Caption says only 500 were made. I'm assuming this is same-generation CF2 road.

I think this last one is from Bicycle Guide, May 1988. "Ernesto Colnago's latest masterpiece, developed with the assistance of Ferrari Engineering, is constructed of carbon fiber tubing joined to fiber lugs. Power transmission is handled by an eight-speed gearbox controlled by a single lever; braking is hydraulic. Current plans call for the 18.7-pound prototypes to be tested in professional competition before production models are offered to the public late next year."

And from around the web...

Never saw this one before, but Ochsner is selling this Ferrari tandem for $29,999!

Another one that must have passed me by. Is this actually a Colnago?

Ferrari Prologo saddle?!? Bravo, Salvatore!

Finally, check out this page for more drool-worthy carbon from Italy

Just Ordered A Ferrari With Custom Leather...

OK, sorta!

I had a Selle Italia Ferrari Novus saddle back in 1997 and loved it. It looked great on my Saeco CAAD3 back when that was cool (and top of the line). I just found a bargain on eBay, as it was very used and scuffed. No problem, that's where Mick from Busyman Bicycles comes in. I've admired his work for some time now and it was just a quick email exchange and paypal transfer to convince him to make the Masini Ferrari saddle! He's booked through November (I'm in the wrong business I guess) but may make an exception for me.

I put my best hack photoshop skills to the test and designed the following...

Should flow with my top tube. Note the reverse-embossed lion!

So there are really just two car brands worth discussing, right? Somehow, Ernesto Colnago convinced those of the prancing horse (does everyone know the story of Francesco Baracca and the Ferrari logo?) to collaborate on bicycles some twenty five years ago. I wasn't able to do the same with Lamborghini, although I did have a number of productive meetings with them at their factory... and what a factory it is! Props to BMC for pulling them in... making decisions can be easy when you really want to do something! But enough griping, I do enough of that offline.

So it's back to the archive I go. Always one to save Italian bike porn, here are some of my favorites.

THAT is how you tease a product! Cover it, and lend the fastest name in the world to it.

These copywriters had it easy!

Anatomia e stile, indeed. No translation necessary.

Save those box tops!

Remember these guys?

I could easily be talked into a V1-r

Hell, even a Colnago mtb... the CF12

"Speed With Style". These guys barely changed the headline!

Anything for an excuse to put a Ferrari in the picture. But really... Vetta!?!

And a Tribute to Coppi...

I've had this design for four years now. I finally have a use for it. I'm going out on a limb here to say that Paul and Dylan will be the only toddlers with Fausto Coppi / Campagnolo Cambio Corsa t-shirts on...

Front is the design of the two levers and translates to "... good enough for Fausto, good enough for me" while the back states "All I need are two levers and four gears".

l'Eroica T-Shirts for the Boys!

Dylan and Paul will be supporting me in style in a couple of weeks, sporting these one-off Cicli Masini supporter t-shirts I just made.

"Forza, Babbo" is a very Tuscan "Go, Daddy!" while "te brüsa tanto 'l cü!" is a take on the Ganna quote of "my ass is on fire!" This time, however, it's "your butt is on fire!" just to keep it safe for the under-two crowd.