Cycling is a mighty sport with a rich and complex history. Every company, racer, piece of kit, and component has a legend, a story behind it; in many cases it also has a personal and nostalgic connection to our lives. While this particular sport is steeped in tradition, it is also fiercely modern, a fact that serves only to deepen its complexity.
All these factors combine to provide an unique atmosphere and breeds devoted and loyal disciples of our great sport. We are of a peculiar nature; we seek out the highest mountains and the roughest roads on which to worship at the altar of the Man with the Hammer. Our legs are what propel us; our minds are what drive us. We refer to our shaved legs in the third person – the legs – and speak of distance in kilometres and measure sizes in centimetres regardless of what country we are in. We adhere strictly to the Canon of Cycling’s Etiquette: The Rules.
A Velominatus is a disciple of the highest order. We spend our days poring over the very essence of what makes ours such a special sport and how that essence fits into Cycling’s colorful fabric. This is the Velominati’s raison d’être. This is where the Velominati can be ourselves. This is our agony – our badge of honor – our sin.
I have a unique way of looking at bicycles. A good bicycle and it’s components are beautiful things to me. I’m not just talking about appearance, but also how the frame and components show the dreams of those who made them.
– Gianni Bugno, Hardman and Italian cycling legend
Perhaps we are too wrapped up in the past, but the Velominati don’t believe that to be the case. After all, the greatest lessons can be learned from the past and those lessons can then be applied to the present and may then allow us to more fully experience the future.
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View Comments
@Magaramombi
There is not usually a delay, but might be for your first post. Can't speak about Android but generally the site does not like Explorer on a PC.
Welcome to the madness anyway.
@MangoDave
Wow! This came through finally!!! I posted this on Christmas day (along with this photo). It is real. Frahnk was fucked by "The Man" and is in the lurch for the money for the recent order. If someone knows how to set up a "Go Fund Me" (or as I like to say, "Go Fuck Me") website for this, I owuld love to donate some to Frahnk for all that he does around here for
free.
@Buck Rogers
It would seem a clamp-on front changer is entirely appropriate...
From this book, published in 1986, but containing many detail images of Hinault's 1985 road bikes. Also indicates older-style Nuovo Record two-bolt seat post rather the single-bolt Super Record.
@osbk67
Oh, THAT is brilliant! That is the exact bike I am building up for my Eroica adventures!
What a resource! Just bought a used copy off of Amazon for 2 bucks once I saw your post. I have the 1985 Fabulous World of Cycling book that I have been using as well.
I am working with a guy in Scotland who is a huge La Vie Claire "expert" and has multiple bikes from that team. He is also helping me to source the exact correct parts for the bike.
He had told me that Hinault used the Nuevo Record seatpost and not the SR one as well but great catch on your part! any help/confirmation that I can get is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
@osbk67
I realised when I saw this post that my life was not complete because I don't own this book. I have put this right and will have my copy soon.
@RobSandy @Buck Rogers
I have a few other relics of the era I'm happy to look through if you can't find answers elsewhere. Probably catalogues for most of the parts of the day as well, but nothing for Hinault frames, which were a fairly short-lived venture.
"Bicycle Mechanics in Workshop and Competition", first published 1986, is an interesting and relevant read if one is dealing with racing bicycles of that vintage.
@osbk67
Speaking with some people that know a LOT more than I do, it sounds like the Hinault bikes that the whole team rode were all custom builds made out of 753 Reynolds, at least for 1985.
I do not think that they ever mass made that many of them (if any at all?)?
At the beginning of the section The Keepers, you quote Gianni Bugno's statement about bikes. You quote Bugno as having said, or written, "A good bike and it's components... ." For Merckx's sake it is not "it's components." That is a contration for "it is," which makes no sense within the context of the quote attributed to Bugno. The proper word to use is "its," as in, "its components." "Its" is the possessive form of "it." I don't (another example of a contraction) mean to be pedantic, but I learned English as a second language and such glaring error just jump out of the page. Just like you frown upon the use of saddle bags (Rule 31), among many other things, you should also frown upon misuse of our lovely language. Now I am off to go riding my Colnago, all decked out with its beautiful components and sans a saddle bag. :)
Haha!
"Contration"
"glaring error just jump out of the page"
It's always hilarious when the grammar police make mistakes while trying to correct others.