Rollin' Dirty
I genuinely miss the eighties. Funny Bikes, which I say without thinking this though. Then again, time trial bikes today are basically road bikes with a position for tuned for “more speed”. In other words, switching to your TT bike today is like switching from your road bike to a slightly less comfortable road bike, with your arms sticking out. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, switching to your TT bike was roughly the same as swapping out your warmblood for a dragon.
There are many more reasons I miss the 80’s, for the record. Black shorts, off the top of my tiny brain. Also the adorable electrical tape patterns mechanics made over the valve stem hole on disc wheels, for more speed, as generously modelled by little Andy H. Also those Lycra covers on the hairnets they used to wear, also for more speed.
I don’t have to tell you that the shades back then make my heart go pitter-patter. I still have a pair of Factory Pilots/Eye Shades; I also rushed out to the store to buy a pair of Jawbreakers last week, just because they look so old school. Also because they are orange and white and I am a sucker for orange and white.
Everyone has a “shades sponsor” these days, but if you lacked one back then, it was all-in on the sweatband sponsor. “Wow! You make a double-tall sweat-band? These ‘roids make me sweat ‘double-tall’ so…YES PLEASE.”
Then there were the gears and chainsets. The first version of a “compact” was introduced in the 80’s; it was a 52/39, downgraded from the usual 52/42. Which was a downgrade from a 44 which was the smallest chainwheel my 70’s-era Raleigh’s Wiesmann crankset accepted.
But my favorite thing about the 80’s was the missing dust caps on cranksets; Andy doesn’t have one here, and I didn’t have one either. The day I realized I could shed 0.0032 grams by pulling out the dust cap was the day I became a Velominatus.
Fuck Yeah Eighties. Fuck yeah.
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@asyax
I was so stoked to hear about the 7-11 team when they were announced and equally horrified they were riding "Huffys." I believe the team bikes were Serottas.
@Fred
According to Rule #57 the Huffy label would be a "sticker" possibly unless you are on a team issue rig.
@Haldy
Position rules everything, people. Look at that Badger go.
No thread about American cycling in the 80s is complete without this.
@frank
It was an end of season two-up time trial called the Baracchi Trophy, which paired various celebrity cyclists up in aid of publicity over team sensibilities. This would have been the 1984 edition that Hinault and Moser won.
@Oli
You nailed it..sadly the Baracchi Trophy is one of those gems we no longer have.
Here's from the '86 edition of the race, Moser paired with his teammate Dietrich Thurau...still no dust caps!
@Oli
Of course they fucking won. Look at them. Amazing.
@Nate
What a hoot. The cat's wearing clogs ffs... My grandfather had a Buick wagon like this minus the stripes we'd load up with hunting and fishing gear and head off to really cool places. Cheers
80's! Yeah!
As a kid doing paper rounds at $15 per week, saved hard to get these Stronglight cranks ~1985 that came with dustcaps, so leaving on! BTW, they were Shiny Bits!
As a Juvenile, we were restricted to 86" rollout, so said crankset 52/42, with a 16/20 cluster.
@Oli
Baracchi is the name of the Condor frame at the top of my n+1 list. I believe it is actually made by Sarto.
great concept for a race.