On Wed, 22 May 2002 21:03:44 -0600 Michael Kone <bikevint@tiac.net>
writes:
> Bianco would build bikes in the
> winter and then pro team riders would visit Bianco, pick out a
> frame, have
> it painted in their team colors, and off they would go. Bianco
> didn't even have decals or a hand painted graphics scheme!
Somewhere, I got in my head, that back in the days when bike racing was a seasonal activity and bike frames were less disposable, that team bikes were painted every winter. This was the reason that so many French and Italian bikes up to the 70s had such poor paint jobs. It was only expected to last one summer. Next season would bring on a new color scheme, and maybe a new badge.
Of course as buyers became more affluent (bike boom), and less handy with a can of enamel, they expected the paint to last a bit longer. Improvements in painting technology, also made paint more durable?
Who made Eddy M's hour record bike, and who's name was on it? Hard to hide the story on that one, but how many other times has it happened and been forgotten?
Don't have specifics, but a couple of Coppi's bikes have been mentioned in the past as not being what they were badged.
Back in the 80s I knew a guy from Michigan that had a Mercier or Mercian, that every winter he would take apart, remove all the paint and repaint it pink. He was a member of a cycling team in high school (Wolverines?). Where he picked this habit up, I don't know. When local people found out I raced bikes, they would say to me, "Hey, you ever seent that guy with the big muscles that rides a pink bike?" He was also an ex body builder, and hell of a sprinter.
When Chuck says that he has some classic bikes that don't look that great, but are original, what goes through my mind is a bike with a finish that probably was never intended to last as long as it has.
Steven Johnson, Chesapeake, VA
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