well I took my bianchi brava out for a ride at the lake front path here in chicago. Needless to say it get very packed and hectic during the summer and I would honestly say most people (including cyclists)using this path know nothing of proper ettiquete or even safe behaivor. For the majority of the path it is simply a two lane path, not very wide. Every day during the spring and summer you'll find groups of 3 bikers riding along side each other literally taking up three quarters of the two lane path, same goes for walkers and roller bladers. Another thing that bugs the crap out of me are the cyclists who pass without saying a word, this can be very dangerous especially on a crowded day when someone trys to pass you up while you're trying to pass up a group of roller bladers.
It gets very frustrating. Yesterday I passed by a couple, late 40's early 50's, after I yelled out "on your left" 3 times and they still didn't budge an inch to the right the gentleman as I passed shouted out, " why don you ride somewhere else!" I was shocked and horrified by this comment. I stopped and got off my bike and pointed out the bicycle symbols painted all over the ground. I told him that I had every right to be there and that he was walking on the bike path and interupting the flow of traffic. I also pointed out that there was a pedestrian path not more than 20 feet away. He didn't listen much even though I was calm and cool in my explanation.
I should have known that was a sign of things to come. I was heading home along the path and went into a blind curve and that's when another rider swirved into my lane to pass up a group of rollerbladers, I slammed on the brakes and it felt like slow motion as I checked my crash options. It was plow into the group of rollerbladers (some might say good riddens), plow into a row of metal garbage cans and very likely into a light pole or go head on with the cyclist. I could see he completely froze and braced for impact and so I said the hell with it and went head on and I managed to sort of jump off to side so that our bodies didn't slam directly into each other. I landed on my backside and after I realized that the crash actually did happend I layed down on the concrete thinking about what teeth I knock, what part of my body was bleeding. I stood up, saw that the other rider was ok and looked my self over and saw that nothing was bleeding and no teeth were missing, the only thing was sore was my left hand from holding down the front brake as we crashed and it got smashed against the other bike. I was glad I wasn't using clipless pedals and that my toe clips weren't on very tight.
I looked over at the bianchi laying on the ground and wanted to cry, imagining having to bury it rather than hang it on the wall. I looked it over, the front wheel, completely trashed and mangled. I checked the frame, no crinkled paint, no signs of being bent. I looked at the fork and seems ok, but I've been praying since last night that the steering tube is ok, I'll have to look at it today. even if the tube isn't bent I fear internal damaged as the handlebars were moved during the crash. The left brake lever was bent and sort of shaped to the curvature of my hand, luckily my hand isn't broken. The front caliper is bent a bit but may be salvagable. Everything else looks ok.
What makes it even worse is that the other rider was riding a cheap crappy no name mountain bike. If it had been at least a trek I might have felt a bit better. I know my early 80's bianchi brava isn't exactly high end but it was in mint condition and all orginal down to the handle bar tape. And so I very much want to replace the damaged parts.
I am willing to buy or trade for the following parts. I need a front caliper, modolo america and brake lever. It's a standard non aero lever. I don't Nesccesarily need the hood as the one on my lever is fine. If you have a set and are unwilling to sell just one lever and one caliper I may interested in the set. As for the front wheel, I would be interested in either a match of the rim as my hub seems to be fine, or a match of the entire wheel. The rim is a 700C ambrosio 19 extra elite. The label background is made up of three shades of blue. Next to that label is a "DUREX, marchio depositato allumag monocellulare." It's a silver label with gold lettering. The hub is an Ofmega campy clone, low flange.
Thank you all for listening to my rant and more thanks to those who may be able to help me replace these parts.
marc garcia
chicago, IL