[CR]Alfredo Binda's World Championship bikes and coaster brake

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Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 10:05:15 +1100
To: "classicrendezvous@bikelist.org" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
From: "Geoff Duke" <G.Duke@civenv.unimelb.edu.au>
Subject: [CR]Alfredo Binda's World Championship bikes and coaster brake

Thought this might be of interest to the list The latest issue of Ride Cycling Review has a feature on the Lengnano bikes that Alfredo Binda rode to victory in World Championships in 1927 and 1932.In 1927 his bike was fitted with a coaster brake and 2 rear sprockets on the same side as opposed to the normal practice of having one on each side.The article suggests that this may have been both to avoid the hassles of getting past the caliper when he flipped the wheel and to provide braking that was possibly better than rim brakes offered at the time due to the large caliper and the timber rims.By 1932 he had a Vittoria chain tensioner fitted and no longer used the coaster brake. Geoff Duke Melbourne Australia