Hi Jan:
There are so many wonderful bikes in your book, I really can't pick a favorite.
In my little "review" I was trying to be evenhanded, and would like to add that the book obviously represents a great deal of enthusiasm and attention to the subject.
I also think that this book will be a good addition to any vintage bike fan's collection-it's great to have photos of so many beautiful bikes.
You are also quite right in explaining the necessary limitation of scope of this book-perhaps this should be considered "Part One of the Competition Bicycle," with many parts yet to come.
Congratulations!
George
George Hollenberg MD
> At 12:41 AM +0000 11/19/08, gholl@optonline.net wrote:
>
> >In short, this book is interesting, and well done, but limited
> in scope.
>
> Thank you for the review, George. Considering the vast history
> of
> racing bikes, any book on the subject has to be limited in scope!
>
> I, too, have a list of bikes I would have liked to include, but
> the
> book would have ended up with 1000 pages, and cost $ 500. I
> doubt
> there is much of a market for a book in that price range, and of
> course, we also were limited by bikes that still exist and were
> available for photography. Perhaps we can expand on the theme in
> another book in the future.
>
> For the choice of bicycles, we set out to show only bikes that
> actually had served in competition, not look-alikes. Our goal
> was to
> show different areas of competition, from amateurs to Tour de
> France
> champions, men and women, including randonneurs, newspaper
> carriers
> and mountain bikes. For important areas, we have more bikes,
> whereas
> the "fringe" gets one bike each...
>
> We did not compile a list of makers, but selected bikes with
> interesting history. We also wanted bikes that represented
> technical
> milestones, not many duplicates of the same type.
>
> For example, for Campagnolo-equipped bikes, we have seven: One
> is
> Fiorenzo Magni's 1948 bike with the Cambio Corsa. Then we have a
> top-of-the-line Bianco with all the best 1950s equipment,
> including
> Gran Sport derailleurs and 3-piece hubs, but still with
> Stronglight
> cranks, Mafac brakes and many other parts Campagnolo did not yet
> offer. The 1965 Cinelli shows how the group concept had evolved
> the
> Record group, which was lacking only brakes to be complete. Eddy
> Merckx' 1974 bike has the full Nuovo Record, including the
> brakes.
> Peter Weigle's 1975 time trial machine is a great example of the
> drilled-out components of that era. Greg LeMond's 1981 bike is
> equipped with the Super Record group, the ultimate expression of
> this
> classic component set. Sean Kelly's 1991 bike has a mix of C-
> Record
> and Chorus and old SL pedals, showing that racers were not
> always
> happy with Campagnolo's products during the "dark" ages, but his
> bike
> already points to the future with its modern slant parallelogram
> derailleurs.
>
> For riders of these bikes, have a yellow jersey in the Tour
> (Magni),
> an independent racer, two American amateurs, a world champion
> (Merckx), a future superstar (LeMond) and one of the greatest
> Classics riders ever (Kelly). Their bikes provide a good
> overview of
> Campagnolo's history.
>
> We also included Andy Hampsten's Giro d'Italia machine because
> it
> contrasted so nicely with LeMond's Gitane. LeMond's bike was a
> traditional European bike, entered by a European team, unchanged
> since the 1970s in most respects. Hampsten rode for an American
> team,
> used an American frame, Japanese Dura-Ace parts, index shifting,
> clipless pedals and a criterium geometry. One was the past, the
> other
> the future, but in a nice twist, LeMond was even more successful
> than
> Hampsten.
>
> Kelly's bike then shows how Campagnolo reacted by developing
> their
> own index shifting, and finally got it right after much trial
> and
> error. That is the history I wanted to bring out in the book.
>
> Similarly, we chose two 1920s racing bikes: One an Automoto
> which
> still had the brakes clamped to the seatstays, but had a lugged
> frame, the other an Alcyon with a welded frame, but more modern
> brakes. Both are big, heavy brutes of bicycles, which showcase
> the
> type of machines these riders used to conquer the brutal Tour de
> France stages of the day. Not coincidentally, Automoto and
> Alcyon
> were the two companies that dominated the Tour in the 1920s.
>
> Gino Bartali's and Fausto Coppi's bikes from the 1949 Tour de
> France
> form a nice contrast. Bartali was old-fashioned, and his bike
> showed
> it: Cervino derailleur with shifter paddles, and a geometry that
> is
> straight out of the 1930s. Coppi's bike was much more modern,
> just
> like the rider, with finely thinned lugs, modern geometry and
> Simplex
> derailleurs. Each represented its rider. Both worked equally
> well,
> and it was only due to a crash that Bartali came second and
> Coppi won
> that year's Tour.
>
> We ended the book with Rominger's hour record bike, because it
> shows
> the end of an era. It has a classic steel frame (lugged, but
> with
> aero tubing), but carbon disc wheels and aero bars are
> harbingers of
> radical changes about to come. I decided not to get into modern
> carbon bikes, because they deserve their own book, once the dust
> has
> settled a bit, and we have gained enough distance to see the big
> picture. Perhaps we should have titled the current book "The
> Classic
> Competition Bicycle"?
>
> Which is your favorite bike in the book? Mine is Coppi's
> Bianchi. Its
> frame workmanship is sublime, and it's even my size!
>
> Jan Heine
> Editor
> Bicycle Quarterly
> 140 Lakeside Ave #C
> Seattle WA 98122
> http://www.bikequarterly.com
>
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA