>Aldo & crew,
>
>I wonder how much that bike weighed. It looks fairly light even
>with a cottered crank.
I haven't seen Bartali's 1948 Tour de France bike, but his 1949 bike is featured in our book "The Competition Bicycle." I weighed it when we photographed it, and it weighed approx. 10.5 kg (23.1 lbs.).
Magni's Wilier Triestina weighed the same (with Cambio Corsa),
whereas Coppi's Bianchi was a bit lighter. All these bikes were
lighter than Merckx' bike from the 1974 World Championships (which
also is in the book, and hence was weighed as well.)
>I also wonder where his pump is? In his jersey? Would he have
>trusted a follow car in 1948 to be close by and if so why does he
>have the tire if that's the case?
The photo was taken during the rest day, not a stage that counted toward the win. Looking over the historic photos from the 1949 Tour from our book, it appears that most racers had the standard pump AND "gonfleur" (air cartridge) mounted on their frames. As I understand it, the rules of the Tour back then did not allow a wheel change in case of a flat, but only a new tire could be handed to the rider. This means that without a means to pump it up, they would have been out of the Tour. (If the wheel was broken, a new wheel could be used, presumably with an inflated tire already fitted.)
I suspect Bartali's mechanics cleaned up the bike on the rest day, and to get to all the parts, they removed all the non-essential clamps. Before the start of the next morning's stage, they probably replaced the pump and gonfleur with their clamps.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
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Seattle WA 98122
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