Giovanni Battaglin (Inoxpran) won the Giro in 1981, ahead of Tommy Prim (Bianchi-Piaggio) and Giuseppe Saronni (Gis).
I have a dozen photos of his bikes from the '81 Giro... they are easily identifiable by the unique brake bolts used on his Campy calipers. In photos they appear as dark recesses where the acorn nut would usually go. His brakes also lacked the adjusting wheel with it's black rubber band... instead, the cable casing ends in a small metal button, which fits into the caliper arm where the barrel would normally go. Brake cables are routed RR and LF.
If the bike is one of Battaglins from the '81 Giro, it will have those features.
Battaglin's bikes didn't have any tape on the upper "flat" of the handlebars. Instead, the white cloth ends just past the final bend to the tops. He used a "Pinarello" pantographed Cinelli 1-A stem, about 11cm long.
The bikes were red with white cable casings, white decals, fully-chromed forks.
Looks like his shift levers are Campy, with the levers possibly cut-out, and dark (rubber?) inserts installed in the cut-outs.
From 1982 on, he rode "Battaglin" frames. From '82 through '85 they were equipped with GPM and Modolo. In '84 Carrera Jeans became title sponsor.
Battaglin missed the '82 Giro due to injury. In '83 he abandoned before stage 15, due to stomach problems. He finished 50th in '84, his final Giro appearance.
Aldo Ross
> Mark,
> Off the top of my head, I believe you are correct, but here's the
reason:
> I have seen Pinarello "Battaglin replica" bikes just like the one in
Gibb's
> place w/o the triple or custom brake action you describe. These replicas
look
> exactly like it and have a decal commemorating the 84 Giro win.
> I also understand, if you tell George Gibbs that he copied the IL
Vecchio
> name, be prepared to get a wrench throw at you or something! Ciao....I
mean
> OUCH!
> -Dave
>
> In a message dated 3/29/01 10:38:43 PM PST, mark@bulgier.net writes:
>
> > It's been a while since I looked at it, but I believe George Gibbs, the
> > proprietor, says it's a bike Battaglin rode in a Giro he won overall -
I
> > wanna say '84?
> >
> > BTW, you may know there's another bike shop named Il Vecchio ("the old
man"
> > in Italian), in Boulder CO maybe? I'm pretty sure the one in Seattle
is
> > older, in case there's any question of copying!