Amidst all the hullabaloo surrounding the Confente, no one seems to have paid much attention to the badly-repainted 1969 Cinelli which sold for $2250:
The buyer "markh" is unfamiliar to me.
LATEST VINTAGE RIDE
I've been playing with the repainted silver Legnano "Roma" I bought at CduC, and, finally convinced of it's road-worthiness, I used it last night for the local Monday Night Touring ride.
Five of us enjoyed a warm, crystaline blue evening spent spinning along the rolling roads which follow Brown's Run, Mud Lick, Dry Run (which is currently quite wet!), and the Great Miami River. Traffic was quieter than usual, so we had time to talk about bikes and brakes and wool jerseys. Nice casual ride.
Local legend Mardy was on the back of a big red Cannondale tandem, two years after she was stuck by a car (the same accident killed her husband). At 67 she is still lively and spirited, though hints of the tragedy creep into her conversation from time to time, and a 20" scar along her right leg, where they replaced her splintered knee, remains as a constant visual reminder to fellow riders.
Her new tandem partner, Bob, is taking her on a 450 mile tour of the Shenendoah valley... my pile of maps from trips through Virginia found a new home in their van.
Bob and Mardy were testing a new drag brake on the tandem... they engaged it on the descent of Oxford road, which plummets to the bottom of Mud Lick Valley. The brake did absolutly nothing... Bob said it must be connected backwards. The rest of us pondered the possibilities of this - if it's connected backwards, does it actually make you go FASTER when engaged?... could be handy on climbs.
I had my own adventure on the drop into Mud Lick... as my speedometer displayed 45 MPH, I took a moment to contemplate the bike to which I was so tenuously connected... Ambrosio adjustable stem with aluminum "death bolts", Universal "Extra" brakes with 40-years-old granite pads and self-destructive "death levers", 40+ year old Ambrosio alloy bar which probably hides major structural flaws just below their brightly polished surface.
All these little bits and pieces from the "Dangerous Components Gift Catalogue" left me unwilling to put too much force on the bars or brakes, and as my speed passed 50 MPH, I settled into the bike and prepared for the twisting turns at the bottom, where the road passes the 1850s Mud Lick Mill, the Swan Lake, and the covered bridge, always a magnet for mud and gravel, and muddy gravel, and gravely mud.
The bike handles wonderfully... it's low bottom bracket and long stays give it a steady, settled feel at all speeds, and the cornering is not twitchy or taxing like some modern stuff. No shimmy, no swoosh or push, a very confident feeling going through the curves.
I completed the descent awash in a flood of adrenaline, and paused to check all the nuts and bolts before the climb back out of the valley. Almost everything checked out fine, and my pulse eventually dropped back to a manageable level... I've decided that the only really safe components on this bike are the sturdy steel cottered crankset... although the adjustabe cup of the backward-mounted bottom bracket was, even then, creeping out of the threading.
Another fearless soul rides every Monday on his 1979 Viscount/Lambert. The "death forks" were replaced many years ago, and the brakes and derailleurs have been replaced with Shimano or Suntour, but the round-holed crankset is still there, it's teeth worn thin and sharp. Dave bought two of these new in '79, one for his son and one for himself. After college, his son quit riding, so Dave has a complete bike worth of spares... perhaps he'll get another twenty-two years of use from them?
Our ride leader, Steve, is retired, and recently returned to college to study English Literature. His home office is filled with the great Unread Classics. His basement is filled with toy trains... he has a wife in there too, somewhere.
Steve has suffered a lifetime of minor injuries and corrective surgeries, leaving him with a distinctive asymmetric position and pedaling style. If you've ever seen a toy steam engine with the wheel-connecting arms bent or broken, that is how Steve looks when he rides. Everything about him seems to be settling or jutting to the left - hips, knees, ankles, shoulders - and after a few minutes riding behind him you realize your head is leaning to the side and you're attempting to countersteer your bike into the roadside flora.
After the ride, Steve asked if I had ever considered upgrading the derailleurs on my bike. He'd noticed the steel GS rear mech and friction levers, and the cottered crankset.
"You'd could probably use a whole new bike even."
Well, maybe.
;-) Aldo Ross