Stan, If you don't understand the "fascination" with Ferraris or come under the spell of the Ferrari "mystique" no mortal could explain it to you.
"My albeit limited > experience with exotic foreign cars of the 50's-early 70's (non racing cars) > has shown me that they are very heavy to handle, especially at low speed......"
Glad you included the part about your experience. Even so, these cars weren't meant to be driven at "low" speeds. The comparison is top of the line cars to top of the line bikes. Pretty simple.
"Granted there are some nice > Ferrari's but they are far from being the ultimate car in the opinion of > many of those knowledgeable about cars. "
Really? Who might these folks be? And what would they prefer? Dusenbergs and Bugattis? Wonderful cars, but far from perfect either. I guess it kinda depends on what you call the "ultimate" car, right?
Come on in out of left field, Stan. I think you may have missed the whole point by a wide margin ;-) And that's all I have to say about cars before I get booted.
John Dunn in Boise
> I also see road racing bikes as a seperate entity.
>
> I don't see the comparison between road racing bikes and road racing cars.
> The theory, "if my Cinelli/Masi/etc. was a car, it would be a Ferrari" is
> ponderous at least. Maybe a small cc racing motorcycle is about the
> farthest stretch I might imagine, and not even then. My albeit limited
> experience with exotic foreign cars of the 50's-early 70's (non racing
cars)
> has shown me that they are very heavy to handle, especially at low speed,
> and much more like a heavy paper bike with a big motor, than a light and
> responsive (human powered) road racing bike.
>
> If you would give up the possibility of ever riding a bike again to have
> your dream Ferrari and drive it instead, I'd say you made a very bad
choice.
>
> What is this fascination with Ferrari's anyway? Granted there are some
nice
> Ferrari's but they are far from being the ultimate car in the opinion of
> many of those knowledgeable about cars. I have a friend who knew Luigi
> Chinetti (winning race car driver and North American importer for Ferrari)
> in the early 60's. When Chinetti had visitors, he would take them to see
> the great car collection of Dr. Sam Scher in N.Y., these were not
Ferrari's!
> At this time, (my friend relates) Mr. Chinetti was driving a Ford station
> wagon, and it wasn't even new.
>
> I had dinner with Andrea Pininfarina, (Sergio's son), about 20 years ago
and
> although he was interested in F1 racing, he was far and away most
interested
> in riding his BMW motorcycle.
>
> As far as Ferrari owners having racing bikes... I've seen a number of car
> collections over the years, many which included Ferrari's and have met a
few
> enthusiasts who have been "high-end model" new Ferrari consumers. I don't
> remember seeing bicycles (save those belonging to their children) in their
> garages, and not motorcycles either. Most (not all) of these original and
> second hand "high-end model" Ferrari owners I've seen, have had larger
> waistlines, which matched their pocketbooks.
>
> I only know one person that has an ex-competition Ferrari, that also has
> racing bikes, and that rides and enjoys them. He is in the extreme
minority
> I believe.
>
> There is also a group of folks having come into some money, that have to
> have the best of everything, cars, bikes, motorcycles, etc. often knowing
> very little about them, or because they are the "prestige" items to own.
> This is a modern phenomenon, and I'm not sure that they fit into the
> equation.
>
> I like to think of the original owners of high-end Italian/other bikes as
> having the nice bikes and a bike rack on their Fiat/economy car. The nice
> bike was very much appreciated. This I think is much closer to reality.
>
> When I was in Northern Italy up around Cortina in 1997 there was a local
> bike race going on. I watched an older gentleman, I would guess in his
> early 70's, make a steep climb at the already high altitude, and in about
80
> degree weather. This was very impressive!!! If Gilles Villeneuve had
come
> out of the grave and driven by me in an F1 Ferrari it would not have
> impressed me nearly as much. I doubt that old cyclist ever sat in a
> Ferrari, all the better for him.
>
> Stan Staniszewski
> Clinton Twp., MI
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2002 2:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [CR]using classic bicycles, well?
>
>
> > I came from a _total_ obsession with cars from the time I got a driver's
> > license at 16 to a _total_ obsession with racing bicycles when I started
> > riding at 32 in 1976 (you do the math). I was particularly fascinated
> > with Formula 1 race cars.
> >
> > The first thing that struck me then was that all racing bikes were
> > streetable, while Formula 1 cars were not. I was really tickled that I
> > could ride and afford these totally cost is no object state of the art
> > racing bikes, and do daily errands with them if I liked.
> >
> > Of course, the by product of leaving the car culture behind was that the
> > engine sitting on the bike improved over the ensuing years with daily
> > use. Something that can't be said for car use.
> >
> > And I love to kid my motorcycle friends that their reduced to bare
> > essentials machines have an extra motor that is going to waste sitting
> > on the saddle.
> >
> > Chuck Schmidt
> > South Pasadena, Southern California