on 12/6/03 9:26 AM, Jan Heine at heine93@earthlink.net wrote:
> 1980s: LeMond won the world championships on 36-hole wheels, which
> now fellow randonneurs (!), who have no support cars, say are too
> heavy to go fast! Yes, Greg used TVT carbon frames, too. But for most
> other riders, bikes actually were heavier than in the 70s - witness
> Columbus Max tubing and such stuff.
When I worked at Motorola, I got to see some of their team bikes. Most had MAX tubing, off-the-shelf Cinelli X/A stems and 64/65/66 bars, fairly heavy rims (Even though they were sponsored by Wolber, most used Mavic), and stock Dura Ace drivetrain. I was surprised at how heavy the bikes were. I'd say that at least half of the bikes on our employee team were lighter.
Lance Armstrong was the one who started using aftermarket lightweight parts on his team bikes. He also was the one to use a titanium Litespeed disguised as a stock Merckx to win the '93 Worlds.
One of the guys at Bianchi told me that the bike that Gianni Bugno won the Worlds on (both times) weighed over 24 pounds (as did Indurain's standard Tour bike). At this time, the bike magazines were rating any bike that weighed 23 pounds or more as "too heavy to race."
Todd Kuzma
Heron Bicycles
Tullio's Big Dog Cyclery
LaSalle, IL 815-223-1776
http://www.heronbicycles.com
http://www.tullios.com