When I obtained my 1972 special order Cinelli last year (that was available from Bruegelmann's in Frankfurt, Germany) the owner told me that he had seen another like it at a pre-Olympic 1972 race near Munich. He was so happy to see one he took a photo (slide) of it. He gave me that slide which, by chance, I developed into a print. In the print you could see some writing on the top tube. A blow-up of the photo showed a name. I went on a long journey on the internet to find this person. I finally found a reference to the name in a German magazine. I wrote to the magazine editor explaining that I was looking for Mr. xxxxx "who may have been a bike racer". Months went by. Then one day I received an email from Mr. xxxxx who was, as you can imagine, very surprised that someone was asking about a bike he owned 31 years ago! I sent him some pictures of my own bike. Over the last few months we have become good friends via email being brought together by yellow Cinellis. Crazy world. Angel Garcia Long Valley, NJ
snip: When the thought was offered that the bike may have been ridden by a
sponsored rider and painted to match the team colors, I decided to try a
little detective work and see if the original rider could be determined, fat
chance?? On the frame are a couple of decals, one from a bike shop in the
San Diego area, the other is a bike club sticker from San Diego, also. I
called the bike shop number, like it was really going to exist, right?! and
to my surprise it was a bike shop, although it has changed hands and names a
couple of times. The guy there sent me to another shop, because of a bike
mechanic that worked at the original store. I tracked Daniel down, with a
dead end, maybe?? Then I looked up the bike club, boy, I am grateful for the
internet, there's no way I would do it by car!! So, I have contacted a well
established, published, credentialled veteran cyclist who seems to recall
that 25-30 years ago there was a Southern California Based Raleigh Sponsored
cycling team and one year a number of riders switched to team Schwinn and
some bikes were probably painted to match?!?! I have proposed another
question to find out if there might have been anybody famous?? at least a
recognized name??
snip
John Morrison, SoCal