I was close to The North Club (Wauwautosa, WI) for a short while as they were closing operations. Motorola had not renewed sponsorship and a new sponsor had not been found. Lance was undergoing chemo at the time in Indiana. There were more than a few "Lance frames", as well as multiple Merckx MXL frames for quite a few riders. Three or four frames per rider was not unusual. I probably saw seven or more "Lance tagged" frames in the shop, ranging from 55 to 57 cm tt. (There was a 7-11 Merckx Century - Andy Hampsten frame hanging from the ceiling as well as Lance's first Tour tt bike, a Caloi rebadged Litespeed Blade.) Additional team frames were in a Belgium warehouse and later shipped to WI.
Like Eddy (and others), Lance liked to play with subtle geometry changes. And he's had a long career, so there are more than a handful of bikes that he's ridden. That said, I'd look at provenance on a claimed "Lance Armstrong" frameset with a very jaundiced eye. If I actually saw him dismount the thing at the end of a stage and he handed it to me, well that might be good enough. Maybe..... ; - )
BTW, A friend in my running club was recently sharing a triathlete story about Dave Scott. Seems my buddy (a very accomplished age grouper) caught a seat at a table with Dave Scott in the late 80's (maybe early 90's) following an International distance tri. Scott was talking about the race, in particular, the bike. Seems he'd been in the top four or so out of the water and took first overall shortly into the bike. Maybe 20 or so miles into the ride this teenager pulls up alongside him and starts chatting. Dave is busting his chops, but doesn't want to let on. The kid keeps chatting and Dave nods his head, "Yeah", "Mmm-hmmm", "Right". Dave is trying to keep the kid from seeing that he's nearly over his threshold. Finally, the kid rides off. Dave soldiers on, coming into T2 in second place and eventually passes the kid on the run. Scott tells my buddy he was afraid the kid would just leave him so he kept him talking as long as he could so he'd have a chance of running him down. The kid finishes fifth or so overall. Scott's parting words on the subject were, "Well he's not a great swimmer and his run needs work, but he oughta take up biking, he might have a future in it."
Of course you all know who he was racing.
Sid Smith Lake Forest, IL Presently working up an '83 3Rensho Special Export in Suntour
"Angel Garcia" <veronaman@comcast.net> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent by: cc: classicrendezvous-bounces@b Subject: Re: [CR]Re: was Team Raleigh, now Provenance ikelist.org
09/21/2004 02:31 PM
To Greg's point: I didn't pay much attention to the Armstrong Caloi as the
measurements were different than his Merckx MXL that was reviewed in Road
Bike Action in 1994. Of course, maybe he changed his preferred geometry....
Angel Garcia
Long Valley, NJ
> >
> > << alledged provenance.... >>
> >
> To which Dale B. replied:
>
> > That reminds me ( maybe Brett Horton is the guy to answer this) but
what
> > constitutes valid provenance? In the REALLY sophisticated world of
collecting,
> > provenance must have a fairly structured status. In other words, "you
telling me
> > that some guy told you that Bartali rode this bike in the 1942 Giro"
obviously
> > don't cut it. But what constitutes valid provenance to someone like a
big
> > auction house or a focussed collector?
> > Seems like almost nothing I have seen in the vintage bike world has
much
real
> > proof attached as to that item's confirmable history...
> >
> > Just a-wondering...................
> >
> > Dale Brown
> > Greensboro, NC
> It's a very valid question. With few exceptions (did y'all see Lance's
"travel" Caloi (Merckx) frameset sell recently on eBay for $5000?), I tend
to ignore alledged provenance of bikes (particularly on eBay). If it's an
item being offered by a CR list member that I know and trust, that would be
a whole different story. There's a whole lotta bologna out there in
general,
though....
> Brett? Your thoughts?
> Greg-issimo Parker
> Dexter, Michigan
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