on 1/19/04 4:36 PM, wheelman@nac.net at wheelman@nac.net wrote:
> I watched this auction with interest. I imagined owning a piece of TDF
> history but then wondered why no discussion here even after it closed.
Please excuse my foray out of the official timeline, but I have some background with the Motorola team bikes.
In a previous life, I worked for Motorola and was for a short time on the employee racing team. We had contacts with the pro team and usually had the opportunity to buy team frames and bikes at the end of the year. They were usually pretty cheap since the bikes were pretty beat. The best deals (and highest prices) went to spare bikes that were rarely ridden.
I almost bought a Steve Bauer frame and fork pretty cheap after one season but passed on it. A number of friends did buy frames and complete bikes. The last couple years the Motorola team was around they sold some frames and bikes at the Downers Grove US crit championship.
I think Bauer's frame was offered to me for $400 in pretty good condition. A couple of Armstrong's frames were also available for $500 or so. Complet bikes were in the $1000 range. The time trial bike in the auction might go for more since it is a bit more unique and was probably not used very often.
Two bikes that I was interested in were Bauer's long-and-low special he had made for Paris-Roubaix (it has the UCI maximum wheelbase to soak up the bumps) and Lance Armstrong's secret titanium bikes. Neither were available. I guess Bauer kept his specials, and while the team had some of Armstrong's ti bikes, they could not officially acknowledge their existence (they were relabeled Litespeeds that Merckx pretended were steel).
The bike paraded around as the winner of the 1993 Worlds had a regular lugged steel frame, but Armstrong won that race on a Litespeed painted as a Merckx. When Armstrong returned to the US from the Worlds, I had the opportunity to go pick him up at the airport. I couldn't make it, but a friend went as did the corporate manager for the team. Armstrong arrived not to a ticker tape parade, but to two people at O'Hare Airport. He took his World Champ jersey and medal in his carry-on luggage for safe keeping.
Todd Kuzma
Heron Bicycles
Tullio's Big Dog Cyclery
LaSalle, IL
http://www.heronbicycles.com/
http://www.tullios.com/