hi all, i took the opportunity while i was on the east coast this past week to take some pictures of my dad's 1967 (almost) all orginal 1967 bianchi specialissima.
(the 'almost' part refers to the rims; he had the wheels re-laced to clincher rims sometime in the '80's if i recall correctly, the gum hoods have long ago cracked and fallen off as well).
he bought the bike in 1967 and picked it up at the factory in italy, then rode it through a lot of europe. he brought it back to the states with him in '68 or '69 where he rode it around the santa cruz area while going to school, and packed it up and took it to england when he moved there in '71.
he brought it back to the states again in '73, this time to upstate new york, where it was outfitted with a very primitive baby seat into which my tender -- and helmetless -- person was placed for long rides through the countryside.
the bike has not been coddled, and it shows, but i've at least got him thinking about restoring it, and if he won't, then i will, as it, along with my dad and greg lemond, were the biggest contributors to my lifetime obsession with bicycles.
a note about the pictures: this is a raw dump, so they're not sorted, cropped, color-corrected, or gussied up by anything as effete as a caption, so if you don't want to wade through a bunch less-than-stellar snaps you might want to give this a miss wait until i have a more polished presentation put together.
at any rate, i hope some of you find the pictures enjoyable.
http://photobucket.com/
regards -- -galen 'san fransicso is a whole lot colder than new york in the summer' pewtherer san francsico, ca