The answer is on the bike numbers themselves - that style of number (closed "2") was last used in the 1935 TdF. After that, they switched to numbers which had teardrop shapes and looked like stencils.
L'Auto first began supplying the yellow bikes in 1930. In some photos the color looks light, while in others they look black. I remember from my studies of 1930s aircraft photos that some types of b&w film translate yellow as black. I'll leave it to the experts to explain which films and why that is.
Anyway - by 1938 the bikes were no longer identical - Bartali's winning bike was a green Legnano painted yellow..
Aldo Ross Middletown, Ohio
Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 15:47:42 -0800 From: Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Now: Yellow TdF bikes Was: Bespoke French Builders ofRACING Bikes Message-ID: <43977492.5E317BFA@earthlink.net> References: <BFBD04E5.551CA%hilary.stone@blueyonder.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Reply-To: chuckschmidt@earthlink.net Message: 3
Hilary Stone wrote:
>
> I am not sure this picture is from the 37 Tour - this was the first
year
> since 1919 that the pro riders had been allowed gears - perhaps these
bikes
> were the equivalent of neutral service. I believe that 1932 was the
first
> year the Tour organisation supplied bikes on mass. And that this
practice
> only lasted for a couple of years or so...
Yes, I agree Hilary, the '37 date in the photo caption would be in error because of the introduction of derailleurs in '37.
However, I don't believe the photo shows neutral support bikes because you'll notice they all have race numbers attached to the frames.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, Southern California