I have color catalogs of Mottas, and there are some strange paint schemes. They also did 4 color paint, red/white/green/black, or yellow, etc.
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Jerome & Elizabeth Moos Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 9:22 AM To: loudeeter@aol.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Pic of the Day Linea Motta 1984
Actually, Aldo's photo appears to show bikes with a "stars and stripes" paint scheme I've never seen before. I'm familiar with the Italian Tricolore Motta scheme, in which each color is used for at least one entire tube (in fact, Mary Pfeiffer restored my early 80's Motta Personal 2001 in this scheme). I've also seen a red, white and blue scheme which is essentially the same, except substituting blue for green. This is the one I assumed people were referring to a couple of days back. Today's photo, with the stars and stripes paint scheme, is entirely different. Anyone know why Motta sponsored a predominantly American team with such bike graphics in the Giro? Did he see a big potential market in America for his bikes?
As many here know, I'm not a huge fan of Italian bikes, as I find them too much alike. My relatively few Italian bikes tend to be the somewhat "different" ones like ALAN, Legnano with the strange seat binder, or Bianchi in "celeste", which connotes "sky blue" which it definitely is not. Motta bikes, like Gianni himself, are also "different", which is probably why I own one. One of Merckx's books talks about some of Gianni's strange training methods, including at one point adopting the diet regimen of the American astronauts.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
Aldo Ross posted this picture:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
and said: "All bikes shown are in the red/white/green Italian Flag colorscheme...."
I believe these bikes are actually the red, white and BLUE USA flag pattern bicycle that I mentioned yesterday and not the red/white/green Italian Flag colorscheme. The seller thought my bike was owned by an Olympian. Anybody know whether any of the riders in the picture ever rode in the Olympics (or perhaps might have been on the ill fated 1980 team that didn't get to ride?)? It would be neat to find out that my bike was one of the ones in the picture and had actually been ridden in the Giro. Would increase the mojo somewhat! Lou Deeter, Orlando FL