Listfriends,
Before we talk about Ocana and Motobecana : I've noticed a rash of "repl
y to sender" whole-digest appendages in the last few days. Not at all to
chastise anyone here, I just hope that anyone having done it will have
noticed the error and learned from it, avoiding it in future. The princi
ple sadness of it is that any post coming immediately after tends to be
obscured and possibly missed by those taking the list in digest form. My
message is: start a new message! Then, cut and paste pertinent quotatio
n-type material. I almost overlooked Ed's excellent post, which I reprod
uce here (very nearly) in full, and comment on below:
>Have to weigh in on this one, as I've read the archive posts on this to
pic
>previously. The bike on which Ocana crashed in '71 (and more accurately
, Merckx
>crashed first, Ocana crashed into him and was preparing to rejoin the r
ace when
>he was in turn crashed into) was one of his Motobecanes, not a Speedwel
l (with a
>wiggly Ti fork or whatever). There's a story in one of the Cycle Sports
about
>those Speedwells, and Ocana didn't even have one in '71. In fact, I bel
ieve he
>didn't have one until '73 (don't have the article in front of me, but c
an
>reference it when I get home tonight). Also, the photos of Ocana's Spee
dwell
>frames I've seen show bikes that are actually badged Speedwell rather t
han
>Motobecane. In one of the Cycle Sport photos in the feature on Ocana (f
rom
>November '74, if memory serves) Ocana is shown writhing on the ground f
ollowing
>the '71 crash. In the foreground of the photo (still lying on the pavem
ent I
>believe) is his bike (or if it's not his bike, somebody better convince
me a
>spare bike was left lying in the road while Ocana was tended to, or a t
eammate
>fell in the same spot moments after Ocana). It's a Motobecane. It has t
he foil
>"Motobecane" decal evident on the seattube. It also has a seatcluster
>that is quite evidently lugged. You can see the lower point on the seat
lug and
>the semi-wrapparound stays and other lug edges. Ocana's Speedwells were
tigged.
>Let's put the story that Ocana crashed because he was riding a noodly T
i frame
>while pursuing Merckx on that descent to rest. It was a Moto Ocana was
riding
>that day; I'd bet my blue '68 Cinelli SC on it. I'd also bet that same
Cinelli
>that Ocana would have beaten Merckx if he hadn't crashed, but then Ocan
a crashed
>in '69 and '72 as well. Maybe he just wasn't a great descender no matte
r what
>bike you put him on (but the man could sure climb AND time trial. Nor w
as that
>the final tragedy in his life, sadly.
>Ed Granger
>battling list mythology today in
>Lancaster, PA, USA
I can corroborate (no, I wasn't there! ;-)) Ed's observed details that t he '71 Ocana bike is lugged, and has a Motobecane foil sticker plainly d isplayed on the seattube (though I am not looking at a photo of the bike at the crash site itself). Interestingly, it appears to have no headbad ge--see page 240 of the OFFICIAL TOUR DE FRANCE CENTENNIAL 1902 - 2003 ( published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson). Other interesting details include sidepull brakes with drilled levers, and a Vittel waterbottle in a clamp ed-on cage. Ocana's 1970 machine (page 237, same book) displays a Motobe cane headbadge, has plain brake levers. By '73 (page 245), the bike in u se has a headbadge again, is (still) lugged, has again factory drillium brake levers--but brazed-on bottle cage bosses, and low-flanged front (m aybe rear, too) hub. '73 being his winning (no serious accidents) year, I have to conclude that bottle-bosses make for safer descents--or work b etter in the rain! Wink-wink. Seriously, it's kind-of fun to chart racin g bike evolution by watching a given rider from year to year--as in "wha t's Thevenet's PX-10 wearing this year?".
In 1973 Ocana's Bic team jersey also sports a 'Miko' logo. Anyone know w hat Miko was / is? Tom "What's the Guy Behind Him Riding?" Ward New York, NY / aux Etats-Unis P.S. Meester aPergo there ees a pigeon winging toward your home avec not es de banc vis-a-vis the delightful little town of Frejus and its tunnel --by way of Torino.