Yes, as we've discussed here before, Windsor was a Mexican bike brand. Their products included the Windsor Profesional, a (very good IMHO) clone of the Cinelli Supercorsa, complete with the unique Cinelli seatstays. About the only obvious way to distinguish a unpainted Windsor Pro from a genuine Cinelli is the larger seatpost and the fact that Windsor never, AFIK, used the Cinelli full sloping fork crown. Many Windsor Pros were sold in the US in the early 70's, including one I bought new in 1973. It is not uncommon for Windsor Pros in the US to be redecaled and passed off as Cinellis.
There are various stories about the connection between Windsor and Cinelli, including that Cinelli helped set up the operation, or that Windsor hired a former Cinelli shop foreman.
Windsor was part of a much larger Mexican industrial corporation, which evidently had enough clout with the operators of the Mexico City velodrome to force Merckx at the last minute to apply Windsor decals to the Hour Record bike as the price of using the velodrome. Ernsto Colnago, who of course actually built the bike (or his company did) was reportedly outraged at the Windsor decals.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
Hennie van Leeuwen <hjleeuw@tiscali.nl> wrote: Miroir du Cyclisme nov. '72 no. 163 :
Some details of the bike he used in his "finest hour" :
-Black headset. -Eddy Merckx in characters on the diagonal tube (no large blue decal). -No yellow (Tour) and pink (Giro) decal on seat tube. -Windsor decal on head tube and on seat tube. -Colnago clover on fork crown. -28 spokes (non crossed) front wheel, 32 rear (crossed). -stem lightly facing down.
Other non visible details mentioned in an article about the bike : -7/10 mm tubes and 4/10mm near the bottom bracket. -weight around 5.5 kilogramms.
There is a picture in the Miroir with Ernesto Colnago holding the bike, it does not have the Windsor decals on it then. Mr. Willburn must be right, the decals were put on the bike just before the succesfull attempt. I think I've read once Windsor is (or was) a Mexican bike brand and mr Colnago was not very pleased.
So a nice puzzle for a rainy Sunday afternoon (we have lots of them in Holland).
Which of the 2 bikes mr. Garcia shows on Wooljersey is cloosest to the original ? (http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/veronaman/?g2_page=2)
Have a wonderfull 2007 and let's save many bikes from the dust bin !
Kind regards,
Hennie van Leeuwen
Veenendaal, Holland.