Joe Starck wrote:
>
> (snip) The bike has a look. What else can one
> say about it? Looks like the "red cloth" is more
> orangy, and maybe there's pics of the bike on-line,
> and I'm curious then, about the cloth stripes on the
> brake levers; I can't recall ever seeing this nice
> aesthetic touch on other bikes, anybody?
As evidenced by old race photos and Daniel Rebour drawings of the winning bikes in the big tours it was common practice by race mechanics up through 1950s and even into the early 1960s. It was typical to tape the brake cable housing to the top tube instead of using clamps, tape the toe strap end over on itself, tape the toe strap buckle so it wasn't sharp against the foot, tape the toe clips so they were soft against the toes, tape the pump clips so they were soft against the hand, tape the bottle cage so the aluminum bottle didn't rattle, tape the handlebar water bottle cage straps so they were soft to the hand, tape the brake cables where they exited the brake levers so they were soft to the hand, tape the brake levers so the hand didn't slip from sweat or rain, tape around the pump to make sure it was secure to the bike, tape over the ends of the bars after jamming in a cork, and on and on.
Imagine racing your bike all day long for a three or four week stretch and the toll all the sharp edges of the components on those old race bikes would take on your hands.
I believe the tape used back in the early days was more like what was called "friction tape" (sticky all over, like hockey stick tape) rather than the cloth handlebar tape we are all familiar with.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA USA
http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)