Mark and all,
My feeling about rainbow stripes has always been as you suggest. The RID ER wins the rainbow stripes. The bike, any bike, just sits there on the ground without a rider attached. Besides, how many bikes have been under winning riders that were not labeled as that of the actual maker.
I've always considered the world stripes on a bike as part of the decora tion scheme. The Olymipic rings on the other hand, are trademarked and v iolations are prosecuted.
Brian Baylis La Mesa, CA
Wizard frame had world stripes on them; couldn't think of amything else at the time. I've always like the look of a small splash of colors on al most any bike.
Dale commented: ------------------------------ << Please bear in mind that there is no requirement that a bike/rider w in a World Championship for the? rainbow stripes to placed on a BIKE. It's a
tradition, but not a rule, unless the UCI has changed things in recent? years.>>
Absolutely true.
It's interestingly that the Olympic rings are trademarked but not the Wo rld's Rainbow Stripes.
It is a strong convention though. ------------------------------
Dale, any idea how long the Olympic rings have been trademarked?
Reason I'm interested is that it appears that in the 1960s Colnago may h ave used the Olympic rings on some bikes that were intended for use at the Olympi cs. I have a photograph of a 1960s Colnago track bike with a headtube logo/bad ge that includes the Olympic rings as well as "Rome 1960" (also with "Colnago", "Cambiago" and the colours of the Italian flag.
I recently met with the second owner of my 1968ish Colnago (http://picasaweb.google.com/MarkABattley/1968Colnago) who bought the bi ke from Jim Brittain in 1972. Bruce told me that the bike was originally intende d for the French team for the 1968 Mexico Olympics, and had a headbadge/decal that consisted of the Olympic rings, with Mexico above and 1968 below. Bruce is trying to find his photographs of the bike.
Did other builders use the Olympic rings on their bikes?
Best regards,
Mark Battley
Auckland, New Zealand, Down Under