Narrow 38 Cinelli Criterium bars, so you could squeeeeze through the gaps to improve your position. A higher bottom bracket, so you could pedal through the corners without scraping, and not lose speed. If you didn't have the money to purchase an extra set of track pedals, out came the hack saw and file and off went the outside of the pedal cage to make a custom track pedal. One of the scariest sounds in a crit race, going through a 90 degree corner at 30+ miles an hour and hearing someone scraping a pedal and waiting to hear the pile up that might accompany it, and hoping you are not part of it. Obviously a little stiffer frame to keep you going forward through all the all out jumps. Crit frames deffinitely a little tough on the butt for longer rides or races. I also agree with Edward Albert, ask Bobby Phillips. Having lived most of my life in N.J. and racing there for 25 years, having Bopbby Phillips even in site at the finish made for a good day. No matter what bike you were race on, there is nothing more important than legs, heart and courage. Ask Bobby Phillips......
Ed Busch
Vonore Tennessee USA
> As a so called Crit rider of that era (and not much else), I believe such
> bikes, if there ever really was such a thing, were defined more by frame
> geometry than parts. I had, what I thought at the time, was the ultimate
> "crit" bike built for me for the Master's Nationals being held in the
> early
> 80's in Allentown, PA. U.S.A. It was built by Tom Kellog and was,
> essentially a track bike with brakes and derailleurs. Tight, lots of
> pedal
> overlap, extremely twitchy if you weren't smooth, and would go right were
> you put it in a steep turn. Most of us used track pedals, some (I think
> Pa
> t
> Gellineau -- the ultimate crit specialist and still racing and winning --
> I
> think had a right campy bar con shifter for the sprint. Want to know
> about
> setting up a criterium bike of that era? Ask Bobby Phillips at the next
> bi
> g
> swap in Westminster, MD. He was (is) a master at the art.
> Edward Albert
> Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A
>
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 12:57 AM, devotion finesse <
> devotion_finesse@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> For reasons unbeknownst to me, I have an increasing interest in The Crite
>> rium Bicycle. Perhaps it is because of the small build details that ofte
> n
>> differentiate a criterium racer from the average all-around road racing b
> ic
>> ycle. Much like the time trial bike, the crit bike seems to be purpose-b
>> uilt, often with small bits of ingenuity and invention born from the need
>> s of racers engaged in a very particular or specific practice.
>> While I see plenty of "period" builds or restorations, race-specific rest
>> orations seem a bit less common.
>> But I am endlessly fascinated by creativity with things such as cable rou
> ti
>> ng, lever placement, drillium, curved shift levers, etc. (Weigle's
>> white '73 Time Trial machine is an all-time favorite of mine.)
>> Just for fun, I have decided to build my current project as a period crit
>> -specific bike...Partially because when I received the frame, it had been
>> re-painted, braze-ons had been added and I have thus been (temporarily)
>> liberated from the responsibility to build it as a "period correct" resto
> ra
>> tion. My long term plan is to have the frame restored to it's early 70's
> g
>> lory... but given my current financial status, I also created another cha
>> llenge for myself: Build this bike with as many on-hand parts as possible
> .
>> I just so happened to have a pair of Cinelli Criterium bars, NR levers w
>> ith "shield logo" gum hoods, Campy bar-cons, a 7-speed wheelset with lo
>> w flange NR hubs laced to gray annodized Nisi Mixers (which I will be re-
> sp
>> acing to a 5-speed) and a bunch of other Nuovo Record bits...
>> So I will attempt to build what I call a "late 70's/early 80's take on th
> e
>> refurbishment of an early 70's race bike."
>> I am hoping The List can suggest some build details that might be worth c
> on
>> sidering as I set up my first criterium style bike.
>> I have seen pics of bikes with a single ring in front and a bar-end shift
> er
>> for the rear cluster (a corn cob, I'd imagine). I have seen bikes with
>> two bar ends...Or a downtube shifter for the front and a bar-end for the
> re
>> ar.
>> What other sorts of details made a bike a quintessential "crit bike"? 165
> mm
>> cranks to enable pedaling through corners? Where the bars typically shor
> te
>> ned the same way track bars were? I'd imagine this would be the case, esp
>> ecially if barcons were used...
>> Any help or pics of similar builds is appreciated. As is a pair of nutte
> d/
>> non-recessed Nuovo Record brake calipers.
>>
>> Matthew Bowne
>> Brooklyn, New York
>>
>>
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