Finished rewatching the film last night. There was no definitive shot of the right side of the bikes that would allow one to clearly see the RD, which would have definitely settled whether the Flandrias were Dura Ace or Campy in 1976. But there were enough fair imagines that I'm about 90% sure the RD was a traditional drop parallelogram like Campy NR, not a horizonal parallelogram like Dura Ace, or maybe Crane, as I think the DA RD was still badged in 1976. And the shots of Maertens sure look more like Campy NR brake levers and calipers than Dura Ace.
Searching the web, I find that Flandria began using Dura Ace in 1973, but I can find no information as to how many years they used it. But I do note that the Velda/Flandria jerseys in the film do not bear any Shimano markings, whereas there are lots of photos around of Flandria/Shimano team jerseys in other years. So I must conclude that Flandria had completed their contract with Shimano and switched back to Campy by 1976. So I guess if Peter builds up his Gios ala DeVlaeminck, and I bring my all D-A Flandria to a future Cirque, we'll have to reinact the 1975 P-R rather than the 1976.
BTW, Maerten did play a more prominant role in the film than I had remembered, as he and his team did most of the work chasing down DeVlaeminck's attacks all day, until Freddy crashed and retired late in the day. Indeed Maerten's crash may have decided the outcome. In the final break Demayer was in the company of DeVlaeminck, Moser, and reigning World Champion Kuiper, elite company in which one would normally expect DeMayer to come last. But Demayer did absolutely no work, probably on the pretext that he was waiting for his captain Maertens to rejoin. So he was fresher at the end than his more fancied companions, and ran out the surprise winner.
Pity my team replica Flandria seems to be at laest one year too early to have appeared in A Sunday in Hell. But the real star of the film, as far as the bikes are concerned, is the champagne-colored Benotto which opens the film being cleaned and prepped by the team mechanic. Wonderful scene, captures the essence of European racing when it was still a no-nonsence working class sport. The frame is clean, but with lots of little scratches, and it is obvious the mechanic is more concerned with function than appearance. He even seems unconcerned when the bars come around and bump the toptube once or twice. Quite obviously, the bike is basically just a tool, even though the bike manufacturer helps pay the bills. And the bike and components have no garish colors or huge logos, but just design for the job at hand.
So as the Benotto has such a staring role I am going to have to build up my Mexican-made chanpagne Benotto acquired NOS from Jay Gruen a while back. I've heard Robert Schackleford's horror stories, and it is clear that Benotto has some real quailty control issues in Mexico for a time. But no one else has reported an experience nearly as bad as Robert's so I assume that Benotto did eventually address the problem. I'll just hope my frame wasn't one built during that bad patch.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
> From: Edward Albert <ealbert01@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [CR] Am I the only that's a little sad knowing J. Moos has a Masi
> To: "Thomas Adams" <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com>
> Cc: jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net, "Tom Sanders" <tesanders@comcast.net>, Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Monday, May 4, 2009, 12:43 PM
> Yes DeMayer did win. But Freddy played a huge role in the
> race chasing down
> the breaks. DeVlaaminck kept attacking and attacking.
> Then Merckx. But
> just as Freddy got close he crashed on a turn and packed it
> in. On a sadder
> not DeMayer died young of a heart attack, I believe. One
> wonder what those
> guys were doing to themselves....as if we didn't know.
> Edward Albert
> Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A.
>
> On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 1:28 PM, Thomas Adams
> <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com>wrote:
>
> > Yeah, but Marc DeMayer, up on a Flandria, figured a
> bit in the film. He
> > won the race. :-)
> >
> > Tom Adams
> > Manhattan, KS
> >
> > --- On Mon, 5/4/09, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos
> <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >
> > From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos
> <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
> > Subject: Re: [CR] Am I the only that's a little
> sad knowing J. Moos has a
> > Masi
> > To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, "Tom
> Sanders" <tesanders@comcast.net>
> > Date: Monday, May 4, 2009, 9:49 AM
> >
> >
> >
> > Yes, it is a slippery slope. I see my next
> transgression coming already.
> > Hanging on the wall in the garage is a
> champagne-colored Benotto frameset,
> > very similar the the one ridden by Frnacesco Moser in
> "A Sunday in Hell". I
> > even have a Sanson jersey to match, so I suppose I am
> goig to have to build
> > this one up all Campy, like those ridden by Moser
> & Co. And if Peter builds
> > his Gios like DeVlaeminck's maybe we can reinact
> the 1976 P-R on the
> > slightly less cobbled DC bike paths at some future
> Cirque.
> >
> > Come to think out it, I already have a team replica
> Flandria, like those
> > ridden by Maertens and Pollentier, with original Dura
> Ace. But I don't
> > think Freddy featured that prominantly in the film,
> and I don't remember if
> > Flandria, who began using Shimano in 1973, reportedly
> much to the annoyance
> > of Tullio Campagnolo, was still using D-A in 1976.
> But in any case owning a
> > Flandria is only a minor sin for a Francophile, one a
> couple of Hail Marys
> > should atone for. Benotto or Masi, on the other hand,
> may well damn one
> > completely.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jerry Moos
> > Big Spring, Texas, USA
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Mon, 5/4/09, Tom Sanders
> <tesanders@comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> > > From: Tom Sanders <tesanders@comcast.net>
> > > Subject: [CR] Am I the only that's a little
> sad knowing J. Moos has a
> > Masi
> > > To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > > Date: Monday, May 4, 2009, 5:48 AM
> > > Not at all.knowing that in one of his rare posts
> Jerry has
> > > exhibited a tiny
> > > bit of anti-Masi attitude I promptly wrote and
> poked fun
> > > at him for owning
> > > one. Jerry patiently wrote back and explained
> his
> > > reasoning for doing
> > > so.pretty much the same post he sent to the
> list..
> > >
> > > I'll bet he's secretly yearning for a
> twin plate GC
> > > by now and may well be
> > > in secret negotiations to purchase Bob
> Hovey's Masi web
> > > site. Hope Bob gets
> > > a lot of that big Texas money.
> > >
> > > Tom Sanders
> > >
> > > Lansing, MI USA
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > >
> http://www.bikelist.org/
> > _______________________________________________
> > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> >
> http://www.bikelist.org/
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> >
> http://www.bikelist.org/
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Classicrendezvous mailing list
> Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> http://www.bikelist.org/