Re: [CR] Bikes Used By The Pros

(Example: Books:Ron Kitching)

In-Reply-To: <a0624081ac7b98ec15b9e@67.100.127.108>
References: <29cfc1e01003061606k25def839jf7f0ec6c5a03632e@mail.gmail.com> <4B9374C7.5000508@team-ware.de>
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2010 18:47:37 +0100
From: "Freek Faro" <khun.freek@gmail.com>
To: Jan Heine <heine94@earthlink.net>
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] Bikes Used By The Pros


A nice picture of Hinault at the start of a time trial in the 1985 Tour de France.

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/Freeks-racefietsen/classic+ads/Hinault+TT+TdF+1985.JPG.html

As you can see, its a delta frame with bullhorns, but as far as I can see plain round tubes, and lugged. Very different from the Gitane Delta aero bike that everyone remembers (fondly!). To make things more complicated, this was the year that Greg Lemond was in Hinaults team, and rode 'Huffy' badged bikes. But thats been discussed at length in many places I believe.

Freek Faro Rotterdam Netherlands

2010/3/7 Jan Heine <heine94@earthlink.net>
> The bicycles being sold as Hinault's are completely different from the
>> Gitane aero bike ("Profil") which Hinault used. I have no idea if they are
>> or aren't Hinaults. They are badged with the same decals used in 1985 for
>> the La Vie Claire team which Hinault rode for.
>>
>
> Just one additional reference point about potentially fake bikes ridden by
> Hinault: When we photographed bikes for our book "The Competition Bicycle,"
> we included a bike supposedly ridden by Hinault in later years. However,
> when we later researched the authenticity of the bikes, we couldn't match
> the bike to any photos of Hinault. The decals were right for one year, but
> that year's bikes were lugless, and this one was lugged. We searched and
> searched, and finally concluded that the bike probably was a forgery.
>
> Perhaps that shouldn't come as a surprise, as the owner had bought that
> bike together with one of Anquetil's machines, from a well-known collector
> in France. The Anquetil bike actually was a rather poor forgery. It had "J -
> A" engraved into the seatstay caps, as shown in the famous Rebour drawings
> of Anquetil's Tour-winning machine in 1963 (?, I am going by memory here,
> would have to dig out the old issue of Bicycle Quarterly where we featured
> the Rebour drawings). Close inspection showed that the bike had two sets of
> seatstay caps, one brazed on top of the other! In the process, the builder
> had cooked the seat lug so much that the seat and top tubes were bulging out
> of the lug. Many other details were wrong, too.
>
> When I talked to a dealer in old motorcycles about this, he said: "Ah, if
> those bikes were real, the well-known collector wouldn't have sold them."
>
> The photos of "Hinault's bike" still are gathering dust in some folder
> somewhere... and our book has no photos of either Hinault's or Anquetil's
> bikes.
>
> Jan Heine
> Editor
> Bicycle Quarterly
> 2116 Western Ave.
> Seattle WA 98121
> http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com