At 12:13 PM -0400 7/6/10, Angel Garcia wrote:
>I haven't followed this thread closely but I thought I would re-post an
>email from Andy Hampsten that I received in 2004 in response to a question I
>had about a particular bike he was riding in a stage. His reply:
>
>In '88 I had a fantastic frame made by John Slawta of Landshark that got me
>up and over the snowy Gavia pass. He used Tange Prestige tubing back then.
I have ridden that frame - just a spin around town with a few hills thrown in. It was quite flexible, as one would expect of a frame made from superlight Tange Prestige tubing in standard (non-OS) diameters. Andy was gracious enough to allow me a ride when we had the bike for photography for our book "The Competition Bicycle."
I have often thought that the combination of a heavier-gauge bike for training and a superlight-gauge one for racing might work really well. After riding a "less lively" frame, the superlight bike feels like it's flying (at least for me, and apparently, for Andy Hampsten).
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
2116 Western Ave.
Seattle WA 98121
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com