My last post on track geometry is not titled properly but I will spare you a reprint - it's in issue 133. During the Skol 6 day in London, early 70s, the amateurs had early evening races as a warm-up act. So they stored bikes in amongst all the general shambles in the riders enclosure where we soigneurs, mechanics, gofers etc plied our respective trades to the professional teams. One amateur rider who will be unidentified, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, got on his bike to warm up (counterclockwise, he could remember that) and came in after a lap complaining his fixed cog kept coming loose. A group of us had spent a few minutes earlier reversing his drive side, chain and rear wheel and by the time he got back to the pits several were speechless with mirth and the Pro riders were also beginning to see why they were not being attended to and joining in the merriment. "I fawt it felt funny" he said in his London accent. We took pity on him and quickly* put his bike back together. He wasn't over-familiar with spanners, either....
* if a rider punctured in a madison race, they could 'steal' 3 or 4 laps rest but the team would not be penalised. Some had a spare bike ready. The judge would be round like a shot and if he suspected a 'go slow' change would drop them a lap immediately. So wheel changes had to be very slick. Made your Indianapolis car crews look sluggish.....! John Purser, Sudbury UK
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1 Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:29:42 -0700 From: "Dave Porter" <frogeye@porterscustom.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Backwards Velodrome Racing To: "'Ted Ernst'" <ternst1@cox.net>, <joeb-z@comcast.net> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Message-ID: <70CE21C7E98D4AE59AEDEFAD71FBA205@oscar> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Here's a link to Pino Morroni's left side drive track bike (TI too) The
theory being that the heavier crank traveled a shorter distance being on the
left (inside)...
http://picasaweb.google.com/
DaveP
frogeye@porterscustom.com
Porter Customs 2909 Arno NE Albuquerque, NM USA 87107 505-352-1378 1954 BN2 1959 AN5 Porter Custom Bicycles
cars:
http://www.britishcarforum.com/
blog: http://porterbikes.com/