As time went on and I learned more of this (even at that time) long standing builder, Faliero Masi would reign as my supreme racing bicycle creator.  I would challenge anyone to come up with a legitimate contender. His  attention to detail, passion and devotion to the fast bike world is unsurpassed.

An enormous number of the champions of the sport rode his bicycles. Most times the bikes they rode would have another name painted on the down tube. Fausto Coppi rode a Masi painted as a Bianchi. Eddy Merckx rode Masis painted as both Peugeots and with his own Eddy Merckx name in the Faema years. Then there was Gimondi with his Chiorda (Salvarani) and Van Looy….the list goes on.

This is the bike I had Masi build as my replica to Eddy Merckx’ Faema bike. I love those colours. This is now in the Fritz Durenburger collection. Note: I didn’t do the weird taping job on the bars…it ain’t a track bike.

These riders all knew his attention to detail was not just with fit and finish but the importance of the correct fit for the rider. He did not just take into account the riders anatomic dimensions but also their physique so that the riders power could best be applied.  In addition he would consider the terrain on which the cycle would be largely used ie flat lands or hills.

As a bike builder in an age of marketing bicycles with hype instead of practical intelligence, I often feel like a voice from a vanished era when I constantly harp of the importance of perfect frame fit for one’s ultimate performance. So many riders today spend more time and money on fancy bits for their bike when they are on a frame that may as well be used by their dog.

In spite of the enormous reputation Faliero  Masi carried, he remained humble and passionate throughout. For many years his small shop was located under the banking of the Vel Vigorelli (the bike track in Milano). During my last visit there in the Eighties I quietly smiled to myself as I watched this absolutely revered icon of the cycling world and my all time hero of bike fabrication, sitting at his bench spoking a wheel, all the time cursing the fact that the only he spokes he could ‘get these days were junk’. Imagine some executive from Trek or suchlike even getting their hands dirty in a shop…not bloody likely.

Masi was always looking for what he thought would create the best there could be. His desire for durability was huge. Inspite of obviously being Italian, he used tended to use Reynolds 531 tubing very often as its manganese content gave a more durable frame. At times he would use Columbus in a fork and/or seat stays as the chrome-moly configuration of its make up gave a stiffer, snappier ride.

Interestingly many classic bike fans put Cinelli as the pinnacle of the field. Having had many Cinellis myself and having seen many without paint, I can assure all, that Masis were always finished to a higher degree. Faliero Masi was the quintessential hands-on builder where as Cinelli did it for his pleasure. Masi for a time, even served as a directeur sportif to gain a closer relationship to the racers.

Sadly today, as with so many, the Masi name has vapourized into a marketing name for yet another group riding on a name built by someone else. Some months ago as I looked in a bike shop window at some sort of stupid ladies commuter bike emblazoned with the Masi logo AND the Faliero Masi signature, a lad from the shop came out just as I was shaking my head in a mix of sadness and disgust. A couple of words from him allowed the fact that he knew nothing of this great name and after my retort that “this was about the same as Enzo Ferrari producing a minivan”, he could only comment that, “the world goes on”.

For my part, I will always produce and deliver bicycles with the same type of focus on detail, performance and durability as my late hero. There a lot of better ways to make money in this world than messing about with bikes, so I figure I better really do it because I love it or there is no point. If ever I should take the attitude of lad outside the bike shop, “Martha, pass me the razor blades…I’m done.”

Anyways, likes I wuz sayin’ about those lovely bikes in Fritz collection, another very rare piece is a 1983 Pinarello Prestige we had ordered for a special customer.  Our fortunate working relationship with Pinarello allowed us to bring in this lovely custom geometry (try that now) example with a Campag 50th group, resplendent with 24K gold plated forks and stays and jet black paint.

Some of the original parts have been changed but it was great to see it emerge in this collection. Giovanni Pinarello was always so accommodating and the bike came exactly as ordered and flawlessly finished. It would have been one of the earlier bikes painted in his then new factory. Until then the top frames were painted at his brother’s house in a farm area outside Treviso.  Only visited there once but it was so interesting to see such nice work coming out of such simple, almost garage/barn type facility.

Of all the bikes we sold at my old shop the one that remains (to my mind at least) the absolute coolest was a very special Colnago.  I had a chance in 1980 to acquire three of the team bikes he built for the Boule D’Or team he was sponsoring at the time. While two of them were simply just very nice Supers (with Mexico labeling) the third was built for Mr Paris-Roubaix himself, Roger De Vlaeminck. I can tell you when we got that bike everyone in the shop wanted it…but nobody rode a 57, either too big or to small.

Through the late Sixties and early Seventies RdV was probably about the coolest guy in the pro peleton. While his nearly 300 victories weren’t in the crazy Merckx league, they would thrash anyone’s total in today’s pro circuit. The ‘Gypsy of Eeklo’ seemed to float over those treacherous cobbles that brought down countless others. As well as being a great Classics rider, he also was competitive in the major tours with numerous stage wins and points jerseys.

I apologize because this photo could have been better but you can see the the foil decal on the chain stay that denotes Mexico but in fact the bikes were Supers with cast bottom brackets as per Mexicos of the time. In the photo below you can observe the RdV stamped into the dropouts (they appear in the rear as well). The builder had selected the components for the frame so as to be a perfect as possible for their star rider. I love this sort of detail and as a bit of an advert for my current Cunningham frames I’m happy to say that every part of every frame is as close to perfect as I can see…and I’m pretty picky. In fact after assembling hundreds of these wonderful, (now)classic bikes I can tell you the alignment of these newer units is even better than these older frames.

How cool is this?

I must say had I the op to buy it today, wrong size or not, I’d get it. Hindsight huh?

I’ll do one more little installment vis-a-vis the classic thing here and it’ll be largely about the man/bike I consider the absolute pinnacle of bicycle passion, design, beauty and performance (of the day).

Until then: go riding.

Unlike all the big concerns today where the word passion is merely a collection of letters the promo agencies tell them to use in their adverts, the industry was alive with the real deal. Today with nearly all the names so common in the peleton, the prime concern is marketing and mark-up. When I see how cheap some of these companies get their bikes/frames made, it makes me mental. How hands-on can you get when you’re making tens or hundreds of thousands of frames a year?

As I’ve spent time with a number of the top Italian builders I can say that the one trait they all shared was that they believed their product was the best there was. From the inception of my current business I have endeavoured to carry this forward to at least offer riders a true personal cycling experience.

It is well known that much of the product from this older era of cycling has become quite collectible and thus there are many collectors that have emerged. In my own geographical area there is one fellow, who although having started late in the cycling game, has amassed quite a collection and indeed quite a name because of  his wheeled world. Fritz Durenberger spent years collecting and racing classic Alfa Romeos and many, many Italian small displacement GP style motor bikes such as Ducati, Parilla and Moto Morini. Now his ensemble of cycles  is rampant with deliciously desirable racing bikes from the Sixties through the Eighties, the pinnacle of handbuilt, old world performance bikes, a combination of artistry and engineering.

I recently restored a 1969 Cinelli Super Corsa for one of our new bike customers. While the gentleman had thousands of miles on this olde steed (including numerous trips to the mountains of Europe) he knew that one of these new machines we do would bring back some of the minutes on the climbs that advancing age had taken away. As his Cinelli (that he collected new from Cinelli’s shop) was a rare candy red example, I mentioned that this fellow Fritz had an even more rare candy green version dating from 1975. I actually had restored that one too. I suggested it would be fun to bring his bike as well as my own 1962 (also rare) black Super Corsa for an evening a la casa del Fritz for a Cinelli rendezvous. At the same time he could check out the time warp rides.

Things were sorted out and we all (his cycle enthusiast son also attended) gathered at Fritz’s place for a lovely nostalgic evening of appreciation. While his collection is some eighty odd machines, a remarkable percentage of them came from my old bike shop,  so for me a visit is a real deja vu and always a pleasurable one.

Down to the business at hand we got the three Cinellis together for a ‘family’ photo as seen below.

Not entirely original parts wise but classic nevertheless and a pleasant change from the ubiquitous dull, dull dreadfully dull silver. Cinellis were the first really good bike I ever heard of and although few riders of any repute ever used one racing, where I grew up they were the deal. In fact my first real Italian steed was to be a very rare salmon pink Super Corsa. The photo below shows me in the 1976 Gastown GP  (wearing the red/green jersey) getting around the soft pedaling maggot in gray who was doing nothing but slowing the break. The Cinelli was a good stable bike for that tight course…didn’t matter though, we got caught and I didn’t win a nickel.

Several of my own personal bikes from the past had found their way into this lot including my first DeRosa which was also the first DeRosa sold in western Canada. In the photo below you can see the red diamond stay DeRosa beside the red/white Cunningham which was the first bike I ever built in 1985. As well, you can see a candy red, pantographed Olmo my shop sold in the early eighties.

I raced that DeRosa for the first part of the 1980 season bit I was disappointed with the excess flex in the frame while climbing. It would actually flex enough that the (Campag) chainset would scrape the front changer…..kinda weird. Swapped it for a Pinarello I had hanging on a hook and was immediately smitten. Wuddarock. Again this was to be the first of its type sold in my end of the country as no one had heard of Pinarellos at that time. It would lead to a great relationship with Giovanni Pinarello and we sold nearly 500 units over the years. It even became the ride of choice for our Cicli Forza team at the time.

Not to be dismayed by a less than satisfactory DeRosa performance, I ordered a track frame from him on a visit to his shop some years later. I tell this story because it underlines my belief in the importance of custom. frame fit in many cases.

DeRosa’s shop was in the (very large) basement of his house at that time and while there on road bike biz, I requested a track frame for myself. When his son measured my arm length and passed it on to a pen-in-hand Ugo, he said, ‘di nuovo’ (again) not believing the long length Christiano had given him. My verbal impression of a chimp caused all to laugh and Ugo jotted the number down on his sheet.

When the bike finally arrived I could tell he didn’t believe anyone my height would have such arms and it came too short, even with a 13cm stem it was still cramped as can be seen in the pic:

While that pink beastie rode very well…we even won that particular Madison that evening….it was put on the block. Bit of a pity as it was a solid, beautiful frame…..but me back bloody hurt!! So I made one just for me.

Anyway…its late now and I’m knackered so this is ‘end of part one’. Couple of cool bikes in the next installment…check back.

I love the track. It is fast. It is intense. It is absolutely the purest form of cycling. No gears to change. No brakes to slow progress. No weather to get in your way. Simply a rider and his/her vehicle. You want to go faster…simply pedal faster….or at least try. The thrill of pedaling around a steep banking with the G forces actually pulling the blood out of your brain and your body and bike nearly parallel to the ground (and you are the motor) has got to be one of the biggest thrills you could ever have cycling.

Were it not for the fact that I am such a slow twitch I consider myself no twitch, I would have immersed myself much further in the ‘left turn only’ discipline. Not to say I didn’t spend my time at it. I’ve ridden hundreds of races and thousands of miles on velodromes. Its just that when you can’t sprint to save your life, you don’t win much. Although, I did manage wins in Madison races where I could be sure to throw my partner in for the sprints………sigh.

Back in the Seventies my old coach said if you want to be a good bike rider, you must ride the track. It was hard to argue because at that time Mr Merckx was setting heights never again to reached in full domination of the sport. Not content to wipe the slate in road cycling, he often rode the Sixes in the winter where he would amass a total of some 19 wins. As well, on an almost last minute decision, he raced for the World Hour Record at the Mexico Olympic velodrome. His result would actually never be beaten (at least so far) if  one considers what he rode and wore. ie no aero helmet, wool shorts, no shoe covers etc etc. Even Chris Boardman stated before his non ’sillybike’ attempt, that his helmet alone would give him more then enough to beat Eddy’s distance….all else being equal.

Then I saw my friends like Ron Hayman and Alex Steida use their prowess gained from their track laps to be Canadians at the sharp end of Belgian cycling as amateurs. While neither were what you would called real road sprinters, the track had boosted their technical skill and sprint tactics to allow both, dozens of sprint wins. Ron would go on to win major events like the Tour of Ireland and Alex of course, would be the first North American to take the TdF Yellow Jersey. “Be like a fish,” coach Norman Hill would tell us. Trouble with me was I’d fish my way to the front, then drown.

The track is to me, is a cross between the fitness required to be a bike racer and the focus on immediate strength for a few seconds, of a weight-lifter. Those moments when you are bench pressing some almighty weight and it stalls and it seems like it just never going to get to the top. To me this absolutely parallels how long a 200 metre track can seem when you’ve got one lap to go and you are unraveling like Tiger Wood’s life is lately. The track can simply teach you to suffer in a way the road can’t.

If we look at many of the TdF’s top riders in recent years we can see so many that have track cycling as a background. Nearly all the Aussies are dromo kings. Jan Ullrich was track man in his early days. The ever durable Eric Zabel not only collected Green Jerseys like a madman but he rode and won many Six Day bike races in the winter season. And now look at multi gold medal winner on the boards, Bradly Wiggins. First real year in the pro road scene…..not too shabby.

After racing on the track, the action in the craziest crit still appears to be in slow motion. The Madison especially requires such concentration and speed at the same time that nothing in the velo world compares. If you lose a half length when the field is on the rivet at the track…you are probably dropped. Sayonara baby! Any that have participated in this most refined of cycle sports will concur, I have no doubt. For those that haven’t and you have a track anywhere near you, GO AND RIDE IT AND LEARN. You WILL be a better bike rider. For those hard core bikers that want to take a cycling vacation, instead of taking  a trip to some Alp infested area, why not go to a town where there’s a good track facility and take their beginners program and step into a new world of pedaling magic.

If road is the life of cycling, track is the sex.