Does it hurt to ride?

I got this from Dave Moulton's blog. I call it "More from the 'What a whimp I am' series":

In the 1956 Giro d’Italia, Fiorenzo Magni crashed during stage 12 and broke his left clavicle.

The Giro was only at the half-way point with a total of 23 stages. Magni refused hospital treatment and continued the race with his shoulder bound with an elastic bandage.


The picture above, shows the Italian rider during stage 13 holding a piece of rubber inner tube (Attached to his handlebar stem.) between his teeth for extra leverage.

On stage 16, Magni fell again on a descent due to problems with handling the bike while injured. He was unable to use his left arm, and he could only effectively brake and steer with his right hand.

Not only was this performance one of extreme endurance; it also showed a tremendous tolerance of physical pain. Even more unbelievable is the fact that Magni finished the 1956 Giro in 2nd place only 3 minutes and 27 seconds behind Luxemburg’s Charly Gaul.

Mike Melton

Well, this bike has come a full 3/4 circle. I saw it on CL last year and missed it by a few minutes to someone willing to buy it sight unseen(it was a bargain for any lugged bike and a steal for a Melton of any size/condition IMO).
Remember my philosophy? I think I've shared it here. I think that the American builders of the 70s and 80s have been overlooked and are starting to see some well deserved attention from collectors. I think these will be the hot items in a few years. Brian Baylis, Bruce Gordon, Dave Moulton(Masi,Howard,Fuso), Dave Tesch, and Peter Weigle are a few that come to mind and that are now getting some much deserved recognition. They took the ideas of the classic builders of England, Italy, and Japan to a new level here in the states and the quality of their work would rival the best in the world IMO.
Anyway, I was really disappointed to miss the buy as e-mails from the original owner/seller revealed a really cool story. Oh well, I thought, maybe it will get a good home. Well I'm glad it was Todd that beat me to it. Small world. Todd is becoming a supplier of mine. First he turns up the '77 PX-10 in black(shown in a previous thread) and now this Melton. Todd bought the Melton and soon realized it was a duplicate project and, as it was a bit small for him, wasn't worth the space it would take. He listed it on CL this weekend. As a like-minded cycling fan, he has more bikes than any one person needs but knows what is worth preserving. Todd reinforced the provenance of the bike and said he hadn't really done anything to it. Easy sale. I hope he starts calling me with these rather than listing them publicly! ;)
I'll save the story as I found my old e-mails and sent one to the original owner requesting the story in detail. She was was quite nice last year and, though now relocated, I anticipate her response.
The bike was well used and saw multiple roles. It's rough to say the least but worth preserving. At some point the decals were "scraped" off and a brown paint applied. Even the cables clamps were painted over. The dropouts are Suntour - showing his Japanese influence. It was built up with the Shimano 600 "Arabesque" groupo at some point. 600 eventually became the Ultegra line and this version preceded that by a good decade. One crank arm is dated 6/78 and the other 7/78. The clamp on cable guide is dated 6/78. I questioned the date of the frame as being "80's" with the used of Nervex "fancy" pro lugs. I have seen pics of his bikes built in the 80's with the either DuBois or other simpler lugs more common in that era. The verdict is still out. Parts can come together under the most unique circumstances. I was under the impression that Melton built road frames as early as 1970 and moved from NC around 1980 and pursued Tandem builds with road frames built to order showing up here and there. Later of course he worked in the development of Huffy's Olypmic bikes for '84 and '88.
Here are a few more "before" pics.

Brown topcoat over everything.




Nervex lugs


Suntour dropouts.



I think that's a 600 under there.

It's not on the "front burner" right now but it is safe and sound and I wanted to get it posted for you all to see. Someday it will look and feel like it's old self again! With all the projects piled up, I will probably go on a painting frenzy this summer.

More Winter Inspiration

Paris-Tours 1921

Winner, Francis Pélissier, leading the chase. Of 85 starters there were only 8 to finish. Story is that after several mechanical issues and continued racing, Pelissier's hands became too frozen to change a ruptured tire late in the race. He tore the glued tire from the rim with his teeth and, continuing, caught and passed at least one other rider on a climb and continued to victory - on the bare rim!
And we whine about KC winter conditions!
Quiz for non cyclists:
How do we know the cameraman had his back to the wind?

Music makes the world go round

Inspired by Curb
(http://curbdestroyer.blogspot.com/)
and Crusy POV
(http://crustyspov.blogspot.com/),
I've added a playlist to my blog - to this one anyway. Music tells a lot about a person. Do they conform? Do they live in the past? Are the "alternative"? I have many moods that are reflective of and sometimes dictated by my mood. I think it must be that way with a lot of people.
Yesterday's entry motivated me to go out for a short ride today and boy have I slipped. The legs were fine; it was the lungs! I would like to be in shape before spring instead of eating into the cycling season with a buildup. Hear it may snow again - rollers it is!

It's about that time!

Well, January '09 is in full swing and with a few single digit days letting up, the feeling of the need to get out there is arising.
After Italy last fall, I rode maybe four times then called it a year at just under my goal of 3000mi. The few rain days in Italy were enough to barely miss the goal(original plan of 1k in Italy alone would have put me far over). One day trip from Sienna to Volterra was about 10,000 of vertical climbing! Granted, I wasted a few really nice late fall days but I had little else to prove to myself after Italy.
Been in the garage working on motorcycle projects this winter so the idea of rebuilding a few cool bicycles appears much less daunting. Maybe it's just the motivation to ride. Thoughts of building a breakdown bike for later travels is on the mind too.

Was just married in Dec so in clearing the house out for Linda's stuff, we've decided to make an area in the basement for our trainers, bike building bench, etc.
Get on those trainers and rollers with us so when spring hits we'll be up and running! Let's set some goals for this year too!

1991 Masi Gran Corsa

Advertised as an entry level racing bike, the Gran Corsa is about the only older Masi I can afford to own. The prices on the 70's bikes have actually gotten laughable.
I think I gave $250 or so for this frameset. It is a far cry from the Mouton, Tesch, and Confente days of Masi but it is lugged steel. As guru Bob Hovey told me, "It likely never saw a file." Even so, it does get looks and comments, chipped up as it is. At least I won't feel bad if I decide to repaint it. Been considering making a breakdown travel bike out of it.
I built it up with the Campy Veloce group that came on my first decent rode bike - a '93 carbon Trek(14 yrs old when I got it). Okay it flexed when climbing, spontaneously shifting and...... well enough about that one.
I ride this Masi every once in a while but the shifters need to be rebuilt. We'll see what it becomes someday.


Grace is always present but seldom impressed. To her this is "Not Food"


There's something about a chrome fork with maker's panto.








I practiced my drillium techniques on the chanrings and polished the crank arms.

1983 Trek 510

This was an impulse buy - one of those that makes you wanna kick yourself asking, "What was I thinking?" I had been looking for a vintage Trek (they are really nicely built). This was on Ebay for "buy it now" or "make an offer". It was also local. The guy wanted $500!!! These are bikes that are often given away! I saw there were several offers so I offered somewhere between too much and half of his asking price in an impulsively competitive way. I sis this while out of town and thought/hoped it was over when a few days later I got a winning e-mail. Crap!
It is not my size, the advertized date was off by 5 years, it won't even roll or shift, and I paid WAY too much. The seller didn't divulge the overall crappy nature of this thing. I hadn't really looked the bike over too well and even thought for several months that the rims were tubulars as the tires felt glued on. They may come right off once the spokes are tight enough! My only hope is that the Campy Victory group, hardly prized by collectors, will polish up well(such groups cry for drillium!) and that the frame cleans up. I like the seat post and the one good Campy NR hood(like I'll find a matching one!) These parts and the brake levers were pirated already as it hangs in the basement. Overall, I could likely break even by selling it in parts but I don't do that - that's for hacks IMO.
Well, there is some hope. The GF wants a steel bike and I think it will fit her. I would hate to repaint it so I'll just tear it down, clean it up, and replace the necessary parts. I hope I can convince the GF that down tube shifters are acceptable in the modern world. We'll see. I do think it will ride nicely.


Here she is laughing at me when I got it home - or so it appears. It really is a turd. At the time she didn't know it would one day be hers. Then again, had I been dancing around, she would have thought it was a steal.
Since it doesn't look so bad, here are a few closeups.