Bandera

Does anyone have a surviving example of the dedicated Criterium bike of the 70’s?
They were a specialized machine/fad built to spec by American frame makers for the weekly high speed closed course racing of the era.

“Back when” road races were few and far between and Criterium racing filled the calendar. Typically for us a city would close a local park for the day and all of the classes would have at it.

Short courses, limited time/laps on a usually well paved and graded surface made for high speeds and tight quarters. Confident bike handling, a certain amount of aggression and a turn of speed were a rider’s skill requirements for being competitive. Solo breakaway wins were rare and the inevitable decision came in a sprint from whatever group survived.

To no one’s surprise the gifted sprinters with a track background ruled the podium steps. Being used to the virtues of the stiff, light maneuverable track bikes they were accustomed to on the velodrome and unimpressed with the road racing machines of the era which were designed primarily for long stages on rough European/UK roads with high speed mountain descents some took advantage of local frame building talent to produce something else.

The result was the American-made Criterium framesets that were in some aspects a track bike with brakes and a derailleur hanger.
Light, stiff, quick and “the trick set-up” for the era they were the dedicated tool for the job for some very fast riders. Twitchy, nervous, rough riding and fragile they were less suitable for long training rides, bad surfaces, big descents or general road racing and many never survived the inevitable attrition of race crashes.

Got any pics?

-Bandera

clubman 

My old mentor built a custom weight weeny crit bike that required the air let out of the rear tire to squeeze the wheel into the frame. Very short wheelbase with steep angles. No pics though.

I was under the impression that most riders picked off the shelf road bikes with tight geometry, often adorned with some narrow Cinelli 65's.

Bandera

Your mentor was in on the "trick set-up".
Did that machine survive the carnage?

Production machines w/ the very short wheelbase, high BB, steep angles and light tubing of the radical Crit bike weren't available early on but the dedicated machines from a host of local custom builders did affect how racing bike design moved to a lighter quicker more lively road racing design in general.

A teammate of mine took his track bike to local framebuilder and had it "copied" into a Crit bike which he raced with great abandon to good results despite it's lumber-wagon ride, skittish/nervous temperament and vicious pounding on rough surfaces. It was like a bad dog that he loved.....

-Bandera

clubman 

I'm sure the bike is fine as he only raced for a season or 2. I'd like to get in touch with him someday and get pics of the bike. I remember it having 28 hole HI-E hubs, front radial spokes, lots of drillium, tubulars, full campy NR and an alloy freewheel. He'd cut his cables flush with the brake or gear mech, remove valve caps, dustcaps, file brake rubbers down, ANYTHING to save weight. He made the 56 cm frame from 531 and the bike weighed in under 19 lbs. Pretty good for the time.

repechage

My criterium bike, a British custom import, had a shorter wheelbase and higher bottom bracket than my track bike. 11" to the ground with clement 250's. Sold it long long ago. With that bottom bracket and 165 cranks, very few could pedal as far into or through a turn as I could, I heard it behind me when they did not.

Bandera

Another satisfied customer of the radical single purpose design.......

-Bandera

leicanthrope

I wasn't around for the crit scene in the 1970's, and don't have first hand experience with what was in vogue then. (I didn't learn to ride a bike until 1980-1981.) The early Fuji Professionals were referred to in a lot of contemporary reviews as being aimed at the American crit racer. Not sure if it's as "extreme" as some of the examples being referred to here, but it does handle very well, and it's an adventure getting a back wheel with a 25 wedged in place.

OldsCOOL

I get a visual of this right away.

Just an aside, y'all are describing my '88 Cannondale Criterium series. The 74.25deg headtube, 38.25" wheelbase and 10.75" BB on a 54cm frame. Twitchy? This thing requires a steady hand.

Bandera

A suitably brutal example of the American "too much is not enough" school of design, nice.
Pics?

-Bandera

Guerc 

1974 Strawberry, custom made. 531 tubes, weighs 20.4lbs as she sits with the modern carbon fork.
Raced, abused, raced more, turned into SF courier bike, raced again, then put out to pasture. Just recently restored.

The original owner described the specs as "hill climb and time trial" bike. I don't know what that means since "hill climb and time trial" have undergone radical transformation since the early 70s. He also said it was his all purpose race and courier bike for years.

Rear triangle is so tight that it required 19 or 21cm tubies. I had to find a super thin derailleur clamp to fit these fat 23cm tires. It has vertical dropouts that must have been a novelty in 1974.

Bandera

Great example of how production machines moved in the nimble/quick direction racers were demanding over here.
The Japanese gave us what we wanted at affordable price points and high quality, unlike some of the hidebound Euros.
The pendulum had swung from pave' machines to city park racers.

-Bandera

Bandera

A Survivor!
Strawberry was good kit, and not afraid to build light/quick.

There were some different ideas about TT bikes before clip-ons, funny bikes and disc wheels, light weight was a huge goal.
For aerodnamics you'd bury the stem on the road bike, fit the lightest wheels w/ a straight block, mount your mechanical stop watch on the bars and have at it.

-Bandera

bikemig 

The whole crit bike thing never made a lot of sense to me. I ended up buying a team miyata frame because it was pretty much the same frame that the European pro team used. I figured if the bike was good enough for a top end pro team, it was good enough for me to get dropped on in local races!

Bandera

I never owned one either, although they were "the trick set-up" and teammates did very well on them.
After spending a miserable winter getting FG base miles in on my track bike which rode like a dump truck on the road, wandered in cross winds, was unstable descending big hills and beat the bejezzus out of me I was not going to duplicate the experience at considerable expense in a Crit bike.
If I got out sprinted (and I did with dependable regularity) it wasn't because my BB was too high......

Still, the dedicated Crit bike is an icon of it's era in American racing and just crazy/cool.

-Bandera

DMC707

The tone of the original post almost made it sound like the criterium was a dying art --- my local cycling club still has a weeknight crit series , -- also popular are short course "dirt criteriums" -- at the local trails --- these races are still alive and well in many places -- and they are great as you can compete if you are able to sit in for 30-45 minutes --- unlike a road race which takes an allday committment to get through at times, plus usually involves a significant amount of drive time



I need to get some fresh pics ---- (and to drag these critters out of the attic) -- i dont have any examples from the 70's as i was born in 1971 --- With the exception of some "project bikes" i recently started dragging home , all of my bikes have been blooded in battle


Cannondale Criterium series , circa 1988 -- the geometry is almost as you describe --- like a track bike with brakes and shifters. - The components are great quality Shimano 600, -- but not so expensive that you care if you lunchbox a rear derailleur or the brake levers in a crash --- Its in great shape because i overhauled it 5 years ago to take with me on a road trip --- i could likely put some air in the tires and take it out this afternoon if i had a mind to




Not - a dedicated crit bike, but i had more success with this little bike than any other --- it looks nice in this over-exposed cell phone pic, - but a close up would reveal lots of "character" -- super deep drop Cinelli bars and the Concor saddle that gives a little bit of a bump to push against
Look at the difference in space between the front tire and the top tube of this bike as compared to the 2 Cannondales and it will give some idea of the difference in the head tube angles between "crit geometry" and general purpose geometry




This one is almost tailor made for crit racing too -- -not specifically marketed as such, but the Aluminum GT Edge was the lightest (and harshest riding) of the GT Edge series in the early 90's --- the triple triangle frame design made for an especially stiff rear end that was conducive to getting out of the saddle and putting the hammer down ---- (As you sprint for a $15 prime against other guys who are bankers, plumbers, lawyers and airplane mechanics the other 6 days of the week )



Not originally mine -- i drug this one home from a Craigslist adventure with the intent of strippiing it for another project frame -- but it was too nice of a bike after i got it cleaned up -- 1992 Cannondale Criterium

Bandera

Glad that your club is keeping the tradition alive, didn't mean to sound like Crit racing was going the way of ballroom dancing.

Nice collection of C'dales, by all means get 'em out the attic and sprint at some city limits signs.

-Bandera

OldsCOOL

My pleasure, thank you....

Bandera

Another American builder w/ an impact on the industry, that's a keeper.
A proper road racing machine, the pendulum had swung back to a sensible but lively arc.

-Bandera

Ed.

ROTFL - When I was ordering our Team bikes (1979) Gerald asked me if I wanted them built to 'Criterium Specs'. The look of horror on my face brought out, "I figured you were smarter than that."

busdriver1959

This one's not old but it is steel. 75/75 headtube/seattube, 395 mm chainstays, 50mm trail. Not terribly twitchy though. It hasn't done a crit yet. That'll come in early April. I did do a couple of fast 40 mile Tuesday night club rides at the end of the summer last year and it was a fun ride.

Italuminium

Dedicated. Who build it?

Bandera

Old School/New School, bet that is a lively machine. Well done.
The tradition lives on.
What/Whose frameset?

-Bandera

Bianchigirll 

78 1/2 seat 77 1/4 head 14 1/2 chainstays and 37 1/2 wheelbase

Bandera

Wow, extreme specs.
Unfortunately the old Mac I'm using today won't display the pic.

-Bandera

seedsbelize 

and win 8