hyperRevue

This is a question probably more suited for the road forum, but I don't know those guys so I'd rather ask you.

What's the story with the Brooklyn Cycling Team, the one Roger De Vlaeminck rode for in the 70s.
A google search just brought up the Kissena Cycling Club, which I assume is not the same thing.

Any links or info are appreciated.
Thanks.

Ready to Ruck

I've wondered that myself and tried to do searching. I only found Kissena.

hyperRevue

Upon further searching, I guess the full name is Giordana Brooklyn Cycling Team, but still no information.

luckycat

The "brooklyn" was brooklyn chewing gum, italian I think.

hyperRevue

Pretty cool...

luckycat

Trading cards:
https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BROOKLYN-CHEWI...QQcmdZViewItem

hyperRevue

Here is some info:
https://www.horseshoe.tv/blog/BROOKLY...GUMCYCLINGTEAM

luckycat

Dope madison photo:

born on a bus

I've seen those hats around, where do you get one?

hyperRevue

Ebay or https://www.bicyclinghub.com/brcycap.html

popdelusions

Any Brooklyn bike shop'll should have 'em, if you're local. that little french patisserie/charcuterie/fromagerie on 7th ave near 15th street usually has Brooklyn gum.

bikingshearer 

Brooklyn - one of the truly iconic names of the early-to-mid 1970's pro peloton. Roger de Vlaeminck was the best-known, but certainly not the only, top-drawer rider on the team. (Roger's brother and teammate, Eric, pretty much owned the pro cyclo-cross world while he was racing.) The "Capt. America" jerseys together with the unbelieveably gorgeous cobalt blue Gios-Torino frames may be the best visual combo ever raced.

Brooklyn was (and may still be) a brand of chewing gum. The team was registered in Italy, but it almost always had a mixed roster of Italians and Belgians, roughly half-and-half. Roger de V. was one of the very best ever Classics riders (he holds the record for Paris-Roubaix wins with 4 - he also won most of the other biggies at some point). He also won the Tour of Switzerland one year, if memory serves, along with the points jersey in the Giro at least once. He was one of the few who never just rolled over and played dead for Merckx (Walter Godefroot, the erstwhile head of the Telekom team, was another.) Roger de Vlaeminck remains one of the all-time greats of road racing (and was pretty good at cyclo-cross as well), and he also remains the historical "face" of the team.

Because Brooklyn was an Italian-based team, the Giro was a higher priority for the sponsor than was the Tour, although Brooklyn showed up there some, also. The team failed to appear at the TdF one year for a most unusual reason: the head of the Brooklyn Chewing Gum Co. was kidnapped by the Red Brigades or some such group and the team's TdF budget for the year instead went to pay his ransom.

The sponsor ultimately pulled the plug sometime in the late '70's (they were certainly still around in 1976 and gone by 1980) because if team infighting. In their last year, the sponsor issued an ultimatum - win the Giro, or the sponsorship ends and the team goes bye-bye. It was not as unreasonable demand as it may seem, because the team had two Belgians capable of winning it - Ronnie de Witte and Johan de Muynck. They didn't much care for each other, though, and neither would work for the other. Their personal feud also split the team - in effect, they were both riding with half a team that regarded the other half of the Brooklyn team as at least as much of an enemy as anybody in a different jersey. Unlike Lemond and Hinault in the '85 and '86 Tours, neither de Witte nor de Muynck won. The sponsor, true to his word, pulled the plug on the team. P.S. A year or two later, de Muynck won the Giro for his new team (don't remember who it was, though).

BTW, while those Giordana jerseys are pretty cool (I have one or two), but they aren't quite accurate as reproductions of the real Brooklyn jerseys. The D'Allesandro merino woll ones available thre or four years back are much more faithful to the original.

hyperRevue

I've been eyeing the Giordana jersey in the shop I work at for the past couple weeks but wanted to learn something about the team first.

evanyc

this really old guy, i'd say 80 or so, pulled up beside me on 5th ave at Central Park South one day. He was wearing one of those jersey's. We chatted for a bit waiting for the light to change. He had ridden down to Battery Park from the Upper West Side and was heading home through the park. I asked if he had taken the West Side path and he said that he never takes the path cause people don't know how to ride on it. F'n awesome. I wanna be that rad when I'm 80.

mookchigga

De Vlaeminck and the Brooklyn team represent in "Sunday in Hell." Jorgen Leth has a camera in the Brooklyn support car -- a great position to follow the race. Their jerseys do rule, but it's cool in general to see cycling jerseys without all the sponsor logos.

EnLaCalle

Good thread. I've wondered about this too, but have been to lazy to investigate. You can get the hats at most bike shops in NYC, esp. brooklyn (of course). I/r/t the "one size fits all", mine is a little on the small side, but I also have a largish sized head.

Get the jersey, HR. It's sweet. Maybe a little too patriotic for my tastes, but still cool. Of course this is coming from the guy that lost his ****e over the stars and stripes Gianni Motta, but whatevs. S'all good.

bikeman68

hey NYC
That old timer could have been an awesome Madison racer on the track in the 40s and 50s , you never know. you should see how they rode on those banks at 30 plus mph with no helmets.They were pretty rad

spcialzdspksman

zombie thread






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