Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,794
Likes: 83
From: Sendai, Japan: Tohoku region (Northern Honshu))
Bikes: Vitus 979, Simplon 4-Star, Woodrup, Gazelle AB, Dawes Atlantis
Originally Posted by
repechage
I was thinking about replica bikes today.
A Masi or Colnago, could be repainted as a team bike along the lines of what Eddy rode, say the Masi with Faema colors and graphics, or a plain Super as an Eddy Merckx branded bike in Orange. There are a few other variations on what the teams rode and production bikes that had equal looking metalwork.
What is quite ironic — and it has been mentioned before on other threads — some team riders with star reputations and pedigree sometimes rode machines that were painted and branded to be as the other team bikes from whatever constructor, but were actually entirely different bikes. I wish I had collected and filed some of these stories. Some of them described contemporaneous scandals, while others caused a lot of heat between team managers and rogue riders who insisted on riding bikes of their own choosing. Many of you may remember these stories better than I. One story that amused me concerned a team owner/manager who walked into worship the night before a race and, according to the legend, caught some of his riders in the midst of painting and relabelling bikes they wanted to ride. Still other riders had the blessings of team management.
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Vitus 979, Simplon 4 Star, Gazelle Champion Mondial, Woodrup Giro, Dawes Atlantis
Last edited by Lenton58; 04-22-15 at 03:39 AM.