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Old 08-29-06, 04:26 PM
  #25  
mollusk
Elite Fred
 
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Edge City
Posts: 10,945

Bikes: 2009 Spooky (cracked frame), 2006 Curtlo, 2002 Lemond (current race bike) Zurich, 1987 Serotta Colorado, 1986 Cannondale for commuting, a 1984 Cannondale on loan to my son

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I had a celeste Bianchi in the early to mid 1980's: Columbus tubing and mostly Campy NR and SR, Record hubs with Arc-En-Ciel tubular rims, Brooks Pro saddle that I had owned on previous bikes, and PINK Benotto tape. I LOVED that bike. While I had ridden many road miles on other bikes, this was the one that got me to switch to real bike shorts and jerseys and to stop riding in tennis shoes and buy a pair of Dettos.

Then one night someone broke into my house and stole my bike. I then knew why horse thieves were hung. In my haste I settled with my insurance company and bought a highly modified Cannondale R-series bike as a replacement. If I had only waited a few months longer I could have gotten my ride back as it was instantly recognized at a local bike shop when someone brought it in for service. Too late for me because I didn't have the cash on hand to buy it back; that had been spent on my replacement ride. The bike shop that recognized it was able to buy it from the insurance company and needed to make a profit. I was able to buy the saddle at a reasonable price because it was worth WAY more to me than anyone else. I have had that saddle since 1980 and it must have almost 50K of my miles on it at the time. Now it has well in excess of 100K miles with my butt sitting on it and is on my rainy day/back-up road bike. My wife tried to buy the rest of the bike for me as a surprise, but they wanted more than we could afford at that time for a secondary bike.

So I have a soft spot in my heart for celeste. But somehow it should be a steel bike ... with Campy Super Record ... and tubular tires. Ahhh, first love. Nothing is ever quite the same.
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