Who is this man and what is he doing?
 

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I was browsing the net and came across this very interesting photo and wanted to post a question "Who is this man and what is he doing"? I was looking for some interesting/uncommon ways that have been used to shift gearing on bicycles and came across this photo.

He is not just shifting gearing....he is doing something else, care to guess what it is?

Before I posted I read the back story was extremely interesting and for me a bit of history that I was not aware of, I thought that I would share it with the forum.
His name is Gino Bartali and he is shifting the gearing on his hill climb on the way to winning the 1938 Tour de France.....but what else was he doing?....I will tell you that he was smuggling something inside of his frame.
It may take a bit of effort but if you are interested in finding out what he was "transporting" please follow some of the links (you may have to cut and paste) http://roadtovalorbook.com/ http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27333310 http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/29/sp...d-italys-jews/ or better yet, do a google search using his name.
Bartali was not only a Cycling Hero......he was a "Humanitarian" in the true sense of the word.
Regards, Ben

He is shifting the gears. A lever along side the stay loosens the wheel QR. The drop out has a set of gear like teeth which insure that both axle ends rotate/move within the drop out the same to accommodate the changing chain line as the chain is prodded to the adjacent cog. Then the lever is retightened. Andy.

What a story! The human spirit is never vintage, it is continually freshened and renewed in acts of bravery.

Love his pics.

Very cool. I liked what he said about some medals being pinned to your soul, & not your chest. Most folks today won't get that.

Back in those days, any mechanism that allowed you to 'change gears on the fly' was forbidden. The first 'work around' was the flip-flop hub, allowing a rider to climb in a low gear-inch fixed cog, and go downhill in a high gear-inch freewheel gear (made possible by having 2 chainrings).

Yes, I think you are absolutely correct about this....many today either are self-serving or do what they think will cause the least resistance, rather than doing what is right etc.
Bartoli not only had a strong enough heart to win the Tour de France but he also had a brave heart and a conscience as well.....I as surprised when I read what he had done.
Regards, Ben

He also won it after WWII. His birthday every year is celebrated by cyclists in Italy.
His assistance to those who needed to flee Italy is well known. He wasn't the only one.
Bottechia was suspected of doing the same and murdered for it.

Were it not for WWII, the domination of Italian cyclists during that era would likely have been without present-day equal or comparison.

RT, You are right, I forgot to mention the 2nd TdF....I did not know about Bottechia, thanks.
Regards, Ben

Derailleurs were allowed in the Tour de France from 1937 on. In 1938 Bartali was using a Vittoria Margherita transmission, so the picture above is more likely from the 1948 Tour.

As Andrew alluded to above, this looks more like a Campagnolo Cambio Corsa or Paris-Roubaix shifting mechanism. At the time those were on the market, the prevailing mythology was that convolutions in the chain, such as going through a derailleur pulley cage, imposed insufferable friction and lost energy. The Cambio Corsa and Paris-Roubaix systems allowed gear shifting without a pulley cage by using an extra long dropout slot with a rack and pinion to allow the wheel to move forward or backward in the slot and thus provide or take up chain slack when shifting gears.

http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/photo-ga...illeurs-1.html

Great book. I bought it second hand, passed it along to a cycling friend, who passed it along to another cyclist. Hope it is still making the rounds.

As suggested I googled
 

There is a documentary "My Italian Secret". I ordered it from my library system. As I was following links I found another movie about a tragic story in Italian cycling. I am new to cycling so these stories are new to me. I'm going to look for "Pantani" too.

This was Tullio Campagnolo's first foray into gear changers, after having invented and patented the modern cam-operated quick-release axle system we still use today. The Cambio Corsa and subsequent Paris-Roubaix transmissions used toothed dropouts with a matching toothed rear axle (to maintain alignment) and a special QR lever whose elongated stem ran along the right seat stay. When your tool is a hammer (patented QR system), every problem (gear changing) looks like a nail. :)

His story in incredible, your link to those articles is welcomed also:thumb:. More recognition is due to him, and the other cyclist, hell, everyone involved in the efforts to save the Jewish people from death in the Nazis' camps, deserves to be brought forward. Gino Bartali is one of my personal heroes, one of those quiet people that acts and isn't concerned with notoriety. Or in his case, being caught and executed if he slipped up.

Agree with Robbie too, WWII altered the landscape for cycling in so many ways.

Bill

True, but to put it into the proper context, it was the prevailing methodology only in Italy. The French favoured the Simplex push rod derailleurs during the post World War II era. Robic won the first post war TDF, in 1947, using a Simplex Champion du Monde push rod derailleur and this style outnumbers others in late 1940s pictures. Even Coppi switched to Simplex for the 1949 TdF and won on a push rod derailleur, though his choice was more a matter of finances. Still, the fact that Bartali could win on a Campagnolo Cambio Corsa in 1948, at the age of 34, only made his accomplishment more impressive. This is one design where Campagnolo got it all wrong.

Guys, a good read on Gino is Road to Valor. Its available on iBooks and is an easy read. My "grail" bike (or at least one of them, is a 1948 Legnano.

Well said Bill, often times there are giants among us that we are not aware of.
Best, Ben

From Wikipedia on Ottavio Bottechia Much later, the farmer who had found him said on his deathbed:[2] "I saw a man eating my grapes. He'd pushed through the vines and damaged them. I threw a rock to scare him, but it hit him. I ran to him and realised who it was. I panicked and dragged him to the roadside and left him. God forgive me!"

My Italian Secret is currently on Netflix, and Pantani was too the last time I checked :thumb:

BTS, Thanks for the info..I will check it out. Mahalo, Ben:thumb:

I couldn't have summed it up any better Ben. So many of the real heroes that risked their lives and everything they stood for are quiet and move through life without announcing what they have done for their fellow man. I'm just thankful that they were here to do what they could.

Thanks for bringing this to light, and to the other that shared links with us. I am planning to use them.

Bill

LouB,
1948 Legnano is going to be a tough one..Good Luck with that one.
I am going to get the iBook.
Ben

Thanks for the tip on "My Italian Secret" -- my wife and I just watched it on Netflix. Even though I am a cycling enthusiast who grew up in largely Jewish neighborhoods in west Los Angeles and bought my first house in the Pico-Robertson district, where the languages most often heard on the street were Yiddish, German, and Russian, I am embarrassed to say that I did not know about Bartali's role in WWII. What a Mensch!

great story. restores just a bit of one's faith in mankind.