VintageTTfan

This is a fantastic post. There is so much excellence that it is hard to know where to begin. I will start with my favorite which is the first Colnago Master in the orange cream color. The paint color is gorgeous and the pattern is cool and it makes a great effect. Look at those lugs! It looks almost like the Arabesque....beautiful. This is why lugs are so much a part of the aesthetic of a bicycle. And look at the color of the downtube shifters! And look at the shape of the tubing. Next to really wow comes the disc wheels. They are awesome for their clever design which matches the frame paint patterns and makes the whole bike look sensational.
The second Colnago has an interesting paint job but what stands out for me is that very cool Campy disc wheel with the four holes. It looks very cool and must be very rare I would imagine. I am afraid to see the price tag on one of these wheels. The Cinelli TT is a bit more ordinary looking but is a fantastic bike I am sure...I do not see very many Cinelli TT's. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I love that saddle for sure. Thank you for the fantastic post and please be sure and post some more TT's in the future. It will help make this thread great.

hobbs1951

A mid 1970s Roberts TT bicycle (built by Charlie Roberts, Geoff Roberts or Derek Bailey - my guess is Charlie) I'm rarely seduced by fancy paintjobs - I've seen what poor worksmanship is often hidden by fancy paint.

First time I have seen hellenic stays on a Colnago

John.

VintageTTfan

I looked at the list of your bikes and you have some classics. It must be amazing to ride the English countryside on those bikes. I am jealous. By the way can you please post a picture of your 1913 Centaur Featherweight I think everyone would like to see that. All Best and thanks for posting.

VintageTTfan

These are very cool and utterly early examples of TT's! Wow. These pictures I have never seen. I love the drama on the faces of the racers. These are very cool bikes and they move the dates back a couple years it looks like. Thanks and please post some more cool pictures. Have a great day. P.S. Can you please post in a reply a link to your sources for these pictures and information. It would help educate me and others. Thanks.

Old Fireleg

Thanks for your kind words!

From your topic opener fantastic Paletti Ghibli's handlebar tape reminded me of this other beauty what I've seen before.






Colnago Super/Mexico TT


...and a Master track again with same paint work:




I'll push two other beauties here.A Renaissance Bottecchia (after the Florence Cathedral) and a bold Bianchi. These bikes are obviously not as efficient as Moser's 51.151 bike, but they are very attractive in their aesthetics.

VintageTTfan

Your most welcome. Thanks for these wonderful pictures. Yeah I like the Italian flag colors on this first Colnago and the handlebar tape is very cool. I am guessing Benotto Cello tape maybe.The lines on this Colnago are so beautiful for sure. This looks good without disc wheels (with would be good too IMO) and the chrome fork adds to a nice clean metallic look on the lower half. I think those are FIR rims which is no surprise but I love all the FIR stuff. My Paletti has FIR Quasar. The Master TT sits on a beautiful track! I like the Master tubing...its shape. And what a great saddle. Any of the saddles that have unique designs with class like this are great. And the bare handlebars do look good. For some reason I like the look of the bare Bull Horns. Am I the only one? Or half bare. Shamals are cool but I am not in love with them. I know they are high quality though.
The Bottecchia is fantastic! I have this saved on my hardrive. It is a work of art. I love the red and white striped scheme. The discs look great on this ..they match. This bike would set you back a pretty penny. The Bianchi is not to my personal taste because of the frame shape. I prefer other Bianchi TT's I have seen.
As I said this is a great post and much appreciated. Please keep giving the gift of fantastic color pictures....they are a lot of fun.

VintageTTfan

Since we have been seeing a lot of Colnago TT's lately, which is great, I thought I would post a link to this very interesting article on the man himself. It gets into how he got started and his personality. It discusses his innovations and his work philosophy. Not a shallow article.
All about Ernesto Colnago
https://rouleur.cc/editorial/the-wizard-of-cambiago/

VintageTTfan

That Sugino 75 disc is cool and I like that 3Rensho.

Don't forget 48 is the new 30 and I bet you will be outriding the younguns soon. My bike mechanic is much older than you and he went to Guam and trained there. He ran into two young guys at the beginning of the route. He asked if he could ride with them. They said that he might be too old to keep up. He said let me try. At the end of the many mile ride he had left the two young guys way way behind. At the end of the route he was waiting for the young guys and when they finally arrived he said "Guess I did okay for an old man." He won the Baja race over all the younger guys too. I love that story.

I wish you the best in your riding. If you have any other pictures of 3Rensho TT's or any other vintage time trials please post em for us. Thanks!

VintageTTfan

Okay, here is my next bicycle of choice:



This is a stunning bicycle IMO and it was built by a great frame maker. This was custom made for one racer. I totally want to own this bike! I mean like I really really want it. Anyway, The colors are phenomenal! The half bare handlebars with that super cool tape with it's awesome color that matches so well. The white seat matches too. The head badge is unique and psychedelic pop art. I even like the Power Bar sticker on the disc wheel for some reason. This bicycle is KILLER!

Here is some info on the bike: It was built in 1987. It has Shimano Sante' derailleurs, internal wiring for an Avocet computer, and pie-crust seams on the tubing. This bike was ridden to National Championship and Olympic Trials podium placings by Gavin O'Grady. Let me know what you think of this bicycle.

AeroGut

Here's an interesting late 90's custom frame. Fork isn't original. I just put it on to show the geometry. Interesting seat stay/chain stay design. Tubing is aero-shaped Reynolds 853. Sort of visible in the second photo.

VintageTTfan

That is an unusual frame for the late nineties. Are you sure that it is not from the early nineties? The reason I ask is that I have not seen downward sloping top tubes from the that late. I could be wrong but I have just not seen them. If anyone can correct me please do. Maybe it is because it is custom. As I understand it, at some point the sloping tubes and small front wheel were banned for official races. Does this frame fit a 650 front wheel? Forgive my ignorance please. I love the name "Mako Shark" though!

Well thanks for sharing this bike and please do send more pictures of vintage time trial bikes that you really like. Enjoy the ride.

AeroGut

The reason for assuming late 90's is that Reynolds 853 didn't come out until 95, so if that decal is legit, it's at least 95. As for the front wheel, it's possible it had a 650 front wheel, but that would make for an even more aggressive downward slope. Since I don't have the original fork, I can't be sure though. It wasn't until 2000 that the UCI required both wheels to be the same size, so it certainly could have taken 650 front even if used in UCI-regulated races in the late 90's. As I understand the UCI rule, sloping top tubes were still okay, as long as the wheels were the same size and the frame was a triangle.

VintageTTfan

That is very helpful information so thanks. Interesting that UCI didn't make that rule till the year 2000. I would have guessed 1994. In any case I have not seen any late nineties racing bikes with a small front wheel or a downward sloping top tube. I am not disputing you, I just have not seen any except yours. Maybe they just went out of fashion. If anyone has seen, knows of, or has a picture of a late nineties racing bike with a small front wheel and/or a downward sloping top tube then please post it.

hobbs1951

Here is the man from Navarre's Espada.

AeroGut

Correction: the 2000 UCI rule was for the hour record. I don’t know the timing of the same size wheel requirement for road TTs. For this bike, though, the slope may be just because of the large frame size, since it is sloping even with both wheels 700c.

VintageTTfan

I really like the Espada. It looks so Space Age. I have seen a video of someone riding an Espada on the roads and it looks so ultra-smooth that it seems like the bicycle is propelling the rider without any effort. It just glides. It is so sleek and quiet. It should have these qualities considering the price tag on one of these! Great kit too that matches the bike. Thanks for this great picture.

VintageTTfan

Thanks for the correction. Yeah that sounds about right. Also your explanation on the wheel sizes makes sense. All Best.

martl

sure, the upper pic is from the Assos company website, and the other i found at a "Textima"-related website. (There are a few but all of them in german i fear)
The history of Textima is fascinating:
Given the very limited resources at hand in the former GDR, what they achieved is nothing short of amazing. They couldn't just buy the newest and best, so they had to be ingenious. They went to wind tunnels, they mixed tubesets, they hand-rolled Reynolds tubes to oval shape and hand-flattened spokes.One of them, Pyttel, is still active with a bike shop in Rastatt near Karlsruhe. He does framebuilding classes in his Textima- and FES-decorated shop which are rumoured to have very long class days ending with story telling. Olaf Ludwig lives nearby and often drops in.





Ludwig, Altig, Pyttel

Cycling legends Olaf Ludwig, Rudi Altig, Christian Pyttel in Pyttels shop. On the wall an German olympic team FES road team TT bike.

VintageTTfan

History like your post is hard to come by and it is the kind of colorful detail that opens a window to the bike making world so thank you. I have seen a lot of pictures of Textima TT's and while they often look primitive and essentialist I believe that it is deceptive. Like you say they embody a tremendous amount of creativity and ingenuity and they are actually ahead of their time. They were forced to be creative by the lack of resources. They are interesting bikes. I always thought that FES for the German Olympic team looked very cool. It is very unique. Its all black color and futuristic design makes it look ominous (to opponents for sure). It is also great that Pyttel is still active and I am sure his stories must be great. Looking forward to your future posts on this thread. Here is a picture of the FES for everyone:

LDBenjamin

Those Dia-Compe aero brakes are, in my opinion, the most attractive ones from that era, or any era really. I have one on my Schwinn Madison, with a Campy drop bolt to reach the rims as they don't have much room for adjustment.

VintageTTfan

Thanks for the observant observation. If you have any cool pictures of VINTAGE TT, Lo pro, Pursuit, Crono, Track, or Concept TT bikes please post them. And that goes for ANYBODY. Thanks everyone.

Shrevvy 

This is a poor picture, but it is stored in an upstairs bedroom. This came from someone local to Osell. It reportedly sat in his shop since new and was never sold. Don't know if that is true, but it doesn't look like it was ridden. The saddle and seat post was mine, but all the 105 components came with it. Cool bike and I want to get it on the road at least once.

VintageTTfan

Nice. I have never seen this one before. Or heard of it. I like the yellow cream color and the clean look of the bike. The handlebars are nice too and an interesting stem. What is the brand on the stem? You should definitely get it out on the road. Thanks for the excellent post and if you see any pictures of vintage TT's please share them with us. Happy riding.

VintageTTfan

A couple early time trial bikes (one from the year 87' and one from 77':



From these we see that the idea for a large back wheel and a small front one go back pretty far. Okay, okay, I am having a little fun.

Rothbj1

Is that a 650C front wheel, or is it even smaller?