Only bike I currently own with the stripes is my Colnago, and DD beat me to it. So, I'm just gonna post my socks. Love that Mooney, [MENTION=111424]Rocket-Sauce[/MENTION].

OK, I renamed the thread to hopefully encourage more pics or rainbow striped bikes...

On my Bottecchia:
DSC_2074 by 2cam16, on Flickr
And on my Specialized gravel grinder from the forum's Box Of Crap. lol
IMG_4142 by 2cam16, on Flickr

Crescent 92318

Masi thought so.

somewhere along the way the expansion of any WC “authorized” use.
it was by and large, the World Professional Road Championship that conveyed the use.
it morphed over time.

ya know, in the70’s in the USA- the official would ask you to get plain white socks if you were entering a race

My socks may not be regulation, or even preferable. They may even be terrible. But I rode like a champion that day.

At least, that's what I tell myself. Here's one from the archive - my since sold Peugeot UO-8:

The stripes are doing double duty on my Stella. They milked Louison Bobet's accomplishments for all they could get.




On my 1973 De Rosa they seem to be claiming the stripes early. Eddy had a couple of world championships by then and was riding a De Rosa, but I don't think he rode a De Rosa to a World Championship until 1974. Mine is a repaint, so it could be bad decaling, but I've seen a couple of others De Rosas claimed to be from 1973 that have the stripes and what looks like original paint.




LeMond seems to have demonstrated that the stripes follow the rider, not necessarily the builder.




And, Masi, well, they can probably do whatever they want, including claiming the same year twice.

A couple of shots of Roland Della Santa and his frames at two NAHBS events....





I'm assuming it was for LeMond's win on his bikes?

Steve in Peoria

84 Chas Roberts

Here's a classic flex from Atala (Urs Frehler, winning basically every WC Points Race in the 80s)

Ernesto must have been extremely proud of the rainbow since it is in every decal!
P1000519 on Flickr

If the Pinarello had them, they fell off!

The 1988 De Rosa Pro does not have them

The 1973 Bottecchia has them, or should:
P1030103 on Flickr

The rules said that socks had to be white but some riders preferred to ride without socks, which technically didn't violate the rules. Still, some officials demanded socks, so there were riders who would use white paint on the area around their ankles. As a result, the rules were changed to, "socks, if worn, shall be white". However, even this got thrown out the door, after the UCI added mountain bike racing to it's jurisdiction, as in many regions it was impossible to keep them white, without buying a new pair for each race. The same problem had existed earlier, with cyclo-cross, but the CX crowd wasn't as vocal in its need for rule changes.

Yes but it gets even more convoluted than that. A bicycle brand doesn't even have to have won a World Championship to be adorned with the coveted rainbow stripes. It only has to be ridden in sanctioned competition by a reigning World Champion.

This loophole is made possible by the discrepancy between the World Championship year and the contract year. The World Championships traditionally take place during the last week of August or the first week of September. Consequently, a World Champion's one year reign typically spans two partial calendar years. However, rider contracts are typically calendar year based. After a rider has become World Champion it is quite common for them to switch teams to obtain a more lucrative salary for the upcoming season/calendar year. They take the rainbow jersey with them to the new team and if the bicycle sponsor has changed, that new bicycle brand gets to wear the rainbow stripes, even though it wasn't ridden to victory at the last World Championships.

Also, I don't how many of you have noticed this but even past World Champions get to wear the rainbow stripes in sanctioned races. It's not as prominent as the reigning World Champion, but in recognition of their past accomplishment, previous World Champions are permitted to display the rainbow stripes on the collar and/or cuffs of their team jerseys. Here's a photo of Hinault displaying the rainbow stripes of the cuffs of his jersey.

Speaking of De Rosas, this was always a weird one - WC stripes, but with years representing Eddy Merckx's three Super Prestige Pernod (precursor to the World Cup/World Tour) titles on it. Not to mention the "Arc-en-cil"- maybe referencing his 1974 title?




(Also infamous for causing a bunch of early 80s De Rosa Professionals to be called "Super Prestiges"

Also applies to reigning national champions - as seen by Larry Warbasse here.

(this seems to be one of a few accepted ways to display a former US title - another is just having the flag repeat as a band around the cuff)




The pro-level European title is fairly new but "Euro stripes" seem to be a thing as well.

Since we have seen socks and jerseys, I'll add a saddle.

How about NORBA stripes?

Not sure what would have been the justification for them on a 1979 Miyata 912. They were a bit more visible - two full circumference seat tube bands - on several other models in the ‘79 lineup according to the catalog photos.

https://www.ragandbone.ca/PDFs/Miyat...0Catalogue.pdf

OK, to resurrect/boost this thread, I have a question for the BF hive mind.

Is it ok to ask a frame builder who earned them their rainbow?

Also... POST MORE PICS please!

I believe there is a weird rule that it must be at the cuff of the sleeves. Tony Martin and Tom Demoulin were fined at last year's Tour for wearing long sleeves that had the rainbow printed on the sleeve mid bicep (ie where they would be if he were wearing short sleeves).

This one is upside down. Blue for sky on top, green for grass on bottom.

I always wondered what discipline Norco earned the stripes on the headtube of this 1985 touring bike.

^^Obviously a World Champion at Touring!