Performance is not everything. I can say that because I'm 193cm / 91kg. :D Oh, and I'm a poser!

That was the car. I was embarassed for him. I guess ignorance is truly bliss.

you are probably right but that is so sad. i have been out of racing for nearly 10 years. just been commuting to the orrifice every day for the last year (kind of a 200km/week hybrid riding hairy legged dad thing). i dusted off my gios the other day and rode it into work. i couldn't shut up about it (i am sure i was about to get the sack) - felt like i was 21 years old again. and who doesn't look good on blue anyway?

the thing i have noticed, getting back into the scene, is the predominance of aluminium frames. i can't work it out. i have this aluminium hybrid frame that i bought on a whim when getting back into riding(and only slightly regret) and i hate the feel. i feel like i have shaken the cartilige loose in my good knee. why the fascination with al frames? we used to call cannondales: snappenfrails and used to pay out on anyone who rode one. even called a few al frame owners triatheletes!

and 531 is right. little leyley is a grommit - i was going for roddick too. am i the only person who thinks his old girlfriend looks like shrek's wife?

cheers


marty

Indeed!!

There was a time between about '94 and '98 when I only went to bike shops to buy tyres, and barely looked at the bikes. When I eventually payed attention, it was alooominum everywhere!!

Sorry, but I really have to disagree with this. My riding partner owned a mid 70's Colnago Super that I did most of the work on and I owned an early 80's Colnago Mexico, an early 80's Colnago Super, have built up 70's Colnago's for customers and friends and currently own a Colnago Ovalmaster, and I think that Colnago has far and away exceeded his early work for ride quality and innovation(cache). Back then, every Italian racing bike had similar elements that were a constant like the tubing, often lugs were the same, dropouts were the same, on and on. In other words, they were all more alike than they were different.

Today, bikes are much more individual and have much more cache than in the 70's. The C40 and C50 seem to inspire rarified reviews from their riders, and I'll take my Ovalmaster over a Super, 10 out of 10 days. There is no other bike like it.

Nostalgists want to think that the old days were better, but in reality, for those that have actually ridden and built the bikes, todays products are superior. JMHO

Of all the builders you mention, Gios has probably been the most consistent with their Compact frame, and I think DeRosa really peaked, at least to me, with their Merak and King frames. The Merak is truly a sublime piece of work.

American builders like Kellog, Assenmacher, Isaac, and Redcay produced fine work in the late 70's into the 80's and some of them are still doing it today. They just get more coverage these days.

Sorry, no feigned aussie speak here. ;)

i have questions. stuff i just dont get.

why so many aluminium frames? carbon always had a rep for not being stiff enough for racing but that is not the case anymore. used to hear stories about those old giant CFR's lugs debonding mid ride - had images of some poor guy hammering down hill while his top tube spears in like a pole vaulter. old wives tale i am sure... is it just that aluminium is relatively cheap?

my gios has a nickel/vanadium/chromium alloy frame. i think it is supposed to be similar (if not the same) to the columbus genius II tubing that went into the bianchis mid 90's. i dont have much to compare it to, but i still like it. on rough country roads (i used to race in WA) i always found it to be a great ride. why not more fancy steel alloys?

also, geometry has changed dramatically. road bikes now look like mountain bikes. seriously compact and you get guys riding around with 60cm of seat pillar sticking out. we used to say a fist and half was about right so this stands out for me. i know the sloping top tube is going to account for some extra pillar but there has to be a sensible limit. looks to me like there are guys over 185cm riding bikes that my wife couple be fitte to. Average body sizes haven't changed dramatically in the last 10 years (although my neighbour seems to have gotten pretty fat) so how can the geometry change that much? i look at the colnago cat on line and have to say that the master still looks like the most desireable bike but maybe that is because it fits my image of a road bike.

wheels: i dont get why people are paying upward of $700 on wheels for clinchers. wouldn't you be better off with some hand built SUP's and a pair of tubs? i find the fetish for aero this and that (esp rims and spokes) hilarious since most of the pointyheads i ever raced with seemed happy enough to roll along with the bunch - not much need for anything aero.


cheers


marty

G'day marty,

errrrr, a couple of points about the Aussie thread.....its in our constitution that we avoid studiously any subjects that will make our brains hurt!. For forcing us to think, you are required to say 6 'hail thylacines' (our creator, Dr. Frankenstein) & read all 231 pages of posts........then & only then, if you think you can play nicely & dumb yourself down to our level.......will you be allowed to post again.....all those in favour, register your approval by doing nothing!...........

Hitchy

The Aussie Thread does require a certain commitment to apathy.

Hey Hitchy, can you do me another favor?

drop me a PM with the details,son.

Hitchy

they are kind words. it was very unaustralian of me. i was full of enthusiasm when i wrote the message and now i dont really care if i get an answer. really - i dont know what i was thinking.

i might be back in a couple of weeks when i have scrolled through the remaining pages. but then again, maybe i can't be pharqued with that either. i need a coffee

copulator


marty

That's better Marty, now far cough! :D

And his band is pretty ****house too

OK.........**********?...do you know 531?.......he 's the bloke riding the cervelo on stage playing the 'axe' wiv his bidon!:D

Hitchy

that's brilliant. it's hardly even offensive when you say it with a grin. i'll try it: so far kew; i'll go wear eye far ken like :-)

Fairy nuff

There's a Con Spiracy theory that a drop in airplane manufacturing provided a HUGE surplus of aluminium, so, the bike companies were getting it SO cheap, that they convinced us we needed for out bikes. :)

I can't believe that stuff like alu Pinarellos, Colnagos, etc, are about $4000!!
FOUR FARKIN GRAND FOR ALOOOMINUM!!

I could be wrong, but the way I see it, the only benefit that alu has (apart from the rust thing) is that they can be much stiffer than steel at a lighter or similar weight -- oh yeah, and they're CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP
Having said that, I have 3 alu frames:p....but just cheapies.

i thought they were made out of recycled aluminium cans - which explains why the fold in half when you tap them in the right spot.

seems real steep to me. but colnagos have always been expensive. i reckon if i ever get that colnago, it wont be made of alum.


you are probably right.



marty

Well I happen to like my little Al training bike, so stuff all youse steel, Ti, and CF lovers. My steelo hasn't been down of the garage wall since I got the beasty in September. And now I have another Al bike to race on. I reckon I'll love that too.

So what if I have to replace them every 2 years. Big deal. I have to replace the Shimano drive train every 4 months!

Oi you fullahs! What's a top pair of shorts with a top quality chamois in it, and where can I buy it online for cheap?

Went for a 100km ride today and I feel like I've tried to castrate (edit: oops, got my type of genital mutilation wrong) myself with a butter knife. With that and having to pull chunks of chamois out of my arse after ever ride, me thinks my cheap, 12 year old Netti's have had their day. So help a fullah out while he's still able to sprog out a goodun. :(

my fav road knicks are giordano bib and brace. got them at http://www.leknicks.com/catalog/default.php about 7 years ago. dont think you can get them (there) anymore. i think they have a nalini chamois which has some special anti-baterial magic stuff in it. seems to do the trick

found this link too:

http://www.gitabike.com/cgi-bin/shop...io_sum.htm&0=2

you pay your money though...


i have a pair of netti knicks as well. only a year old and they are completely indecent - let alone the fact taht i may as well be wearing a pair of basketball shorts. dont like them at all.

cheers


marty

Thank you Marty. What's the point of bib and brace jobbies anyway. I can't say I've ever been at risk of my shorts spontaneously dacking myself.

They dug out Olivia Newton-John to sing before the men's finals! That was scary.

what did you think of her "cosmic" surgery?

I didn't notice it - I just heard the singing and the grease flashbacks made me run for the hills.

Speaking of hills, are you up for a climb tomorrow climbo? 5:00am at the mobil?