question: playing card suits and lugs
 

what's behind the tradition of using hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades as detail in handmade lugs?

The alphabet was too long

here's is the company line...

http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/...es/5871.1.html

http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/...es/5871.2.html

e-RICHIE©™®

imagined there's be something better than that.

nah.
most of us are quite simple-minded!
e-RICHIE©™®

I say it's a great story. Can't get much better than that. Especially coming full circle with the 20 year anniversary and the acquisition of the old stock from the original suppliers son!

serendipity!!
e-RICHIE©™®

Here's a good example of the card theme taken to the extreme . Inspired, I believe, by the aforementioned Sachs fork crown The only decal on the bike is on the seatube...the fanned out playing cards. All the other lettering and stripes are painted on, even though decals woulda been alot easier. Fitting, I think. Cards=gambling=Las Vegas=over the top. Also, the gray main color was matched to one of the owner's "summer suits". Gotta love it.
BTW, Richard, I'm a big fan of your work, and the products you provide are invaluable. I was lucky enough to score one of your red San Marco Regal saddles at a swap meet last year. Nice!

yeah i meant i figured there'd be a story prior to you, because it's an old association, no? in italy. at least

according to a discussion on Classic Rendezvous:

One theory is that Bianchi originated it with the following
"Pokerissmo: no matter how you deal the cards, Bianchi and Coppi are victorious."
was on an advert that can be seen here:
http://www.vintagevelos.com/Coppibike.html
According to what I could dig up the Bianchi ad was in 1949 and that was
the earliest mention of playing card suits on a frame.

my story is from the 70s era.
i have read a dozen iterations about coppi, and riders
playing polka, and dancelli winning lombardy causing
colnago to adapt the clover-leaf, and more...

imo - it's all lore.
therein lies the beauty.

no need to overanalyze!

ps - that bianchi ad certainly has some punch.
now i wonder why it took until the 70s for it
all to become so ubiquitous.

here's some more from the cr list:
"Since you asked for "any and all"...this is pieced together from hearsay an
d anecdotes, so take it for what it's worth:
I heard that most of the pro racers (and especially the Italians) spent a g
reat deal of their downtime between stages and on the road engaged in card
games...gambling. Since they are a competitive lot, the sideshow of the car
dgames often got to be just as heated and contentious as the actually bike
race, and there could be a lot of payback for last night's gambling in that
day's race. Some of the best racers were the worst losers at cards and vic
e-versa, and the day's winnings from race prizes could completely change ha
nds in the night's cardgame...you get the picture. So, when these racers/ga
mblers went into the next phase of their careers, lending their good names
to a bicycle or bike company, their true love of the cards was part of thei
r image and signature, especially among the peloton who knew who the "lucky
bastards" were. So you see the Heart on DeRosa, the Club on Colnago, the D
iamond on Pogliaghi, and all the suits on Ciocc (who's nickname means "poke
rface") as well as a bunch more that I'm forgetting...anybody have a compre
hensive list?"


"Fausto Coppi rode a Bianchi specially built for him that had lugs
beautifully cut out with diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades. Bianchi
promoted this with ads that said something to the extent of "No matter how
you deal the cards always a winner...""

It took someone with forsight (like yourself)
to bring it here.

marty

me?
i'm just a little pisher !
e-RICHIE©™®

Funny, I always heard you were a real mensch

i count you among my meshpucha!
e-RICHIE©™®

those are the kind of stories i was after. i know this precedes the 70s 9no diminishing of your role in all this, just that it's somehtig i've seen on older and non-us bikes as ell)

agreed.
fwiw, with the exception of that single bianchi ad,
i never saw all these icons used before the fork
pieces were manufactured. even the brands that
used them single-y had only glommed on in the
early 70s.
e-RICHIE©™®

I think it probably also has something to do with the USPC and Bicycle Cards
http://www.ucdp.uc.edu/artasimage/decker06.jpg

more