Fairly Mental French and Italian Bikes

[Canuk]

Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck C.1981

 

[Canuk]

Eddy Merckx, Saronni and de Vlaeminck, 3 of the outstanding heroes of the era whom Colnago choose to lionise with custom production bikes as a tribute.

Who is Roger de Vlaeminck?​

Roger de Vlaeminck competed as a professional cyclist from 1969 to 1984. Overall he recorded 525 victories throughout his career including one stage of the Tour de France, 22 stages of the Giro d’Italia (including winning the points jersey 3 times) as well as a stage win in the Vuelta a España. He is one of only three riders to have won all five ‘Monuments of Cycling’ (i.e., Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the Giro di Lombardia).

Features of a Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck.​

This bike in the following images appears to be an original even though the decals do not match those shown in the brochure. Essentially this model would have shared all the features of an early 1980’s Colnago Super.

As for the components included with this bike, I would presume they were top of the range Campagnolo Super Record & Nuovo Record. As you can see in the catalogue, the chain rings were pantographed with Roger’s full name and initials. Based on the brochure it looks like this bike was released to celebrate one of his four Paris-Roubaix victories (1972, 1974, 1975, 1977).

 

[Canuk]

Barra Cyclo Cross? Race bike. 8.4kg

 

[Canuk]

Circa 1950, a 'soudo-brase' all aluminium Barra, nearly forty years before Cannondale came along.

Made by Nicolas Barra, welded aluminum French bike
Description and Components:

53 cms seat tube c/c
53 cms top tube c/c
seat post full integrated
flattened tube on the rear
ideale leather alloy 58 saddle
stronglight single crankset
simplex alloy rear derailleur
lam brakeset and pads with special spokes in place of cables
rear brake cable routed through the seat tube
super champion tubulars rims
aheadset stem

 

[Canuk]

Velo bizarre. Not quite sure what's going on here, but I like it!

 

[Canuk]

Joker C4, Italy.

 

[Canuk]

Marco Bonfanti frames were some of the only real vintage monocoque frames. The Joker was really a very stiff frame, not unlike the previously posted Vitus ZX1.

 

[Canuk]

Colnago C35 Rabobank

 

[Canuk]

C.1996. This C35 is probably one of the last generation, built around seven years after the introduction of this model. The shift lever sockets are clearly designed for down tube shifters, the advantage of the later versions were of course the flashy paint finishes and the minor improvements made by Ferrari to the frame design.

 

[Canuk]

The C35 Off Road version