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pistol13

Yeah, i really like the mavic kit but it is to expensive for me. Also pretty hard to get hold of, imagine how long it would take to get a full groupset together. Would look fantastic on this frameset tho! Does anyone know the original spec.

sandranian · Site Admin

Wisey...what's the story with the picture (the McEwen one)? No offense about the cranks, but someday you will realize that I am right about those (tee hee hee! Wink

).

Gtane

Kev, nice bike. It looks great. Thanks for the post.

Pistol13, you could try www.velobase.com as a starting point to piece together the required SSC gear.

Wisey, that's a great teaser regards Robbie McEwan and a super bike too. Look forward to hearing the story. Those Mavic SSC components are very nice indeed and the chainsets don't come up that often. I'm a fan of them too.

Tim

Paul Wiseman

It's not such a big story. Everybody starts somewhere. Robbie started his road career with the Southport cycling club at the Gold Coast, Queensland. Same place as me. Within a couple years, the club had produced two outstanding riders, Darren Smith and Rob. Darren was a huge talent and had many offers of Pro contracts but was staying amateur until the 92 Barcelona Olympics were over. He and a certain Lance Armstrong were the favourites for the road race. Sadly for them, it didn't work out for either. If you want a picture of Darren, imagine the bike handling skills of Stu O'Grady combined with the power of Lance and the mind of Cyrille Guimard. He was going to be a great pro, but sadly he was killed while training here in Aust not long after the Olympics. Rob went on to bigger and better things. I was one of the 999 out of every 1000............ Wink

So, anyway, this is the following year, 1993 at the State Championships Teams Time Trial. We got as many of our riders there that day together for a photo. I don't remember all the names. But I rode the elite mens race with Rob, Damon Simpson and Stuart Cuttajar. I'm in the back with the had and ugly oakleys....... (youth, huh? Rolling Eyes

) We managed a second place that day. The only other thing I remember is that the pretty blond in front is the Coach's daughter, Nancy. I think all the boys had a crush on her at some point..... Wink

The logo on the kit is that of Soren Son bicycles, which is also the bike in the photo. Made by Soren Anderson and his son, Mitch at the Gold Coast. It was made from the first generation oversize tubing from Reynolds (731os). I had mine kitted with a mix of gear. Mavic 180mm cranks, Suntour SL 7 speed drive train. Shimano brakes. ITM bars. I had one of those selle italia lumbar support things on the TurboMatic saddle at one point. The frame has a 79 degree seat angle. We we messing with that forward geometry 5 years befor the pro's were doing it, but I suspect that it is one of those trends that had been done before back in the 50' or 60's anyway.

pistol13

Thanks Gtane for the great link. Not been on that site before and have now added it to my favorites, i'm drooling Very Happy

verktyg

An LBS (local bike shop) has a mint Gitane Team Bike (Team Pro, Team Replica ???) like the one pictured by pistol 13. It's hanging up in a dark corner of their shop. I'd been in there a number of times before I noticed it.

The black and white paint job acted as camouflage. If it weren't for the classy yellow Gitane stickers these bikes would resemble the rattle can paint jobs that some people used to do to their bikes to discourage thieves. Laughing

When I saw it I asked if they wanted to sell it... I almost got thrown out! It belongs to a collector who lets them display some of his classic bikes. Sad

Chas.

Gtane

Wisey,

Thanks for the story. Great times. I like the sound of the experimentation that you toyed with. That's a super bike you have there.

TT machines were always where experimentation was carried out, rarely on the road machines as we have today on both types of bicycle. I remember this going on in the UK when I time trialled some 28/30 years ago. There were some ingenious ideas and they all revolved around an adapted road bike.

Thanks for the memory trigger.

Tim

Paul Wiseman

Thanks Tim

I am saddened that the mechanical side of the sport has changed so much. Without doubt, we have better equipment at more affordable proces. However, change and innovation is now something that you "purchase" rather than something you "do". Innovation still happens, but it happens inside CAD programs and wind tunnels. It no longer happens in a 15 year old boy's garrage.

Cheers,
Wisey

sandranian · Site Admin

In a way, you can thank Gitane for that. The TT bike for sale on ebay (profil) and the Delta were the start of high-priced aerodynamic development for bikes. Their purchase by Renault and the subsequent R&D that went into Gitane was extraordinary, culminating in the third bike below, which finally was "too radical" for UCI rules. Here are the main variants of the TT bikes as they evolved:

Paul Wiseman

Don't get me wrong, we are far better off today. It's just that the R&D and production has shifted from being a local thing to a global enterprise. We now have companies like Trigon. Ever heard of them? They manufacture a very large percentage of other brands carbon good for the cycling industry, and they are some of the big names too.

Many people like to warble on about the good old days of the 70's and early 80's without realising that while that may have been the "classic" age of the bicycle, the reason that this was so was due mostly to newer technologies in the manufacturing process. Seamless alloy tubing, cast lugs, forged dropouts instead of stamped. Teams of guys working on assembly lines that cut, filed, assembled, tacked, and brazed frames together. New aluminium alloys and forging techniques to make stronger and lighter parts like the revolutionary Nuovo Record gruppo. Plastic molded saddles, sleeving on handlebars to make them stronger, anodising rims, eyelets in rims, double butted spokes, and the introduction of the perfect material for bicycle parts: Drillium! Wink

This Tech revolution is what really created the classic era, and Gitane was a huge part of that.

What has changed is that where once you could strip your gitane team pro, and drill out the parts, or replace a simplex derailleur with a campy while keeping the same shifters, now really all the average punter can do is buy some new handlebar tape. We used to own and maintain a thing called a bicycle that was really a means of freedom, adventure and a way of life. Nowdays we purchase a piece of exercise equipment, use it up, then replace it with another one. The love of the sport stays the same, but I have doubts whether the kid down the road with his carbon frame with ultegra 10speed group and mavic ksyrium wheels will look back nostalgicly on that bike in 20 years time. Perhaps I'm wrong. I hope so.

Gtane

Wisey,

Here we go, a classic TT machine.

http://www.bikebrothers.co.uk/engers_files/alfscan_pic.jpg

Just look at all those drillings on virtually all components, tight clearances, large flange hubs, what look like 24 spoke wheels, no bar tape on the top of the bars, as well as one great rider.

Tim

sandranian · Site Admin

Why would you need tight geometry on a TT machine? I get pulling the back wheel in, but why such a squirrely front end? I guess having the distances shorter for most TTs, you wouldn't need comfort. But you also wouldn't need an especially nimble machine, would you?

Gtane

Stephan,

That's a good question.

There were many contributory factors such as fashion, weight, style, look, feel, size, personal choice, etc. etc., and before you could go to a shop, walk in and buy a TT machine off the shelf, you would go to a frame builder, spec. out your machine and they'd build it for you. A TT machine was always a specialist custom product.

You're right in that TT machines were ridden for set distances, as they are today, the most common on the domestic scene being 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles, or 25mins, hour, two hours, four hours respectively, and approximately for time on the bike. So top riders would spec. their machines according to their preferred rides.

There were strong influences from track bikes as well as overall fit and comfort (although comfort was not always at the top of the list). The machine, as with the Gitane design, was created for the sole purpose of getting to the line as quickly as possibly in the quickest time possible. Even though equipment has gone through the roof regards development and transition, top times have remained reasonably consistent, which is interesting. They've improved marginally but not hugely. It was only until the introduction of the Obreee and later the superman position, by Graeme Obree, that riders were able to go much faster but both positions were banned by the UCI in the early '90s. I'm digressing.

The short front end certainly gave a very lively ride, a shorter wheelbase and the angles would have been pretty steep too. Possibly parallel 75 or more. Again, taking ideas from the track. All these machines were very often bespoke to top riders and everything was designed for speed. All top TT machines of the mid to late '70s / early '80s had a similar look to the example. Not all machines were drilled, it really depended on how talented you were and how far you wanted to go to loose weight.

As Wisey says, we all used to tinker around with our machines in our garages. Change components, go for the lightest, just play to get the machine as light as possible but without hindering performance. Now we have carbon and weight limits so there's far less scope to personalise as there once was.

Tim

verktyg

sandranian · Site Admin

Drillium is way cool. I love the 1976 Gitane catalogue, which features a drillium Gitane on the cover.