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The Milan show
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Due to having my computer stolen and losing a ton of information, photos, time and momentum, I had not yet posted anything about last month's Milan bike show. Scheduled in early November, its relevance as an important international bike show has declined over the years, but given the rich history and passion of the Italian bicycle industry, it nonetheless had much to offer in the way of eye candy.
Italian Vittorio Brumotti, the 2006 World Bicycle Trials Champion, set a Guinness World Record at the Milan Bike and Motorcycle Show for hopping hurdles on a bike. Along a 30-meter circuit, he hopped over 20 hoops 1.5 meters apart and 2.94 meters high.
There are always some advantages to holding a bike show in the same venue as the world’s biggest motorcycle show. One tried and true way to attract young male moto’ nuts is to decorate the motorcycles with gorgeous women.
Workers at the Milan trade-fair grounds get around on green city bikes, most of which were made in China. Every here and there you find a city bike belonging to the Fiera Milano that is Italian-made; it’s rare, and those are usually black.
With its curved canopies of clear plastic triangles, the Fiera Milano trade-fair venue is not only enormous and extensive, but it is also quite spectacular on a clear day.
With only one of the many enormous halls available at the Fiera Milanofilled for the bike show, and with its second hall largely empty, the bike-showorganizers put a wooden velodrome right into the show floor, taking upthe majority of one show hall. Rather than a six-day race, it organizeda four-day race, with the same two-man team format as a six-day.
All of the riders competing in the Milan 4-Day had a little changingbooth on the velodrome infield. The one pictured below belongs to the team of Pippo Pozzato and Alessandro Ballan. This was Pozzato’s first time racing on a track, and his tentativeness on the first day was replaced by relentless attacking on later days.
The banking on the 200-meter track was quite steep, even on the straightstretches, making for exciting hand slings.
The racing on the small board track was fast and furious. The fans weredelighted with the riding of world and Olympic champion Paolo Bettini.With the right connections (as we did!), they could have a fancy Italiandinner in the infield while watching him.
One Italian clothing company whose name (thankfully) escapes me, choseto have numerous images like this of police arresting a black rider wearinga different cycling kit for each arrest segment.
San Patrignano, a drug-rehab center in northeastern Italy, has a bicycleframebuilding operation as part of its rehabilitation program. Dario Pegorettitrained the builders there, and now they have taken a page out of CraigCalfee’s book, producing bamboo-tubed frames. Unlike Calfee, San Patrignanois connecting the bamboo tubes together with carbon fiber rather than withhemp fiber, however.
The Bianchi 9-2-8 Carbon SL monocoque frame weighs only 850 grams yetis claimed to have unprecedented strength and reliability in the superlightcategory, thanks to unidirectional carbon throughout and innovative ribdesigns. It also has the lightest fork on the market, at 300 grams. The9-2-8 Carbon T-Cube has mitered tubes and wrapped joints, weighs 1060 grams,and, unlike the 9-2-8 Carbon SL climbing frame, is meant for large sprinters.It can be ordered in custom sizes and is made in Treviglio, Italy.
Riccardo Bigolin, the son of the founder of Selle Italia (not to beconfused with his uncle of the same name who founded Selle Royal and henceFizik), is a Formula 1 fan. The new Selle Italia Monolink seatpost/saddlerail design is faster to change saddles with. Hence the video showing aFormula 1-style pit changing the saddle in five seconds while the crewchanging the saddle on the standard seatpost gets timed out.
Max Lelli, now retired from racing, has his own line of bikes. MarioCipollini rode one in the Industry Cup criterium in Las Vegas, an eventmemorialized in Lelli’s Milan booth.
The Cinelli Neo Morphe bar has deeper gripping zones along the top whichallow the cable to pass through it while offering a bigger area for theCinelli logo. The angled-down area at the bend with the wider platformis supposed to enhance the hand position for seated climbing.
The Deda Phazer bar takes advantage of the unique forms carbon can take.The “Power Egg” offers a hand position at the bend above the levers designedto increase climbing power.
Retro in the modern world: the Deda Campione handlebar has the classicround bend and script styling of the model logo. But it is a high-techcarbon layup for great stiffness, strength, and low weight.
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