Post image for Rapida Vecchi Bicycle Racing Team and Lavache’s Bicycle Race Refusal

Rapida Vecchi Bicycle Racing Team and Lavache’s Bicycle Race Refusal

by Robert Cobcroft · 0 comments

Lavache’s Bicycle Race Refusal.

Once the second hand on your personal life clock has begun to sag and fade after too many revolutions around the sun and you’re old enough to have accrued some decent “mileage”, the indicator pointed firmly in the range of “middle aged +++”. Where do you turn if you want to race a bike.

Here’s two totally different approaches, let’s begin with the lazy approach and follow up with the more recent development of sponsored Masters team racing.

In 2010 Queensland veteran cyclist Lavache thought it would be great to invite a few of his old bicycle riding friends to saddle up one more time and go race in a teams time trial. His old buddies Seth and Rinaldo replied with all the wisdom gained from their many years of combined racing.

Good Morning Gentlemen.

Are any of  you interested in riding the Queensland Road Teams Time Trial, Sunday 19th Sept ?

Lavache

Lavache, I do not think you will succeed with this bunch as a TT requires both training and team work. Both seem to be in short supply these days.rapida-vecchi-goldcross-racing

Don’t let my reluctance deter you from your endeavours though.
Seth

Lavache you old Pillock or should I say Pillicock – it’s more apt, I agree with Seth. Old bike riders want coffee shop stops, not training with programmes and time frames. Most importantly no one wants to ride around in the bush in some god forsaken place past Timbuktoo, deal with QCA Marshalls who volunteer and are more cranky than a bull that’s just been castrated. There’s a good chance that riders will crash into one another as they’ve forgotten how to ride on a team. By the time they get to the finish they will have forgotten why they were there, and only have one question … where’s the coffee shop? Plus beyond Timbuktoo there are never showers, it’s usually hot, dry, you have to drive there and what, race a bike??? Give me a beer.
Rinaldo

After 20 years of not racing in Queensland not much has changed I suppose, despite the growth in popularity of cycling, we still have the dark forces of the QCA and the anti cycling mentality of the Brisbane council that forces clubs to hold races beyond Timbuktu where its dry and hot and the roads are paved with unscreened gravel that contains fist sized lumps designed to stop bicycles in their tracks.
Bloody Hell where is that coffee shop!!
Lavache
CLICK TO CONTINUE

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When The New Dog Digs Up The Old Dog

by Robert Cobcroft · 6 comments

The Bianchi X4 Diaries Part ONE

What happens when you’ve drunk way too much, it’s past midnight then in a fit of blind stupidity you decide to call up an old girlfriend, who hasn’t heard from you in years. Alternatively, maybe you’re like a friend of mine who once thought his Suzuki RGV 250 motorcycle was the ducks nuts, sold it, then years later hoping to re-live his “best motorcycle ever” memories, bought another one only to face the deepest disappointment, saying “it’s still a great bike but now expect so much more from a race replica“. Worse still you could be confronted with the grisly picture of your old loved puppy’s skeleton laid out on the lawn, after your new dog digs up your old dog. Michael Leunig’s cartoon which is captioned, – “Awful aspects of spring. The new dog digs up the old dog.” – emphatically portrays a moment which no one should live through. All of these things evoke emotions best left alone, or should they?

In my case the very thought of re-connecting with cycle sport by publishing and writing Velo Aficionado had the potential to be as appealing as having your new dog dig up your old dog. For more than twenty years I’d sat on the sidelines, watching but not participating. Once the decision was made to combine a career as a pro photographer, together with previous experience as an elite cyclist into the Velo Aficionado project, there was no turning back.

A couple of years ago, if you’d said to me that I’d be writing a blog about bikes and even worse still scouring the internet in the hope of finding an old Bianchi X4 team bike, I’d have said you’ve got rocks in your head. Now here we are, you’re reading the blog, I’m having a great time writing it and I’ve now got a Bianchi X4 frame to restore. It’s time for the new dog to fuck off, fetch a stick and stop digging up the yard! CLICK TO CONTINUE

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Frezoni Merckx FAEMA

by Robert Cobcroft · 2 comments

Joe Cosgrove’s Frezoni FAEMA, inspired by the MASI built bike that Merckx raced on in 1968. A replica of the team issue bike, Joe searched Ebay for New Old Stock parts. Faithful to the original, in as many details as possible, the bike is fitted with first generation Campagnolo Record parts. Genuine Nervex model 32 lugs were used together with a Tange investment cast fork crown and a Long Shen Bottom Bracket shell.

Back when bike racers replaced dirty bar tape for every race with pristine Tressostar brand tape or similar, white was often a popular choice. On this Faema styled bike built by Joe he used white hem tape bought from Woolworths, an old way to skimp on tape when funds were short.
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Post image for Noisy cyclists brag about bedroom antics – If Only Cycling Was This Simple Today PART TWO

Noisy cyclists brag about bedroom antics – If Only Cycling Was This Simple Today PART TWO

by Master Hughie · 8 comments

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“We riders of to-day are the pioneers of our sport —it’s Pilgrim Fathers—-and to us it is given to make of it what we see fit. Without a doubt the future of bicycling is now in the hands of those who ride, and the sport will be reputable or otherwise, according as we now bear ourselves.”In response to “A soft answer turneth away wrath” …”our pursuit is “low”, and the bicyclists are cads, and we shall find riders placed on a par with cockfighters and pugilists, and probably recruited from the same classes. In proportion as a man is impressed with these truisms, so will his conduct while in the saddle assume a gentleman-like character.” London Bicycle Club Gazette Friday, APRIL 2, 1880″

PART ONE of If Only Cycling Was This Simple Today

According to a number of long suffering residents in the Brisbane suburbs of Fairfield, Yeronga, Tennyson, Chelmer and Sherwood, there’s been an ever increasing infestation of noisy rat-pack bicycle riding cyclists, sky larking through their streets, “bragging about their bedroom antics”.

“Noisy cyclists bragging about bedroom antics drive southside residents to petition for ‘keep quiet’ signs.” FOUL-mouthed cyclists bragging about their bedroom exploits have sparked so many complaints from fed-up residents a councillor wants “keep quiet” signs erected along a popular cycling route. Jasmin Lill From: The Courier-Mail April 16, 2013 12:00AM

Not only are residents of the bicycle infested suburbs of west Brisbane up in arms, read the ensuing comments and the entire country is upset by these bicycle riding vermin. CLICK TO CONTINUE

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Post image for Frezoni Custom Bicycles 2012 Faema Evolution

Frezoni Custom Bicycles 2012 Faema Evolution

by Robert Cobcroft · 5 comments

campagnolo-eps-cable-routingPart Two of the Eddy Merckx – Frezoni Custom Bicycles 2012 Faema Evolution from the Joe Cosgrove CYCLE DESIGN workshop.

When Joe Cosgrove set out to create his replica of a 1968 Faema – Masi built team bike, he wasn’t done with just building the replica, Joe built an updated 2012 version with references to the original red and white paint scheme. For Joe there has only ever been ONE manufacturer of bicycle components, Campagnolo. A forgone conclusion, the new bike is equipped with 2012 Campagnolo Super Record EPS. Using Campagnolo is also in keeping with the original Campagnolo equipped Faema.

While restoring customers bikes, Joe will de-chrome then re-chrome using an involved plating process including polishing. The steps are preparation of the parent metal which is polished to perfection, then copper plating, next polish the copper plating, followed by nickel plating, then chromium plating which is subsequently polished. For the 2012 Frezoni-Faema these involved restoration processes could be side stepped, polished stainless steel was used instead of the more traditional multi-step plating method. A benefit of the modern 953 Reynolds product.

The polished lugs give a nod to tradition, along with the riveted look to the Selle San Marco Regal Evolution saddle and the Brooks bar tape. Joe also used a pre world war two concept which involved press-fitting a dowel into the front fork, as a form of vibration damping and presumably to keep grit out of the steerer tube. CLICK TO CONTINUE

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Eddy Merckx – Giro di Faema

by Robert Cobcroft · 6 comments

Late last year custom bicycle designer, constructor and painter Joe Cosgrove high tailed it out of his shed and headed for Melbourne. Joe confesses he’s a bit of a hermit preferring to work away the days and nights in his Brisbane based, custom bicycle building workshop. Some days to Joe the rest of the world could just about be a million miles away.

Joe’s Frezoni frame brand has been established since the early 80′s. A quirk of fate ignited Joe’s career as a frame builder back in the late 70′s. Look anywhere into the history of the Australian bicycle industry since the 50′s and you’ll find Kevin Thompson’s name imprinted with a deep staining indelible ink all over the story. Kevin was the man behind many new ventures, and Joe’s destiny was tangled up in one of them.

French frame builder Robert Alami came to Australia and set up shop building Alami frames in the late 70′s. Anyone who knows Kevin also knows he could sell ice to an Eskimo, and nothing was different with Robert Alami’s bicycle building business. Soon Alami’s Brisbane based workshop required extra help – enter stage left, Joseph Cosgrove. CLICK TO CONTINUE

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SHADOW BOXER Part TWO Specialized S-WORKS Allez Photoset

by Robert Cobcroft · 1 comment

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The Shadow Boxing Allez RACE promises and delivers a lot of bike for relatively little money. Take the Race one step further and enhance it’s already near perfect handling by adding in your favourite set of carbon wheels, after all you’ve saved a ton of cash and obviously that’s the next best place to gain more bang for your buck. CLICK TO CONTINUE

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Specialized Allez RACE Rival Smartweld E5 alloy

SHADOW BOXER Specialized Allez RACE

by Robert Cobcroft · 6 comments

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Following the ebb and flow of materials development for frame technology, alongside the current favourite – carbon, there’s always been room for parallel development of materials like aluminium. During the eighties and nineties, the race was on for supremacy of carbon, aluminium and titanium over steel, the only question back then was which one would win. Failure of the Kirk magnesium frame in the eighties was the notable exception to the huge successes achieved with other materials. Interestingly the material requirements for one Kirk magnesium frame, could be derived from one cubic metre of North Sea water. CLICK TO CONTINUE

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MURRAY DONALD’S COLNAGO C-50

by Robert Cobcroft · 6 comments

PHOTOGRAPHY by ROBERT COBCROFT – Hipshots

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Back in the 80′s when Murray Donald raced bikes, punctures were dealt with at the roadside by swapping the tubular / single you’d just punctured, with one that was usually tied under your seat with a toe strap. Depending on where you lived and the local fashion, your spare single could be wrapped in a plastic bag, an old sock or any other material that was in vogue. I remember once, a few riders I trained with, having a weekly contest to see who could turn up with the ugliest “single” sock hitched under your saddle. CLICK TO CONTINUE

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Trapist Monk José Meiffret The Fastest Cyclist In The World

by Robert Cobcroft · 3 comments

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“In case of fatal accident, I beg of the spectators not to feel sorry for me. I am a poor man, an orphan since the age of eleven, and I have suffered much. Death holds no terror for me. This record attempt is my way of expressing myself. If the doctors can do no more for me, please bury me by the side of the road where I have fallen.” CLICK TO CONTINUE

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