1949 Galetti
1949 Galetti road bike
Galetti head tube badge
The Galetti bicycle company was formed in 1920 and named for Italian cycling legend Carlo Galetti. Carlo won the Giro d’ Italia in 1910, 1911, and 1912.
Bike racing star endorsements go way back, and Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi, Greg LeMond, Mario Cipollini, Andy Hampsten, Chris Boardman, and Steve Bauer bicycles are keeping up a long tradition.
Vintage water bottles
Campagnolo's Paris-Roubaix shifter
The Paris Roubaix shifter. Sometimes known as the suicide shifter
This particular Galetti is a classic Italian road racing machine from 1949. It is equipped with Campagnolo’s famous Paris Roubaix shifting system, made famous by the fact that you had to disconnect the rear wheel while the bike was moving in order to operate the derailleur (it was lovingly nicknamed the suicide shifter). The 1949 model year of this bike also happens to be the same year that Carlo Galetti, the bicycle’s namesake, passed away.
The bike's namesake, cycling star Carlo Galetti
This small secondary bottle was for "energy" drinks and tonics
1949 was a famous year for Italian cycling, with Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali battling each other for the win first in the Giro d’ Italia and again on the dusty mountain roads of the Tour de France.
Since the original owner of this bike is unknown, it is most fun to imagine the bike far behind Bartali and Coppi at the Giro, under some struggling anonymous domestique…