Museum Bikes 1986 to Present

2010 Ritchey Breakaway Cross Titanium

2010 Ritchey Breakaway Cross Titanium

Just to be clear, nobody here at Classic Cycle would ever advocate having just one bike. That would be irresponsible.

But let’s just say that a zombie-style apocalypse does happen (or you move into a studio apartment). You have to get by with just one bike. How do you survive such a horror? You would need something that can handle different types of terrain (bombed-out city streets as well as zombie trails that cut through the woods). You would want something that continues to look good for years without access to touch-up paint. Certainly you would want something that packs down small and can go anywhere anytime. The only smart option would be a bike like this titanium Ritchey.

Spinergy wheels pack well an can be used as weapons

Etched graphics look good for years and years

Simple seat clamps hold the frame together

The folks at Ritchey produced these fabulous do-everything bikes for about ten years. The titanium frames were exactly twice the price of the steel versions, but they were feather light and you could be a little more careless while riding or packing them up, free from the horror of paint scratches.

All packed up and ready to roll

It’s a bit of a puzzle, but it all fits.

The equipment on this particular bike shows extreme consideration for all possible contingencies (I happen to know this because it’s my bike).
The most notable choice is the 20 year old Spinergy Rev-X wheels. A bold pick for a travel bike? Not as extreme as you may think. The Spinergys pack together more tightly than wire-spoked wheels, saving room in the travel case. They’re tough and surprisingly comfortable to ride, so they work well off-road. By switching to a set of skinny road tires they instantly become blazing fast road bike wheels (always pack extra tires when traveling). The spoke blades are also surprisingly sharp so the wheels will work as zombie repellent should the need arise.

Avid Ultimate cantilevers

Carbon post, plenty strong for this design

34 x 46 teeth, great for nearly every situation

Ritchey Superlogic carbon cockpit components look great (the logos match!) and save a fair amount of weight. The Sram Red drivetrain equipment is very tolerant of abuse and maladjustment, so it’s another fine choice in our one-bike apocalypse scenario. Sram Red is also the lightest component group option, and is a big reason why this bike weighs just 15 pounds (the packed case with extra tools and clothes easily slides in under 40 pounds at the airport).

Cable couplers unscrew by hand

Sram Red equipment: Light and tolerant of abuse

These levers add control when the going gets dicey

This bike is outfitted with secondary brake levers on the top of the handlebars and they’re a great way to make the bike behave when the going gets sketchy, off-road or on. The gearing is typical for a cyclocross bike, 11-28 teeth in the back and 34-46 teeth on the crankset. This combination works well for almost any riding. Sometimes the Ritchey is outfitted with a rack and panniers and is employed for touring duty. Sometimes the Time Atac pedals are replaced with sneaker-friendly platform pedals while the bike runs short errands. This bike can be configured to do it all.

Ritchey stopped production of the titanium frame in 2016, but they didn’t leave us totally vulnerable to a nightmarish single-bike future. You can still get the steel version, and rumor has it that a carbon version with disc brakes will be available in the fall of 2017.

2003 Klein Palomino Race

2003 Klein Palomino Race

Wild horses couldn’t restrain the forces involved in the development of this bike.

The suspension was designed by Paul Turner, the founder of Rock Shox. Gary Klein lent his signature aluminum tubes and deep sparkly paint to the project. Bicycle behemoth Trek, enjoying the publicity surrounding Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France dominance, made everything come together.

The Klein Palomino featured Paul Turner’s Monolink design. The idea was to get rid of the standard four bar linkage found in most suspension designs without resorting to the old unified rear triangle design. Klein’s big aluminum tubes mated with the rear linkage perfectly, providing wide and stable mounting points for the long Fox shock unit. Trek marketed the bike as a full suspension bike for people (roadies) who didn’t like the looks or added weight of a full suspension design.

Palomino

Turner’s monolink design

Deore XT equipment

The Palomino was not much of a success given the horsepower driving it. Mountain bikers were probably more interested in industrial-looking designs. Klein paint jobs were too pretty to get dirty. Trek, a midwestern company, didn’t really have a handle on the “mountain” part of mountain biking and delivered a bike that bobbed in an odd manner while pedaling in the small chainring and lacked the high-speed stability for knarly downhills.

1998 GT STS DS

1998 GT STS DS

In the old days, bikes were easy.

Bike frames and forks were made out of steel tubing, you had “racing” or “touring” design, and you had maybe a half-dozen component groups to sort through.

This is not an easy bike.

This is an STS DS thermoplastic dual suspension bike from GT Bicycles. It was built in 1998, a time when bikes were made from all kinds of different materials, built for vastly different yet very specific types of riding, and outfitted with bike components that could come from a hundred different sources.

Thermoplastic, not carbon fiber

A lot of machining

Rock Shox Coupe Deluxe

Let’s start by talking about the frame (and handlebar) material. These areas were made out of thermoplastic. Thermoplastic is not the same as carbon fiber. With regular carbon fiber you use glue and pressure and sometimes heat to form it the way you want it, and you can’t really change the structure once it cures. With the kind of thermoplastic used here you can rely on heat more than mold pressure to shape things the way you want them, and if you get it wrong you’re able to heat things up and repeat the process.
Carbon fiber was still looked upon skeptically in 1998 (especially in mountain bikes) so malleable thermoplastic with its hypothetical repairability was an easier frame material to sell.

Rock Shox Judy XL

125 gram Scott thermoplastic handlebar

Ringle Twist skewer

The STS was pretty extreme for a cross country mountain bike in ’98. It had almost 3 inches of suspension travel and a pretty long wheelbase. The dual-crown Rock Shox Judy XL fork was pretty heavy by racing standards and was considered downhill-specific on looks alone. The seat tube was curved on this bike to make room for the rear shock linkage and Rock Shox Coupe Deluxe coil spring.

The cockpit features a long Kore stem and a narrow Scott thermoplastic handlebar. Like every other mountain bike ridden in the 1990′s this one has a pair of Onza bar-ends, grip shifters (X-Ray 800′s) and a colorful Ringle seat post.

GripShift X-Ray 800′s and Oury grips

San Marco-Bontrager saddle

Ringle red anodized “Moby” post

In the ’90′s there were a dozen different American bike component companies that offered cool CNC-machined anodized parts. All purple parts or a rainbow of colors was not uncommon. This bike got a minor red treatment. It has red Paul Components brakes, twist-off (not cam-actuated) Ringle hub skewers, a red Ringle seat post and bottle cage. The red-anodized theme could have gotten out of control with brake levers, hubs and cranks getting in on the craze, but the matte grey Shimano XTR parts put a stop to that.

Shimano M646 DX pedals

Shimano XTR 950 components

There are a few more notable bike bits to point out. The “Sunset” anodized Mavic 217 rims look great as do the gold and red spoke nipples. The Shimano DX pedals gave mountain bikers a bigger platform than Shimano’s cross country models, offering better support for softer shoes and a place to stand when your cleat wasn’t actually clicked in.
The Shimano XTR 950 drivetrain really was a benchmark for reliability and performance, but some of the parts were crazy expensive. This bike omitted the matching XTR shifters and brakes to an otherwise complete group. XTR trigger shifters worked great but were about three times the cost of the Gripshifters, a difference that usually explained the substitution and not an actual preference for twist-shift actuation.

Unusual Paul V-brakes

Red Paul Crosstop III brakes

Lastly, the brakes are fantastic. Here we have Paul Component’s linear pull variation called the Crosstop (III). They stop really well but were kind of hard to figure out when we were setting them up. There is an adjustable lever arm running across the top where the cable and V-brake noodle usually resides, and the cable stop and pinch bolt is down the side instead of on top of the brake arms. Just another thing about this bike that wasn’t so easy…

1987 Kestrel 4000

1987 Kestrel 4000

This Kestrel 4000 was the road bike star of 1987, gracing the covers of every cycling magazine (and quite a few technology magazines) that hit the newstands.

Kestrel was really the first company to take full advantage of the carbon fiber material.  Carbon had been used previously, but in the traditional round tubing shapes and lugged style contruction familiar to bike brands that were used to steel and aluminum bike building.  Kestrel started with a clean sheet of paper.  The graceful, flowing lines of the carbon monocoque construction looked cutting edge.  Cables were routed inside the frame for a smooth finish. The aerodynamic cutout for the rear wheel was ahead of the curve (so to speak), and it just seemed so fast.

Internally routed cables made it more "aero"

The aero wheel cutout was ahead of the curve (so to speak)

The parts show off some other great innovations from the era.  This bike came equipped with the second generation Look pedals, which were the “pro” version of the first commercially successful ski-binding type pedals.  The Matrix rims are “aero” shaped instead of box-shaped, a design style that is evident on so many racing wheels today.  On the front end we have the leather-wrapped Modolo handlebars, which were the first bars to have the flat “anatomical” section in the drops.

Campagnolo's big and beautiful Delta Brakes

Modolo anatomic handlebars wrapped in leather

Smooth Campy record crankset and the pro model Look pedals

With futuristic style to spare, you would have looked like you just pulled this bike off of the roof of your Delorean time machine as you lined up at your local catagory four road race.  The only items needed to complete the effect would be a lycra-covered Giro Prolight and some neon green Oakley sunglasses…

1987 Phoenix Bicycle

1987 Phoenix

If Wikipedia needs a photo for the definition of “Bicycle”, we’d be happy to let them use a picture of this Phoenix.
No matter where you happen to be on this planet, and no matter the year, bikes that look like this one are likely to be rolling down the street.

This Chinese Phoenix, which was built in 1987, is nearly identical to bicycles produced by dozens of different manufacturers over the decades. Raleigh probably built the great-grandfather to this rig back in the 1920′s. We have an Italian Bianchi just like it from 1940 and an Avon that was made in India during the 1960′s. The timeless design was obviously a winner.  Built to be really tough, fairly comfortable, easy to produce, and inexpensive to buy.
When organizations like World Bicycle Relief give bicycles to rural Africans, it’s bikes very similar to this Phoenix that are donated. If you were a visitor to Holland or Belgium, standing in a parking lot outside of a train station, you would see hundreds of bikes just like this one (and they would all be the same color).

All of the deluxe options

Rod brakes

Made in China, not Arizona.

The frame, built with a second top tube, is meant to be strong and provide stable handling even while carrying the heaviest loads. The fork has more rake to it than you’ll find on most bikes, a feature helps to smooth out the ride. Gravel roads and cobblestones are no match for the Phoenix.

Industrial strength kickstand

Here’s your suspension

While the Rod-actuated brakes are not the most powerful design, they are reliable. Leave the bike out in the rain for weeks at a time, you don’t have to worry about rusty brake cables. Hard rubber brake pads and big steel rods (instead of thin wires) are used so that the brakes, as mediocre as they are, rarely need adjustment.

You’ll find bikes like the Phoenix sometimes equipped with 3-speed hubs. Let’s call multiple gears a luxury (they need occasional maintenance) in this instance, so a single-speed will have to do.

Phoenix frame detail

Heavy duty rack

A ton of bricks

Now let’s talk cargo capacity. The industrial-strength rear rack and kickstand can handle some pretty heavy and unwieldy loads (certainly more weight than I would want to haul). We have used the Phoenix to pick up pizza on numerous occasions, and the rack was perfect for that. A couple hundred pounds of stuff should be no problem. School books? Groceries? Construction materials? 50 pound bags of rice? Two or three of your best friends and family perched on the bike? Bikes like this Phoenix laugh at cargo constraints. I’m guessing that you could handle the average Costco shopping cart load with little problem other than negotiating the parking lot.

1991 Alpinestars AL-Mega

1991 Alpinestars AL-Mega

What a crazy-looking old bike.
This Alpinestars is designed around one big frame tube, which made for a modern-looking machine (in 1991) that gave the rider a low stand-over height. Depending on the salesperson you talked to, this design was either stronger or much more flexible while traversing rough trails.
The Shimano Deore DX components worked pretty well. The new under-handlebar shifters were a little hard on your thumbs, but they worked all right. Gear options had recently expanded to 21 speeds (up from 18), and Bio-pace oval chainrings were thankfully replaced with round ones again by ’91. V-brakes were still a couple of years off at the time. The Deore cantilevers brakes on this bike required a skilled mechanic for proper set-up and really strong fingers to activate.

Oversized but still pretty small headset

Deore DX rear derailleur

These were tricky to set up.

In 1991, the shop where I worked had been selling mountain bikes (and I had been riding them) for roughly five years.
Five years seemed like forever to me then, and it certainly felt long enough to see some design trends and to form some insight into the way bike design was headed (or so I thought).
I thought for sure that bikes like the Nishiki Alien and this Alpinestars would be the way all mountain bikes would look in the future. Suspension hadn’t really become a thing in the mountain bike world yet, with suspension fork travel being only an inch or so and most suspension options adding a tremendous amount of extra weight.

Rapidfire shifters

The front triangle

I figured weird designs like this one would be the way forward. A common problem in the early ’90′s was having your chain jam between the crank and the frame chain stays. Designs like this one fixed that issue. Freed from the traditional diamond-shaped frame, bikes could be crafted with all kinds of different ride characteristics. New bike materials like carbon fiber, titanium and even aluminum would be all that we would ride in the future.
Funny thing is, 30 years after my first ride on a mountain bike I’m riding a pretty old-fashioned looking Ritchey that’s made out of steel tubing.

2009 Pinarello FP6

Pinarello FP6

Bike riders (especially roadies) like what they like. A “collection” can form over the years just by virtue of replacing tired old racing bikes with new ones from the same maker.

Jaime and Paul are Colnago fans and have had a bunch over the years. Our friend Matt has 5 Lynskey titanium bikes. Kim Bottles is an Eddy Merckx fan and has 4 or 5 of those. Fred Kleisner likes Pinarello.

This is one of Fred’s bikes, an FP6 from 2009. By Fred’s and Pinarello’s standards this is a mid-level model, good for cold weather riding and taking on trips, but not as high-tech or as special as the Dogma or Paris models. For a mid-level model the style and the construction quality is superb. A look inside the tubes reveals no rough edges or stray bladder pieces from the molding process. Just like the flagship models the FP6 has great details and plenty of technical sounding features like 30HM3K carbon (which is just awesome, whatever it means).

Pinarello front end

3T Aeronova handlebars

Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain

Like on a British Hetchins steel frame, an Italian Pinarello frame tube hates going in a straight line. There are curves, ripples, waves and all kinds of organic-looking shapes incorporated into a Pinarello frame. The curvy shapes are touted as being stiffer AND more flexible somehow. We’d bet that the wavy shapes add something to the visual appeal but do little to affect the ride of this snappy racing bike.

Dura-Ace/SRM powermeter crank

Melted or just curvy?

The ugliest saddle ever made?

The equipment on Fred’s FP6 is all top notch. The second-generation Dura-Ace Di2 electronic group works flawlessly. There’s an SRM power-meter version of the Dura-Ace crank installed to measure Fred’s workload on every training ride. The 3T Ergonova aerodynamic carbon handlebar, a recent upgrade, gives a wide surface area to rest his hands. The handlebar looks very cool and a good match for the frame. Now the Adamo saddle, unlike the handlebar, is not so cool looking (Fred swears that it’s comfortable) but it’s still a good match for the swoopy frame.

Colnago C50

The top tube is level, the paint makes it look sloped

The year is 2004.
You’re an avid bike rider and/or racer. Lance has just won his fifth straight Tour de France, you’ve just finished your first RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day), and you’re in the market for a new road bike.
A top-end racing bike is spendy but not too ridiculous in 2004. Electronic shifting and hydraulic brakes have yet to nudge the most expensive options above $10,000 so you’re prepared to buy the best. What will it be?
For a lot of the bike enthusiasts in this situation there was only one answer: The Colnago C50.

C50 front end

Colnago “B” Stay

C50 head tube

The C50 was the flagship model that marked Ernesto Colnago’s 50th year in the bike business.
Everybody’s previous dream bike, the Colnago C40, was a decade old and in need of a makeover. The C40 ride quality was already nearly perfect, so Ernesto just tweaked some design elements. First the front end was updated to the new 1 1/8″ fork diameter standard. Next up was a revision to the rear end, with the neat looking “HP Stays” promising to add some stiffness AND greater shock absorption (they probably didn’t change the ride at all, but they looked fantastic). Lastly the tubing diameters were increased and the overall quality of the carbon fiber was improved (less epoxy filler, tighter lay-ups).

Colnago HP stay

Sram red

Red Etap derailleur

While it’s fun to poke holes in engineering changes and marketing hype that were probably much ado about about very little, Colnago really put out the best bike available and it was the first (only?) bike company to get the ISO 9001 European quality standards certification.

C50 in black and silver

Super Record 11

Super Record crankset

The white C50 shown here is owned by Peter Parker (no relation to Spider-Man), and it was just updated from the original Sram Red groupset to the new electronic Sram Etap parts (the 56cm bike weighs in
at 14.4 pounds). The black and silver C50 is the lone Colnago amongst Kim Bottles’ collection of Merckx road bikes, and it is set up with the Campagnolo Super Record component group from 2014.
The C50s that you see here are prized possessions of their respective owners and are notable in that they have each had component upgrades in recent years. These guys weren’t ready for the C60 I guess…

1996 National Team GT “Superbike”

U.S. Cycling Team GT Superbike

This is the road version “Superbike” from GT and the U.S. national team.  This bike and its three dozen siblings are the result of Project ’96, the U.S. cycling team’s million-dollar program to gain a technological advantage at the ’96 Olympic games and subsequent international competitions.

Project ’96 could have been modestly succesful had it been kept under wraps until the Atlanta Games, but building a “secret weapon” with Mavic, who also supplied the French cycling team, as well as sharing pictures with the cycling media a year in advance did not help the U.S. keep its technological edge.

Aerodynamic to the extreme, this twenty year old bike is still on the cutting edge of technology, but actually can’t be raced.  It’s so fast it’s breakin’ the rules.

A big cut out for the rear wheel

Custom saddles from Selle San Marco

A slippery profile to cut through the wind

Ahead of its time in the late 1990s

Aaron Olson and the bike in action, 1999

The UCI enacted several regulations in 2000 responding to the rapid advance of bicycle technology and the vast sums of money being spent by national cycling federations to gain technological advantages.  In the case of the Superbike, the seat tube and down tube are too flat, not conforming to a 3:1 aspect ratio, and both wheels need to be the same size in order to be raced these days.

National team riders Dave Zabriskie, Aaron Olson, Danny Pate, Ryan Miller, Justin Spinelli, and Matt DeCanio have all raced this bike.

This bike is no longer “sponsor correct”.  The fork and handlebar were damaged during travel home from its last “real” race, the world championships in Treviso, Italy in 1999.  After the bike was retired, Paul replaced the broken parts and raced to some truly unimpressive local wins.

The Dragster

Mike's top fuel funny bike

This creation is the work of Mike “Big Daddy” Coleman.  Mike, our long time mechanic at the Kingston Classic Cycle, was quite a machinist.  This was the project he spent the winter of ’02 working on in his Indianola bike garage.  The dragster has an 8 speed Shimano Transmission, a 1/4 horsepower engine (Mike), and if the braking parachute fails, he can apply the coaster brake.  The dragster can do the quarter mile in just under 45 seconds!

1989 Battaglin

1989 Battaglin

If Stephen Roche were 6’3″ tall, this could have been the bike he rode to victory in the 1987 Giro d’ Italia, World Championship and Tour de France.

This is a 62cm Battaglin, and it’s built pretty similarly to the bikes used by Roche’s Carrera racing team.  Battaglin bicycles are named after Giovanni Battaglin, the company founder and a fantastic bike racer from the 1970′s and early ’80′s. Like Stephen Roche, Giovanni Battaglin did a grand Tour double, winning both the Giro d’ Italia and the Vuelta Espana in 1981.

Fork detail

Campagnolo Record Delta brakes

Campy “C” Record drivetrain

The frame represents some fairly typical Italian design from the era. Columbus Thron steel tubing, while being a hair heavier than the more common SL or SLX tubing, made tall bikes like this one plenty stiff and reduced the front-end twisting that would have compromised the handling. The paint is fairly modest for an Italian bike, but there are lots of little engraved logos and custom touches abound.

Frame detail

Toe clips!

Record derailleur, custom dropouts

This bike is outfitted with all of the greatest hits of the 1980′s. It comes with Cinelli handlebars and stem, a Selle Italia Turbo saddle, Mavic rims, Campagnolo C Record components and… Toe clips!
Yes, the bike has Campy Record platform pedals with toe clips, from a time when some cyclists were skeptical about Look-style clipless pedals.

1999 Tour de France commemorative Trek 5500 road bike

1999 Tour de France commemorative Trek 5500 road bike

This is a Trek 5500 racing bike from the year 2000. The gaudy paint job and 1999-bike limited run commemorates Lance Armstrong’s victory at the ’99 Tour de France.
Oh, sorry. I meant to redact the name. That should read “L**** A********’s” 1999 Tour de France victory.
No matter how the history books record the results, Trek was pretty proud that the Tour was won aboard their creation, a fairly stock model 5500 OCLV carbon road bike.
Trek’s OCLV carbon framesets were about 5 years old by the year 2000, yet they were still at the cutting edge of technology. OCLV stood for Optimum Compaction, Low Void. The label was more than marketing hype. Trek used high grade carbon material and superbly engineered tooling to mold each lug and tube. This construction method, which took frame construction in small steps instead of trying to create an entire bike frame at once, reduced the amount of epoxy and fillers left over inside the completed frame. The carbon molds squeezed the tubes extremely tight, reducing the size and number of “voids”, and leaving them with “optimum compaction” of the material.

Trek 5500 front end

Number 455 of 1999

Lance Armstrong signature

The Dura-Ace 7700 components on this bike were in the middle of their life cycle at the time. The 7700 crank arms were the first hollow arms that Shimano managed to produce, and the Octalink bottom bracket began an era of constantly changing bottom bracket standards that continues today.

Dura-Ace 7700

DA 7700 drivetrain

Paired spokes were all the rage

The 9-speed rear derailleur and shifters from this component group set the standard for precise and reliable shifting, and it took the introduction of Di2 electronic shifting in 2012 to surpass the 7700 group as a benchmark.

In case of emergencies, fresh blood

Sharp eyes will notice that this is no Tour-winning replica. Lance’s bikes would have been outfitted with sponsor-correct Mavic wheels, Shimano seat post, Chris King headset, Dedacci handlebars and handlebar stem. Those U.S.P.S. Cycling Team parts are replaced with Trek’s house-brand Icon equipment and Rolf’s paired-spoke Vector Pro model wheels on this over-the-counter bike.
Speaking of over-the-counter vs. prescription equipment, check out the special team-issue rocket booster on the down tube…

1990 Colnago Master Olympic

1990 Colnago Master Olympic

The Colnago Master was considered the premier Italian racing bike for over a decade.

Ernesto Colnago first released the Master in 1986.  It was a trendsetter.  His innovations included microfusion steel lugs and elaborate airbrushed paint jobs.  The diamond-shaped tubing in the Master began the bike industry-wide movement away from traditional round pipes.  Colnago also popularized the use of straight blade forks, which was way ahead of the curve (so to speak).

Campy Chorus with Syncro indexed shifting

Campy's second generation "click" shifting.

Diamond-shaped, not round tubing

This particular bike features Campagnolo’s Chorus group with Synchro indexed shifting, the second generation Look pedals, and the first ”anatomical” shaped handlebars made by Modolo.  The flashy paint job made it unmistakably a Colnago.

Fabulous airbrushed paint

Over ten years the Master was the bike chosen by classics specialists, sprinters, and tour riders alike on the toughest cycling teams.  The Panasonic team, Buckler, Russia’s Alfa Lum, Ariostea,  Lampre, Clas, Tonisteiner, WordPerfect (remember that team?), Mapei, Roland-Colnago, Superconfex, Rabobank, and Casino.   Some members of the Mapei team still picked the Master for rougher races as recently as 1999.

This beautiful bike is on loan from our friend (and local realtor) Jim Kennedy.

By the way, you can still get a new Colnago Master from Classic Cycle, and the steel fork is still an option.

Kiel Reijnen’s 2016 Trek Factory Team Madone

Kiel Reijnen’s Trek Madone

Our friend Kiel (pronounced like “peal”) has been a racing pro for about a decade. Throughout the years Kiel has ridden team bikes made by Torelli, Ridley, Focus, Niel Pryde, Colnago, and Wilier-Trestina. For 2016, this is his ride. Trek’s factory racing team Madone.

Kiel is a sprinter and an opportunist, not a climber, so the aerodynamic Madone is better suited to his talents than the climbers’ Emonda model. Similarly, Kiel’s race program won’t include the cobbled classics (most likely) this spring, so the smoother (and tougher) Domane may hang in the equipment truck for most of the year.

The Madone here is made for speed.

Aerodynamic integrated brakes

Trek Factory team bike

One piece bar and stem

All of the tubing on the Madone is made in truncated airfoil shapes.  Anything that would catch the wind is hidden away from it.  The wires for the electronic shifting and the cables for the brakes run inside the handlebars and the frame.  The brakes themselves are built into the seat stays and the fork crown.  The handlebar and stem are made in a single piece, and the stem flows seamlessly into the frame.

Shimano’s Dura-Ace electronic group gives Kiel fingertip shifting precision and he even has the sprinter’s shift switches on the handlebar drops.

Today’s professional rider (and his coach) needs data. This team Madone has every bit of data measurement a rider would need short of a rectal thermometer. The SRM power meter in the crankset relays power data along with speed and cadence. The handlebar readout will record Kiel’s heart rate and the GPS will log the details of every training ride.

Dura-Ace Di2 with a SRM power meter

That’s a little bear tied to the number plate holder

Pronounced like “Keal Rye-nen”

While the position on this bike may not seem all that comfortable, a 29 year-old professional rider will feel at home on the Madone.  The handlebars are custom built for Kiel with his preferred measurements. The saddle (the Bontrager Montrose) is Kiel’s pick out of about a dozen saddle options. The frameset, while not as forgiving as the Domane, is engineered for comfort. Inside the massive seat tube is a pivot that allows the saddle to flex back and forth as the bike encounters road bumps.

This is Kiel’s training bike for use here in the Pacific Northwest. Even though the Madone will be ridden around Bainbridge Island, you won’t see Kiel riding around with fenders (you want to train like you race).

The wheels on this bike are the Bontrager RXL clincher models, which are perfect for cranking out the training miles in questionable weather. Bontrager’s Aeolis 5 tubular carbon wheels will be Kiel’s racing wheel of choice.

Wondering how much the bikes that you see in the Tour de France run these days? A team replica version exactly like this bike complete with the SRM power meter, Dura-Ace pedals, bottle cages and carbon wheels would set you back about $17,000.

Kiel Riejnen’s Trek Factory Racing/Segafredo team time trial bike

Kiel Reijnen’s Trek Time Trial Bike

While we have this bike on display we have to make sure that the tires are flat or that the brakes drag. Otherwise, a bike this fast and aerodynamic is likely to just roll out the door under its own power.

This is the Trek-Segafredo team issue bike. It’s built for our friend Kiel Reijnen to slip through the wind and convert every last watt of his athletic power into forward motion. Designing a bike like this requires a lot of computer modeling and a fair amount of time in a wind tunnel.

All of the things that are normally bolted onto a bicycle frame are tucked away on this machine. The front brake hides inside the fork. Cables and shift wires run inside the tubing. On the front end it’s hard to figure out where the frame ends and the headset, the fork, or the handlebar begins. The carbon fiber frame and handlebar is carefully constructed in truncated airfoil shapes, designed to be as aerodynamic as possible while staying within the UCI’s design rules.
Speaking of rules, one of the rules regarding these bikes is that the front end of the saddle has to be positioned at least 5 centimeters behind the center of the cranks. In order to get as far forward on the bike without running afoul of this saddle position rule, the seat is an extra short Bontrager Hilo model.

See the brake in there?

Kammtail tubing shapes

Everything gets tucked away from the wind

We don’t want Kiel to get into any trouble, so we should mention that this bike isn’t exactly sponsor-correct. The Trek-Segafredo team rides these bikes outfitted with Bontrager rear disc wheels and Aeolus carbon front wheels. The Hed 3 spoke wheels in the picture are ours.

Want to cut a few minutes off of your commute or an hour off your Seattle-to-Portland ride time? This team bike is essentially a customized Trek Speed Concept triathlon bike, so you can ride one just like it if you really need to get somewhere fast.

2002 Moots YBB Mountain Bike

2002 Moots YBB Air

While not the very first mountain bike brand out there, Moots certainly can be called one of the “originals”.
Founded in 1981 by Kent Eriksen, the little Steamboat Springs bike company (that was named after Kent’s alligator-shaped pencil-top eraser Mr. Moots) has always led with great ideas and solid craftsmanship.
Back in the ’80′s, Moots was known as a fun custom shop that specialized in off-road frames, handlebars and stems. In 1983 Steve Tilford raced a Moots mountain bike to victory at the very first NORBA national championship and gave the creative brand instant racing credibility. In 1985 Moots came up with the first set of bar-ends for flat mountain bike handlebars. 1n 1987 Moots unveiled the YBB suspension seen here, and in 1991 they introduced their first titanium bike.

Mr. Moots Alligator head tube badge

The YBB Air soft-tail

This is a Moots YBB mountain bike from 2002.
The YBB (Why Be Beat) design is a signature style for Moots. In the 25 years or so that the YBB has been around the pivotless soft-tail has become one of the most copied suspension designs in the bike world.  This variation, the YBB Air, utilizes a Rock Shox air canister to give the rider control over the spring rate and rebound characteristics of the rear end, managing the admittedly subtle single inch of rear travel.

Custom Sid fork

XTR all around

Joe Breeze designed dropouts

The front end of this bike features a custom Rock Shox Sid World Cup suspension fork.  Hercules Castro, a friend of ours at Rockshox, built this fork out of the random ingredients lying around the office (in one of the Rockshox desx?).  It has a carbon fiber crown and steerer, super light 28mm sliders with an experimental coating, white magnesium lowers and a prototype remote switch.

Shimano would be proud of the components bolted to this Moots.  There are four generations of XTR parts working together.  There ‘s the early generation XTR 950 hubs, the 960 brake levers, the 980 generation drivetrain and the 970 V-brakes that bring everything to a stop.

Like this bike? Gavin will sell it if the price is right… Contact him here at the shop

1991 Bridgestone MB-0

1991 Bridgestone MB-Zip

Dia-Compe brakes, Suntour shifting, Ritchey bars

This Bridgestone MB zip was one of the best mountain bikes available in 1991.

Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicycles fame designed most of the Bridgestone line, and he did a fabulous job here.

At a time when mountain bikes were heavy, he made them light.  While everyone else was using neon green and purple splattered paint, Grant picked “Tusk” as the color for the MB-0.  While Shimano made everyone use oval chainrings and early rapidfire shifters, the Bridgestone was spec’d with a Mavic crankset and simple thumb shifters.

MB-0 and cycling icon Gene-O, a fast combination

Bridgestone catalogue ad copy

The Bridgestone catalogue is museum-worthy itself

Bridgestone catalogues of the era were also crowd favorites.  They featured cycling peronalities Gene-O along with Pineapple Bob and Karen teaching Bridgestone riders everything from proper descending techniques to sewing up a patched tubular tire to lubing a chain with melted beeswax.

Rigid fork and a loooong handlebar stem

Mavic crankset and hubs

Flags of contributing countries (and California)

You can still see old Bridgestones like this one being ridden today. Most likely they’ll have smooth tires and a cargo rack, doing commuter duty in the rain, but they’re still rolling. The MB Zip is one of the bikes that made Bridgestone bikes such a cult favorite even today.

2003 Colnago CT2

2003 Colnago CT2

A personal favorite.  This is my bike.

This is a Colnago CT2, a moniker that denoted Colnago’s second iteration of carbon and titanium cooperation in a single frameset. The front end of the frame (under layers and layers of paint) is made up of 6/4 blend titanium tubing. The rear stays and front fork are carbon fiber.
Since the 1970′s bike builders have been mixing materials to whip up the perfect blend of style and ride quality.  Carbon fiber bonded to aluminum to reduce road vibrations.  Carbon fiber bonded to steel to reduce weight.  Titanium and Carbon fiber bonded together to make a bike that’s more interesting than one built out of either frame material alone.

Head tube badge

Titanium front end

Carbon back end

So Colnago went the interesting route with the CT2. The seatstays on the bike are Colnago’s “B” stay, a design which was borrowed from the flagship C50 model along with the unique “HP” leaf-spring like chainstays that might have some vibration damping characteristics or might just look neat.

Dura-Ace 7800 STI Lever

Colnago HP chainstays

Selle Italia Novus saddle

Colnago’s miraculous handling characteristics might be easier to visualize on this bike since it has a level top tube and such straight lines. See the Force Carbon front fork? Does it look a little kicked out to you? That’s a 71.8 degree head tube angle, which is pretty slack for a road bike of this size. That slack head tube angle, coupled with Colnago’s superbly engineered forks seem to give these bikes absolutely unreal control and smooth handling.

The Colnago and Paul in action

Over the years this bike has put on pounds and gone on diets. It has rolled around on the bike shop’s inventory of high-performance wheels. It has been a test platform for Sram Red and Mad Fiber wheels (14 pounds!). It’s been outfitted from all the latest groups to see just what all the fuss is about. Campagnolo parts, Sram, various versions of Shimano’s electronic and mechanical component groups, even some stuff from Mavic and FSA. There was an aerodynamic period with Dedaccai’s one-piece Alanera handlebar, Hed trispoke wheels and an aero seatpost. There hasn’t been much variety in pedal brands, but there have been four generations of Time pedals on this machine (and the latest Xpresso pedals are definitely the best).

For our photo shoot and for the foreseable future the CT2 is built up with Shimano’s Dura-Ace 9000 group and Vittoria’s Elusiun wheels (with an unusual odd number of 21 spokes in the rear). A Fizik Aliante saddle and aluminum Ritchey handlebars. Like the frame, these components represent a fine mix of new technology and classic engineering. Not to be outdone by the latest plastic bike, the CT2 tips the scales at a respectable 16.8 pounds like this and rides just great.

1988 Shogun Prairie Breaker Team Issue

1988 Shogun Prairie Breaker Team Issue

Besides having historical significance as a great mass-produced late 1980′s Japanese mountain bike, this Shogun has to be noted for the name. The “Prairie Breaker” is probably the only mountain bike with a name that evokes images of flat farm land, not rocky mountain trails.
So that part of the name was an interesting choice. Plus I’m pretty sure that Shogun had no team to “issue” these machines.

Anyhow, here’s a slick bike from 1988. Built with quality Tange Prestige tubing and outfitted with Shimano’s Deore XT component group, this was a superb (if not a little predictable) bike that offered a good value and reliable off-road performance.

“Triple triangle” frame design

Shogun Prairie Breaker

With the seatstays connected forward of the seat tube juncture it would easy to think this is a rip-off of the more popular GT brand with their triple-triangle frame design. To that we’d have to say that GT was merely popularizing a frame style that has been around since the 1930′s.
Designing a bike with forward mounted seat stays is an easy way to stiffen up the rear end of the bike and add some pizzazz. The normal problems associated with this design had to do with rear brake interference, but Shimano’s chainstay mounted U-brake made those issues a moot point with this bike.
The Prairie Breaker was outfitted with all of the parts that made mountain bikes from this era awesome.

Biopace rings

Deore XT U-brake

Shimano’s Indexed shifting

There are the eliptical Biopace chainrings from Shimano. Big brake levers that have room for all of your fingers at the same time. Araya RM-20 rims. Shimano “click” shifting with 18 speeds. Flat and narrow Tange Prestige handlebars. Deore XT pedals with toe clips and straps. There was a quick release for the seat (you could add a Hite-Rite spring), Big blocky rubber grips, a bottom bracket with actual ball bearings and headset only 1″ in diameter. Good stuff.

Gavin O’Grady’s 1987 Cyclops

1987 Cyclops by Mike Mulholland

This speed machine was built by Mike Mulholland of Toronto, Ontario, in 1987.

In 1983, Mike bought Jocelyn Lovell’s business, Lovell Bikes, and Cyclops was born.  Mike became a world renowned frame builder and the go-to guy for many of the racers of the era, with his bikes ridden to win medals at many international level events.  Mike is an inductee in the Canadian cycling hall of fame for his contributions to the sport, and bikes like this time trial bike show off the artistry that went along with all of his hard work and generosity.

Mike Mulholland passed away in 2005.

Cyclops head tube badge

Built by Mike MulHolland

Mike built a few different bikes for professional rider Gavin O’Grady over the years.  Some of the bikes were rush jobs completed under extremely tight time constraints.  Gavin relates a story of a Cannondale team bike that needed to replaced before the start of the Olympic Games (as the large aluminum tubing ran afoul of the UCI’s rules at the time).  Mike answered the call and built Gavin a replacement road bike in less than 24 hours, start to finish.

Aero waterbottle

Forward facing seatpost

Gavin’s strength was his time trialing ability, and he put this time trial machine to good use.  This “Funny Bike” was pretty uncomfortable at the beginning.  The swoopy seat tube positioned Gavin way back over the rear wheel, and he was stretched to reach the handlebars.  A forward-bending seat post corrected this unusual geometry and made the bike rideable.
Interesting touches on this bike include rare Keywin pedals, Shimano Sante’ derailleurs, the internal fork wiring for the Avocet computer, and the pie-crust like seams that run along the sides of the tubing which probably (inadvertently) helped with aerodynamics by breaking up the boundary layer of air as it flowed around the frame.

Early clipless pedals

Shimano Sante derailleur

Modolo brakes. The noisiest!

Gavin and this bike won more time trials than we can list here.  Notable performances include the time trial stage and consequently the overall victories at the Chico stage race and the Tour of the Gila, as well as National Championship and Olympic Trials podium placings.

1987 Kirk Precision magnesium

1987 Kirk Precision Magnesium

TVM Team poster with Kirk bike, 1991

Frank Kirk thought up this remarkable bike while working as a designer at the Ford plant in Dagenham, England.  The frame is made of cast magnesium, and was a dramatically different approach to frame design than the typical bicycle frame with round tubing.  The story goes that the bumpers on the Ford Sierra were the actual inspiration.

It took only 8 seconds to mold one frame

Mavic SSC crankset ang Gipiemme pedals

Rare white Modolo brakes

Magnesium is one of the lightest metals by volume , although its rigidity is quite a bit lower than steel.  Magnesium is inexpensive and very environmentally friendly.

Miche post matches the frame perfectly

Mavic SSC rear derailleur

Kirk boasted that a cubic meter of seawater contained enough magnesium to make a bike frame (although a tremendous amount of electricity is used in the process).  Unfortunately, Kirk was plagued by manufacturing problems, and the Kirk precision disappeared by 1995.

Phil Anderson and other members of the TVM team rode Kirk Precisions in the pro peloton, and the bike made an appearance in the Tour de France.

An urban legend goes that a Kirk Precision was involved in a crash in the English countryside.  The flinty nature of the pavement produced sparks, which ignited the magnesium frame…. Still haven’t found any reliable sources to back up this story…

1986 Haro Master Freestyle

1986 Haro Master Freestyler

Oh man, did I want one of these when I was a teenager.

The 1986 Haro Master freestyle in team Haro green.  The pinnacle of all things awesome.

So in 1986, BMX had fragmented a bit with racing taking place at dirt tracks, and freestyle going on in parking lots.  If you were fast, you raced.  If you weren’t fast (or simply couldn’t be pryed off of your bike between motos), you tried freestyle.  Freestyle meant jumps, quarter-pipe ramps, bar spins and any goofy trick you could dream up.

Flip-up fork stands

Places to stand all over the bike

Anyway, that summer the Haro Freestyle team came to the Erik’s Bike Shop parking lot in my hometown of Richfield, Minnesota.  They had all of the stars: Ron Wilkerson, Eddie Fiola, Dennis McCoy, and I think Mat Hoffman.  After setting up their quarter-pipe and cranking up the boom box, those guys proceeded to blow our minds with rad freestyle moves and ramp tricks.  This was early extreme sports stuff, and it looked like sheer magic.

Pins or rivets in the seat protected it when upside-down

The original and much copied Shimano DX pedal

Tuff II mag wheels

This is the bike that the Haro team used themselves, the Master Freestyler.  Really the best bike in the whole ’80′s freestyle scene.  The frame featured all kinds of extra spots to plant your Vans while attempting flat-land tricks.  There were fold-up stands on the front fork, twin top tubes, and stands (not axle pegs) at the rear dropout.

Frame stands were also a good place for a friend to buck a ride

Haro advertisement

The bike came freestyle-ready with mag wheels and Haro’s Group 1 parts, but you had to add a rotor (a cable de-tangler) up front so you could do bar spins without the brake cables winding up.  Other mods you could do included putting rivets or bolts in the saddle (to keep the plastic from getting scraped when the bike was upside down), and mounting the rear brake under the seat stays so you could step on the stays while attempting certain tricks.

This bike originally belonged to a local guy, ”Rad” Ranney Montgomery.  The beautiful restoration work here was done by our friend (and quite a good freestyler back in the ’80′s) “Jammin’” Jason Elhardt.

1999 Coker Monster Cruiser

Coker Monster Cruiser

You have a fat bike?  Big deal.

Here’s a Coker Monster bike.

Coker cruisers are built with 36″ wheels and sport a really, really long wheelbase.  Believe it or not, they’re easy to ride and fairly fast (on flat ground).

This particular Coker Monster Cruiser was part of Coker’s display at the Interbike trade show in 1998 or 1999.  It features paint details that are a bit reminiscent of an old Schwinn Hornet, while stock Monster Cruisers just come in solid paint schemes.

Let us know if you want your own super-sized rig and we’ll get you one.

Sunkyong Bicycle Mower

Sunkyong Cycle Mower

This thing seemed like a good idea to Hammacher-Schlemmer back in 1985.  The mail-order company known for esoteric and extravagant gadgets (anyone looking for gold-plated barbeque tongs or a personal submarine?) offered the SK Mower to lawn enthusiasts who were tired of breathing gas fumes as they mowed.

A pedal-powered lawn mower has been the dream of garage mechanics for a hundred years now.  Usually the idea would take the form of a reel-style push mower bolted to the front of a Schwinn Stingray.  The Sunkyong corporation decided to put some engineering into this idea and came up with the SK Mower.

Keep your fingers and toes away

The latest in drivetrain technology

Look out! It's sharp.

The cycle mower is ideal for homeowners with a ten foot by twenty foot perfectly flat yard.  No, I take that back.  It isn’t ideal for anyone.  Wet Seattle grass stops this bike in its tracks.  The gear ratio is so small that it would take Lance Armstrong four hours to mow a putting green.

Sunkyong review page 2

Sunkyong review

Check out the product review from a 1986 issue of Cyclist Magazine.

They found that the 3.8 inch gear ratio meant for a long day of mowing, as national team rider Thurlow Rogers spent the better part of a weekend trying to mow the Cyclist Magazine office lawn.

Gavin O’Grady’s 1986 Cyclops road bike

Gavin O’Grady’s 1986 Cyclops

Here’s one of the Cyclops road bikes that Mike Mulholland built for Gavin O’Grady.

A battle-scarred (but still pretty) Cyclops road machine.

The ingredients that went into building this bike were typical of pro racing machines from the era. The frame is constructed from Columbus SLX steel pipes, a tubing set that was reinforced with spiral steel strips running the inside length of the main tubes. The bulk of the components are from Shimano’s Dura-Ace 7400 group (the first Dura-Ace group that featured the new “indexed” click shifting).

Dura-Ace 7400 aero levers

Cyclops badge

Gavin’s race number at the Milk Race

Like every racing bike in the 1980′s this one had a Selle Italia Turbo saddle, and at one point or another it must have had Cinelli handlebars on it. Gavin’s racing wheels were built from Mavic GP4 tubular rims, Dura-Ace hubs, Wheelsmith spokes and Vittoria Corsa CX tires.

The man who built the bike, Mike Mulholland, was a (cycling) world-renowned craftsman and the go-to guy for lots of great racers in the 1980′s and ’90′s. Mike is an inductee in the Canadian cycling hall of fame for his generous support of athletes and skills as a bike builder.

Cyclops front end

The New Dura-Ace 7400

Racing in Sicily

Like the color of this bike? We think that the three-color fade showcases Mike’s skill as a painter too, an ability that is often overlooked (unless you’re Dario Pegoretti) in frame builders.

1991 Kestrel 200 SC

1991 Kestrel 200sc

Here’s a great bike that seems modern and cutting edge, but is actually over twenty years old.
During a decade (the 1990′s) that saw rapid advances in materials technology, Kestrel often led the way with their bicycles.
The 200 SC followed the ground-breaking Kestrel 4000 onto the scene with smooth futuristic style and solid ride quality.  Kestrel’s early frames weren’t the lightest around, but they handled well, they were strong, and they looked great.

Synchros quill stem

Kestrel EMS fork

Michelin Axial Pro tires

This particular bike features the Shimano Ultegra 6400 component group.  The 6400 groupset brought Shimano Total Integration shifting down to a more affordable price level than Dura-Ace.  The Ultegra brake calipers got a remake with the dual-pivot design, the front derailleur got a modern design,  and Shimano brought out their own Look clipless-style pedals.

First generation Ultegra STI levers

Ultegra 6400

San Marco Regal saddle

Other great vintage parts include the San Marco Regal saddle, the Modolo anatomic-bend handlebars, iconic green Michelin Axial Pro tires and an American made Synchros handlebar stem .

Paul’s custom 2015 Raleigh Rainier

Pauil’s custom Raleigh Rainier

Cheers!

Raise your glass and toast this fabulous creation from Raleigh, the Rainier Beer Company, and Classic Cycle.

So… The Raleigh Port Townsend is a current model (we have it in stock) and it is  a fantastic and fun road or hybrid bike.

The Port Townsend’s styling takes all of its cues from Rainier Beer cans, but we thought we could make it a bit better.  All of the components needed to look like they were made from Rainier cans, so the white, gold, and red is everywhere.  The stock gold fenders and 12-pack rack are cool, but we changed them out for light-weight options that fit the theme.

Bottle cap stem cap, beer bell

The brew that grew in the great northwest

Peace, love and pilsners

Notable touches include pilsner-colored brake cables and quick-release skewers. Hammered aluminum Berthoud fenders look like they were made from cans, and the Shimano generator front hub is about as svelte as one. The brakes come from Paul Components, the red headset from the folks at Chris King, and there’s a generator light shaped like a keg from Supernova.

Looks like a keg to me

Six-pack rack

Suede Selle Italia Turbo

Paul wanted to include some “Classic” parts from Ritchey, so there’s a stem and seatpost from them. Tan Clement Strada tires keep the bike from leaving rings on the coffee table, and cork Ergon grips work like a can cozy.

Lastly, be sure to bring a bottle opener. You don’t want the Rainier beer cap on the stem to give you any trouble when you’re adjusting the headset.

By the way, you can get a stock version of this bike for around $850, or we can build you a custom version just like this one for about $2400.

Huffy-Serotta 7-Eleven Team Track Bike

1987-1988 7-Eleven Huffy (Serotta) track bike

This track bike shows off the unusual complexity of running a professional bike racing team in the 1980′s.

First off, we have the sponsorship issue.  The 7-Eleven team had Huffy as their bike sponsor in 1987 and 1988.  Huffy didn’t supply the bikes, however, they supplied money to help run the team.  From a distance, the general public would assume that Huffy was making bicycles for Olympic level cyclists and that they could walk into a local K-Mart or Target and buy a similar bike off of the shelf.  Now if an avid cyclist took a look up close, he would notice the small Serotta decal and figure out that a pretty well-known custom frame builder named Ben Serotta was actually making the 7-Eleven team bikes.

One-bolt Dura-Ace stem

Tied and soldered spokes

Another peculiarity involves the type of bike that we have here.  This is an endurance-event track bike, not a road machine.  The 7-Eleven team primarily did their racing on the road.  When it came time for a big international track race like the World Championships or the Olympic Games, the coaches for the U.S. team would recruit the best cyclists they could find.  So what you probably had with this bike is a 7-Eleven rider (Mark Gorski? Dave Lettieri?) who was recruited to do the points race or the Madison at the World Championships.

Serotta… Not Huffy

Regal saddle, Dura-Ace post

Now, was it a pro or an amateur?  In the 1980′s you could only race at the Olympics if you were still an amateur.  7-Eleven had a feeder squad for a while that raced track and road events.  The members of this part of the team maintained their amateur status so they would be eligible to compete at the ’88 Olympics.  If you saw these guys at a U.S. race, they would look like the same cyclists that were on television at the Tour de France, the big difference was that they were racing the poverty line as well as other athletes.

So put it all together.  What did we have?  What we probably had was a professional road racer who was underpaid so he could maintain his amateur status, competing on the track while wearing a U.S. team jersey, not a 7-Eleven jersey, pedaling a Huffy bicycle that was actually made by Serotta.

1986 Hutch Pro Racer

1986 Hutch Pro Racer

Who says that boys can’t ride pink bikes?

True, our friend Jay Elhardt built this bike for his wife to ride, but it isn’t necessarily a girls bike.

During BMX’s prime time, Hutch factory racer Mike Miranda and freestyler Woody Itson both rode pink machines.  Mike’s visage leapt off the covers of BMX Plus leading the field on his pink Hutch.

Jay restored this totally tubular time machine with some of the coolest components.  Tioga tires, Oakley grips, three-piece cranks, a laid back post and a Dia-Compe Nippon rear brake.

Mike Miranda and his pink Hutch Hollywood

White ACS Z-rims

The wheels roll around on nylon ACS Z-Rims.  Nylon rims, like the aluminum rims that they were replacing, were plenty strong.  Of course, like any “alternative” product used in bike construction, Z-rims had their skeptics and were the subject of a few myths.  The skeptics were sure that the plastic rims would break easily (ignoring their own dented rims) as compared to metal.

JT Racing plate

DK Stem

Laid-back post

Of the myths, my favorite was always told by a defensive Z-rim rider.  They would swear quite earnestly that their wheels could be trued by simply sticking them in the freezer.  Now, as a BMX rider who grew up in frosty Minnesota, Jay would be the first person to tell you that simply freezing these wheels will do nothing to straighten out a warped rim.  Likewise, after 30 years in existence, Z-rim skeptics can quit wondering about long-term durability.

1994 GT National Team Bike

1994 GT National Team Bike

The bike spent time on roof racks like this

This is one of the U.S. Cycling team bikes from the mid 1990s.  While Koichi Yamaguchi made some of the early team bikes (and some of the weirder track stuff), This was definitely from GT’s shop in Colorado. GT furnished the national team with all kinds of great bikes during the decade (most of them made in Longmont, Colorado), and this was my favorite.

GT's Triple triangle design and beat-up paint

Probably the last time anyone raced with a steel fork

Mavic parts, some bikes had Zap electronic

The bike is built out of really sweet-riding True Temper steel tubing, with great finishing details like the smooth fillet-brazed joints and the flashy patriotic paint job.

Mavic was the parts supplier those years, and you can see that the bike is still almost 100 percent “sponsor correct” for its time.  At some point the bars and stem were switched from Profile (sponsor 1994-1996) to Cinelli (sponsor 1997-2000), and we (the mechanics) bought seatposts from Excel Sports in Boulder when our supply of Mavic posts ran out.

San Marco made these cool custom saddles for us

Dave Zabriskie's number from Fleche du Sud

Apparently, this wheel went with Jonathan Page's bike

Because the national team is kind of fluid throughout the year, this bike was ridden by a number of different riders.  Rebecca Twigg used it on the road, as did Marissa VandeVelde (Christian’s sister), At some point the original fork was damaged in a crash, so I grabbed the fork off of Dirk Copeland’s old bike in the equipment room.  This bike hung out on the roof of the U23 mens team car in its later years, and was used as a spare by Kirk O’bee and Josh Thornton among  others.

Gavin O’Grady’s 1988 Cyclops track bike

1988 Cyclops Track Bike

Here’s a fast bike from the late ’80′s. Built by Toronto bike builder Mike Mulholland for our friend Gavin, this is a Cyclops track machine. An endurance-event design (as opposed to sprint event), it was best suited to riding kilos, pursuit races, points races and madisons.
Gavin was designed for none of these events. He liked the longer distances covered and familiar tactics involved while racing on the road, and because of those preferences his track bike was raced only a dozen times or so.

Dura-Ace 7600 track crank

High-flange hubs slotted for aero spokes

Built by Mike Mulholland

Racing pedigree aside, this is an impressive bike. The flat purple paint dresses up a rigid and robust frame made from True Temper steel tubing. The cranks and high-flange hubs are Shimano’s Dura-Ace 7600 track models. The Araya rims are laced up using 2mm wide bladed spokes, and we have 25-year-old Barum track tubulars sheltered inside of the tire covers. A lot of track bikes (even those built today) feature steel handlebars and stems. Steel is used to reduce bar flex while sprinting. Toe clips are used to prevent accidental cleat release during a hard effort. Design a bike for longer track events and you can use more comfortable (and convenient) road bars or clipless pedals…
This bike sports Cinelli aluminum road bars and Time Equipe road pedals.

True Temper frame tubing

San Marco Regal saddle

Tire covers over Barum sew-ups

Vintage track bikes always look great. Since they’re always raced in dry weather (and sometimes indoors) and on clean velodrome surfaces, old track bikes sometimes look like they’re brand new. This Cyclops is a perfect example.

1987 Cunningham Racer

1987 Cunningham Racer

A Cunningham mountain bike is a pretty rare thing, as only about 200 were ever made.  It’s a shame that more aren’t around, as these unique bikes ride beautifully and show off some real innovation from the early days of the sport.

This particular bike, a Cunningham Racer, would have set you back a mind-boggling $4200 in 1987, or about four times the price of a new Bridgestone MB-1.  Sure, a lot of money 25 years ago but if you had bought a Cunningham back then, today you could show up at a gravel-road race or mountain bike event and never pay for beer at the after party.

Dirt drop bar, custom fork

Roller-cam brakes, a Cunningham invention

Dirt drop bars with thumb shifter mounts

The designs that Charlie came up with for his bikes made mountain bikes what they are today.  One of the original Marin County mountain bike guys and an inductee in the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame, Charlie made his contributions to the sport as an idea guy.

Grease guard bearings could be maintained without removal

Sealed bottom bracket, mud guard for the brake

Cunningham custom post and quick release

He came up with iconic tire tread designs (Specialized Ground Control, WTB Velociraptor) that are still rolling down trails today.  Charlie built the earliest aluminum mountain bikes you’ll ever find, and designed them with sloping top tubes and reinforcement gussets years before anyone else figured out that those were smart frame elements.  Roller-cam brakes were Charlie’s idea, and they woke up the bike industry to the fact that cantilevers didn’t stop mountain bikes very well.  135mm rear hub width (which reduced wheel dish and spoke breakage)?  Charlie.  Grease Guard cartridge bearings that could be repacked with grease without removal?  Charlie.  Tubular (instead of flat plate) fork crowns?  Charlie.  Dirt drop handlebars?  Charlie.

There’s an interesting extra touch to this bike.  Take a look at the back side of the fork crown.  See the two bolts there?  They aren’t there for any type of brake.  We originally thought that those were there for a Cunningham idea that didn’t quite pan out: a steering damper of some type.  Before suspension forks, Cunningham and component maker Tioga both played around with dampers that would limit the amount your handlebars could turn, or just tamp down the jostling that you would feel at the handlebars.  We thought wrong.    It turns out that those bolts were there to secure a front rack that wrapped over the fork crown and away from the front brake.  A perfect storage solution for an era before Camelbak backpacks.

Jeff Crowell’s 1993 Atala

1993 Atala road bike

The name Atala effortlessly evokes images of the Giro d’ Italia and old world bike racing.

One of most enduring Italian brands in the sport, Atala fielded a professional team almost continuously from 1908 until 1990.

Carlo Galetti and his Atala-sponsored team won the 1910, ’11 and ’12 Giri d’ Italia, and Atala-backed racers manage to win 43 stages of the Giro over its long history.

Columbus frame and fork tubing

Smooth looking Chorus equipment

8 speeds in the back

While Atala is a storied brand with great racing heritage, bikes that made it to this country were a mixed bag, quality-wise.  Our friend Jeff Crowell solved that problem by going right to the source.  On a college trip to Italy, Jeff had his dream bike built for him.  This Atala features Columbus SL tubing, a popular steel that guaranteed a smooth ride.  Campagnolo Chorus components compliment the Italian frame, as does the San Marco saddle, Italmanubri handlebars and stem.

Atala head badge

San Marco Regal saddle

World Champion Urs Freuler

The Campione del Mondo label on the frame is impressive.  A World Championship trophy every year between 1981 and 1988.  Would you believe that one rider is responsible for all of those?  Urs Freuler, a Swiss track racer on the Atala team for most of his career, won the world championship points race almost every year for a decade.

1994 Yeti Pro F.R.O.

1994 Yeti ARC

This was a pretty iconic ride back in the purple-anodized peak of the mid-’90′s mountain bike boom.  The Yeti Pro F.R.O.  For Racing Only.

Yetis like this one were used to crush all of the big races during mountain biking’s golden age.  Star riders like Missy Giove, Myles Rockwell, John Tomac, and Juli Furtado all rode for Yeti at one point or another.  This teal and yellow paint job was everywhere.

This isn’t one of our bikes.  It actually belongs to one of our upstairs neighbors who got this bike and a restored pink Manitou as wedding presents.  Pretty cool, huh?

The 1990′s came in anodized teal and purple

Flite saddle and Avid cantilevers

What else? Shimano Deore XT

Yeti Cycles was founded in 1985 by John Parker.  When Parker entered the bicycle world, he became one of the prime movers on the mountain bike scene.  Bike designer.  Team promoter.  Racer.  John even sat on the NORBA Board of Directors.

1986 Vitus 979 Durlinox

1986 Vitus 979 Durlinox

Whenever there are great leaps in technology, early steps (and missteps) are often ridiculed in hindsight.

Take the Vitus 979, a major departure in the ’80′s from traditional steel lugged framesets.  It was often derided for the same qualities that made it a such a giant technological step forward.

Vitus 979 framesets were made of small diameter 5086 aluminum tubing that was slip-fit onto aluminum sockets and then glued into place using a heat-activated type of epoxy.  This version from ’86 happens to feature an ovalized downtube, a fastback seat lug, and an internal brake cable run.

Aluminum is real, too.

Modern and sleek, not ornate

Shimano 600 Components

Bikes like this one were lighter, springier, and  in a lot of instances, more comfortable than what steel bike brands had to offer.  Bikes like this one were designed perfectly for riders under 5’9″ tall and/or weighed less than 175 pounds.  Big guys who rode a Vitus (or who lacked a smooth pedal stroke) were sorely disappointed.  Called their bikes “whippy” or “noodly”.

Clean and modern

Look’s cheapest pedal

Biopace chainrings

The reputation of early Vitus’ took a bit of a beating over the years  because the designers  failed to properly scale up the specifications of their bikes to fit the demands that larger riders put on their bikes.  People like me (5’7″, 135lbs) loved their Vitus.

I have an aside to share with anyone out there who sells bikes, reviews bikes, or reads internet message boards.  Phrases like “steel is heavy” or “carbon fiber damps road vibration” or “titanium is springy” makes about as much sense as saying “Aluminum is too stiff.”  If you don’t modify the preceding phrases with the words “This particular bike made of” then you’re just repeating nonsense.  Because let me tell you, this particular bike made of aluminum rides like butter.  Smooth and flexy to the extreme, the ride of an aluminum Vitus is an absolute pleasure.  Bigger diameter ”harsh riding” aluminum tubes may have been stiffer and more efficient at transfering power, but nothing beat the long distance ride quality of an Aluminum Vitus.

2001 Browning Smartshift Equipped Rodriguez

Browning Smart Shift Rodriguez

A round of applause for the Browning family and the other Bainbridge Island folks who worked on this ingenious bicycle transmission system.

The Brownings worked on the Smartshift project for around twenty years, and as far as the engineering goes, they succeeded.  It worked well.

The idea behind the Smartshift system was to have derailleurs that could shift automatically based on pedalling cadence, speed and chain torque.  The rider could push a button on the handlebar to shift, or they could just pedal along and let the computer do the work.

a wedge section moves over, taking the chain with it.

The crankset mid-shift

Perfect shifts, but only 4 gears.

Up front, a pie-slice section of the crankset would move over, bringing the chain with it to the neighboring chainring.  Since the chain was continuously engaged, shifting could be done under heavy pedaling force without risk of the chain falling off.  In the back, the forward-mounted derailleur (similar to a Nivex derailleur from the ’30′s) swung back and forth over 4 cogs.

The front shifting system was briefly produced by Suntour in 1991.  Prototypes worked perfectly, but Suntour couldn’t handle the precision needed to effectively mass produce the system.  All through the ’90′s, ingenious Browning prototypes would show up in the cycling world (including on a U.S. Cycling Team track bike that was never allowed to race) until 2001 when the complete Smartshift system was unveiled.

The Smartshift drivetrain

Marketed as the ideal bicycle transmission for “comfort” bikes and for new cyclists who were derailleur-phobic, the Browning Smartshift failed to find a foothold in the marketplace.  While new cyclists would indeed enjoy automatically perfect gear shifts, few were willing to pay the money for all of this technology.

This is Sally Brownings personal bike, a custom Rodriguez (made in Seattle).

1993 Colnago Titanio

1993 Colnago Titanio

Check out this wonderful twin-downtube design from Colnago.

A big innovator throughout the decades, Ernesto Colnago really hit his stride in the early 1990′s.  New materials meant designs that wouldn’t work in steel could be revisited.  This titanium marvel features triangulated twin tubes running to the bottom bracket shell, and a diamond-shaped titanium top tube.  With the straight-bladed fork legs and edgy component choices, this Titanio is quite a break from the 100 years of traditional steel frame design that preceded it, and definitely different from the organic carbon shapes we see today.

Colnago popularized straight-bladed forks

Diamond-shape titanium top tube

Twin titanium downtubes

It’s too bad that we’ll probably never see racing bikes designed like this again.  Wait, what?  Why, if this bike is so cool, will we never see one like it again?

Because the UCI stinks.

Early ’90′s Dura-Ace equipment

Flight saddle and Synchros titanium post

The UCI, or Union Cycliste Internationale, is the governing body for the sport of bike racing.  In the late 1990′s, in order to exert more control over cycling (while ignoring the rampant blood doping in the pro peloton), the UCI created rules that restricted how a racing bike could be made.  Today, manufacturers like Colnago even have to submit their designs for inspection and an expensive UCI certification.

Cinelli Spinacci aero bars

These Mavic pedal bodies arced side to side, not the cleats.

Innovative ideas like the twin downtubes on this Titanio run afoul of the UCI’s rules.  Traditional front frame triangles were mandated .  No solid panels or airfoil shapes.  No split tubes.  No suspension on road bikes.  Wheels have to be the same size.  Heck, even neat little aero bars like these Cinelli Spinaccis were outlawed for use in mass-start events (maybe that was a good idea).

Well, enjoy this tasty bit of eye-candy from Ernesto Colnago, the old UCI and the 1990′s.

1989 Peugeot Tundra Express

1989 Peugeot Tundra Express

Just to clear up any confusion, not all of the bikes that we display in our museum are particularly valuable or special. This Peugeot Tundra Express certainly isn’t.

This bike is a pretty good time capsule, however. It is a good example of those new “Mountain Bikes” that everyone was talking about and buying in the 1980′s.

It’s a Peugeot, an old-world French brand more closely associated with the Tour de France, the Faema team and Eddy Merckx than riding in the dirt. Peugeot didn’t have much experience making off-road bikes in 1989, and this bike looks like it was built by Panasonic or Diamond Back for Peugeot.

“Oval Tech” chainrings

Light Action indexed shifting

As is typical for mid-level mountain bikes of this vintage, the components included Shimano’s new “Light Action” click shifting. With this low-level group you had indexed thumb shifters to manage your shifts and a small lever arm on the rear derailleur that permitted shifts without the chain moving (you had to pedal in order to complete the shift, however). Fantastic new technology and 18 whole gear choices!
Since this was a fairly modest model, the Tundra Express rider had to do without Shimano’s BioPace chainrings (which promised to smooth out the dead spots in your pedal stroke). Instead of BioPace this bike was spec’d with knock off “Oval Tech” rings.
Oval chainrings have gone in and out of fashion over the decades a number of times. Usually they show up on bikes around the time that other trends have been played out (aerodynamic tubing is so last season). The oval trend usually goes away after everyone is reminded of how goofy it feels to pedal with them or when riders get fed up with sloppy front shifting.

Cantilevers, not “U” brakes on this bike

Big motorcycle-style brake levers

The last thing that we’d like to note about this bike is the finish. Chrome, nickel plating, copper plating, and the tinted chrome of the Tundra Express aren’t seen very often anymore. These plated treatments work best for bikes made out of ferrous metal (no need to worry about rust with a carbon fiber or aluminum frame) and steel bikes are a fairly small minority in the bike world today. Since plating adds greater expense and weight to the finished bike than paint, not many modern bikes feature these bright and durable finishes.

1991 American Road Bike

1991 American Manufacturing Road Bike

This American road bike is a great example of the new materials and ideas than took hold of the bicycle world in the 1990′s.

Don’t know how the ’90′s treated you, but Aluminum had a great time.  Aluminum tubing was fairly new on the bike scene, and it was an instant star for being light, cheap, and durable.  These attributes made it the real miracle metal of the decade (no matter what Titanium says).  American Manufacturing out of St. Cloud, Minnesota put the aluminum tubing to good use here, with sparkly mid-sized tubes (compared to skinny Vitus frames or fat Klein and Cannondale bicycles).

The few people who still remember American mountain bikes are probably surprised to know that they made these cool road bikes too.  ABM didn’t sell a lot of road models, and as far as we know, this bike didn’t even have a model name apart from “road bike”.

Aero position more extreme than the drops

STI levers brought the shifting to your fingertips

Some of the parts on this bike were fads that came and went.  Some of the ideas were pure genius, and took the bike world in new directions.

Shimano Total Integration (STI) moved the shift levers off of the frame and joined them with the brake levers.  A stroke of genius that made road cycling safer, more fun and certainly faster.

Scott’s LeMond Drop-In aero handlebars introduced the idea of aerodynamic body positioning for everyday riding and racing.  Unfortunately, the extreme position wasn’t very comfortable and offered questionable safety.

The Flite saddle was a comfortable option under 300 grams

Dura-Ace 7400 raised expectations for how a bike should shift

Selle Italia’s Flight saddle was an intant hit with its narrow nose and light titanium rails.  Really the first comfortable (believe it or not) bike seat to break the 300 gram barrier, and a catalyst for changing comfort and performance expectations in saddles.  Selle Italia still makes this model today, and there are dozens of similar bike seats on the market two decades after the Flight first appeared.

18 and 20mm wide tires made their way onto road bikes like this one in the ’90′s.  The goal of the skinny tire was to reduce rolling resistance, but the narrow width made for a harsh and sometimes twitchy bike that suffered a lot of flats.

Great looking wheels with some surprising qualities

Spinergy’s Rev-X wheels have unusual status in bicycle history.  They were one of the earliest bicycle wheels (besides discs) made of carbon fiber.  They were a commercial success, and were followed into the marketplace by countless carbon-fiber wheel manufacturers.  The unusual part is that while they were marketed as more aerodynamic and lighter weight than wire spoked wheels, they were actually neither.  Few people bought these for their best attributes.  While they looked flimsy and harsh riding, the Rev-X’s were actually pretty robust (as long as you didn’t crash) and rode with a great springy feel.

Nostalgic for the 1990′s? This can be your new (classic) bike for only $1991.

2009-2013 Colnago C59

Paul’s C59 in sparkling green and white

The best bike.

The Colnago C59 (marking Ernesto’s 59 years of making bikes) was considered the best handling, smoothest, and one of the most beautiful road bikes that you could ride.

At the time, Scott and Trek both make lighter bikes than the C59.  In reality, they also had a few more aerodynamic framesets available than these Colnagos.  Stainless steel bikes from Independent Fabrications or Pegoretti would outlive you by thousands of years.  Titanium Lynskeys or Ritcheys wouldn’t scratch and had nice, springy rides.  The Colnago C59, however, was still considered the best.

C59 head tube

Gavin’s bike in “None more black”

The bicycle equivalent of a Ferrari F12 (actually type “Ferrari” and “Colnago” into Google and see what I mean), the C59 felt solid and sure on the scariest roads.  Colnago knew that in order to be fast, a bike must be comfortable enough to ride for hours, and inspire confidence (not trepidation) when it came to high speeds, turns and descents.  The C59′s downtube and fork blades featured redundant internal walls, an extra safety measure should one of the outer walls get broken.

The C59 will also go down in history as the first road bike model from a major brand to be offered with disc brakes.

The C59 handled like a dream, was light as a feather, and was pretty enough to sit in the living room instead of the garage.

C59 with Mad Fiber wheels

A beautiful black and silver C59

The retro 1994 paint scheme

Since the C59 was retired, Colnago upped their game with the (what else?) C60.  The 60 did everything that the 59 could do, with just a little extra Italian flair.  The 60 had intricately shaped tubing lugs instead of round joints.  The 60 came with bigger diameter tubing that delivered better acceleration and snap, while reducing the overall frame weight by a couple hundred grams.

Zach McDonald’s Rapha-Focus team bikes

One of Zach’s three team bikes for the 2011/2012 cyclocross season

These are Zach McDonald’s Rapha-Focus team cyclocross bikes for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 seasons.  Rapha uses the Focus Mares carbon fiber cross bike, built with a bunch of custom details for Zach and his teammate Jeremy Powers.

Since the title sponsor Rapha is a clothing company, they had to make sure that the bikes didn’t clash with the outfits.  To match the standard team kit these bikes get custom paint with pinstripes, pink pedals, custom saddles, wheels, brake hoods, and decals.  For the year where both Jeremy and Zach rode in national champion colors there were red, white, and blue accents.

They were trying to get the nickname “Nuke” to stick

Dugast Rhinos, Typhoons, or Challenge Limus tires, depending on conditions

A crown for each win… and it’s missing a few

These bikes come equipped with Sram’s top of the line Red component group and goodies from Easton, Fizik, and Crank Brothers.  Tires are from Challenge or Dugast.   As they sit, without the mud, they’re  sixteen pound racing machines.

The last year with cantilever brakes?

Matching shoes…. Note the name on the sole

These are probably the last versions we’ll see with Avid Ultimate cantilever brakes.  Zach and Jeremy have both switched to disc brakes for the 2013/2014 season.  Zach admitted that he actually prefers the light weight cantilevers, but it was proving to be too difficult to sell his bikes at the end of the season without having disc brakes on them.  The latest edition uses Sram’s Red hydraulic levers and brake calipers.

Red, white, and blue “Nuke”

The version made for Cross Worlds 2012

For the 2012/2013 season, Zach was the national champion.  There was a 3 week period between Zach winning the title and when he raced at the world championships.  For that one race he got the red and white bike, which was actually raced at Paris-Roubaix the previous spring by a Katusha team rider.  The Katusha decals were covered up with new Rapha decals and bits of blue electrical tape.

The 2012 bike in stars-and-stripes

Each season, Zach will have three of these bikes. In cyclocross you get muddy, so you alternate between bikes over the course of an hour long race.  Just ride into the pits, swap your dirty bike for a clean one, and the mechanic will have your muddy bike washed up and ready to switch back before the next lap.  We know what you’re thinking.  Switching back and forth requires only two bikes, why does he have three?

The third bike is for the airlines to lose on the way to the race.

Greg LeMond’s 1991 Carbonframes LeMonster

1991 Calfee “LeMonster”

This frame is a bit rare, to say the least.

It was built for one rider for exactly one race.

In 1991, Greg LeMond rode the “LeMonster” to win the main event at the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in Wisconsin.  The Chequamegon festival is one of the biggest off-road races in the country, drawing over 2500 racers into the woods each year.

Greg had selected Carbonframes for his team’s road equipment, and when the road season was over, and September rolled around, Greg needed a mountain bike to contest the big Midwest event.  Carbonframes (now known as Calfee), was happy to oblige.

Calfee changed the head angle to work with a Rock Shox

Titanium bands hold the bottle cages

It looks a bit like Batman's bike...

Like a lot of mountain bike designs at the time, this LeMonster was built with elevated chainstays as a way to combat problems with the chain wedging itself between the crankset and the chainstays.  The frame is mostly made out of carbon fiber, but it was made with titanium stays and titanium bands around the tubing to support the waterbottle bosses.  If the head tube looks a little droopy to you, it should.  According to Craig Calfee, Greg got to ride on the latest and greatest Rock Shox of the day, and the head tube angle was changed to keep the handling right with the suspension fork mounted.

Greg at the 1990 Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival

Custom for Greg LeMond

This museum piece is a work in progress, and we would like to solicit your help in finishing it.

Nobody has a clear memory of the equipment found on this bike for it’s one race (the 1991 Chequamegon 40).  Greg was using Campagnolo equipment on his road bikes that year, but Mavic or Shimano parts may have found their way to this bike.

Anybody out there have a picture of Greg LeMond and this bike at the race?

Jack Engelbrecht’s 2006 Mondonico

Jack Engelbrecht’s 2006 Mondonico

A bit of a dichotomy, this bike is simple and fancy, modern and old-fashioned.

The single gear harkens back to the early days of bike racing, at the same time that the carbon fiber says “I’m modern”.  The understated black paint scheme tries to make the bike generic-looking, but the beautiful lugs and fine detail work make this bike unmistakably high-end.

Before Antonio Mondonico retired, he made one last swing through the United States visiting the bike shops that had sold his machines, taking orders for his last batch of bikes.  Our friend Jack Engelbrecht, already riding a Mondonico Monza, decided that he really wanted a single-speed road bike to commemorate the history of Mondonico, a bicycle building family that had been making racing bikes for over 75 years.

Phil Wood hubs, White Industries freewheel

Modern or old-fashioned?

Some of Antonio’s best work

Mondonico bicycles began in Concorezzo Italy, a small village just  outside Milan in 1929, and were hand-built by brothers Giuseppe and Angelo Mondonico.  Self-taught in the bicycle world, but otherwise skilled industrial craftsmen, the brothers repaired and fabricated new bikes together for decades.

The original Mondonico badge

The modern Mondonico badge

In the 1970′s the brazing torch passed to young Antonio Mondonico.  The cycling world is a small one, particularly in Italy, and many famous bike names are entwined in the Mondonico story.  Antonio had apprenticed in Gianni Motta’s shop for a couple of years, then moved on to the Colnago shop where he worked until taking over the family business in 1979 (Ernesto Colnago was a friend of the Mondonico family, and as a young racer actually rode for a bike shop team that was headquartered in Giuseppe Mondonico’s shop).  In the 1980′s, Antonio would partner with another big name in Italian bicycles, Paolo Guerciotti, and build racing bikes for some of the greatest racers of the era.

Our friend Jack, the owner of this bike, passed away in 2012.  This bike stands as a memorial to Jack and the sport that he enjoyed so much.

1991 Look KG96 with Mavic Zap

1991 Look KG96 Team Replica

Almost all French parts

The Look KG96 team replica.

State-of-the-art carbon fiber from 1991.

This bike is set up almost entirely with French equipment (a Shimano front shifter and an Italian seat ruined the effect), and it is a showcase of technology that was ahead of its time.

Mavic Zap electronic derailleur

Wonderfully sculpted Mavic crankset

A "hi-tech" frame with ceramic particles woven into the carbon

This bike dispells two modern bike myths.  The first myth that gets busted is that somehow carbon fiber is fragile, or that it doesn’t last.  This twenty year old bike has about 30,000 miles on it, was involved three pretty horrendous crashes, and had the right chainstay gashed pretty deeply in a baggage-handling misshap.  Yet it is still ridden today.  The second myth is that Shimano came up with the first electronic shifting system for racing bikes.  Clearly not true, as this KG96 was outfitted with the Mavic Zap component group in 1994.

2012 Raleigh RXC Pro Disc

Raleigh RXC Pro Disc

The future arrived, built by a bicycle company founded in 1885.

This Raleigh made it into the museum section for bringing together a bunch of new trends and technologies into one fabulous bike.  We have a carbon fiber bike at the top of a whole line (a whole line!) of cyclocross bikes.  As recently as the mid ’90′s, riders would have been hard pressed to come up with more than three options for a pre-made cyclocross bike.  We have the best in cutting-edge materials (some used in new areas of the bike).  We have cyclocross-specific components, electronics, tubeless tires, and disc brakes all in one spot.

The Raleigh RXC Pro Disc utilized every bit of modern technology to hit the bike world.   Carbon fiber is used in the  frame, fork, rims, seat rails, stem and handlebar of the bike.  Nothing too ground-breaking about that, but to put it all that carbon fiber in a production cyclocross bike was noteable.  Cutting-edge Shimano Di2 electronics controlled the shifting.  Again, electronic shifters have been out for a while, but Raleigh (and Colnago) were the first big bike brands to trust Di2 enough to spec it on a bike meant for the mud.  Disc brakes provide the stopping power, and while they’re not hydraulically controlled (yet), they are a giant leap forward over rim brakes when the going gets muddy.

Enve Carbon Fork, BB7 Disc Brakes

Cole Carbon Wheels, Di2 shifting

Ultegra Di2 electronic shifting

All of this technology together on a bike in 2012 clearly showed where the bike world was headed.  Now only a couple of model years on, and we’re seeing this kind of design and component selection on more and more models.

Bicycle Luddites would have to be amazed (and probably horrified) by this bike.

2005 Trek Rail

2005 Trek Rail cruiser

Pretty cool bike, don’t you think?
Particularly cool considering one of the biggest bike companies in the world decided to make it.
Outrageously cool considering that it came from a bike factory in rural Wisconsin, not a California beach town.

In 2004, some guy at Trek was working on their CNC mill, probably making a display bike for the trade show booth, or a one-of-a-kind cruiser for himself to ride around the Waterloo factory grounds.

Plenty of spots to hang a U-lock

Rail downtube

Some other guy at Trek, maybe even the big cheese(head), John Burke, saw this creation and said “What the heck, lets build some of those.”

In 2005, Trek introduced their Rail cruiser.  It’s just a fun, cool looking bike.

1992 Trek 9500 Suspension Mountain Bike

Trek's first attempt at full suspension...

As of today, mountain bikes have been around for only about thirty years.  There has been quite a bit of progress in a short amount of time.

This Trek 9500 from 1992 shows us some great leaps forward as well as some serious stumbles in mountain bike evolution.

Highlights include Shimano’s first edition XTR mountain bike component group.  The engineering was superb, the cold-forged components were built to last for decades, and this group included many fantastic features like rapid-fire trigger shifting that we still use today.

Some designs were ahead of the curve.

The polyurethane spring stack was not a good idea.

Shimano XTR managed 24 gears

Trek’s DDS3 suspension fork had some nice touches too.  It used a schraeder valve to fill the air chambers unlike Rock Shox’s needle valve of the time, and the adjustable air-sprung fork was closer to what we use now than the brief bike industry-wide foray into elastomer bumper forks.

This bike stretched you out a long way...

The lowlight had to be the rear suspension design, which moved like an inch-worm, with little spring rebound control and no suspension isolation from pedaling forces.

This bike came from Reliable Cycle, our Classic Cycle satellite store in the Rolling Bay neighborhood on Bainbridge Island.  This bike was part of the regular inventory, and it got folded into the museum collection when the store closed in 1998.

2005 Redline Rain City Chopper

Representing their Seattle home. Redline’s “Rain City” Chopper

Way back in the Aughts, the world got caught up in a chopper fad.  The success of reality television shows American Chopper, Monster Garage (with West Coast Choppers owner Jesse James), and Biker Build-Off on the Discovery Channel fueled a fascination with chopper motorcycles.  Jay Leno had one built for him, so did Billy Joel.  The New York Yankees had one built.  Lance Armstrong rode one (that evoked the lines of his Trek Madone and his aero helmet).  Movie star Sandra Bullock married a chopper builder.  The bicycle world took notice.

Disc brakes and belt drive

Great striping on the tank and fender

Limited edition number 1329

Bicycles that evoke images of a motorcycle are not new, nor is the drawn-out chopper style.  Beach cruisers that look like Harleys, kids’ bikes with twist grips that make engine revving sounds, and fake gas tanks on balloon-tire bikes have been around for years.  BMX (the dirt racing that your nephew does every weekend) stands for Bicycle Moto-Cross, and is a pedal-powered version of the motorsport.

Good looking embroidered saddle

Four-inch wide tire

Bicycles and motorcycles have been intertwined since the beginning.  Early motorcycles were just bicycles with small gas engines welded onto them.  Thirty-five years after the first chopper fad hit the bicycle world (the film Easy Rider started that one), we had another.

Schwinn, Giant, Phat Cycles, GT, Electra, and Specialized all had them, but the Rain City Chopper is our favorite bike from this recent chopper boom.

Double crown fork, spiked pedals and a kicker

We should get a rain hat for the little skull guy

Redline pays homage to their Seattle roots with the name, and the design is perfect.  A meaty 4″ wide tire in back for powering away from a stop.  Disc brakes to keep all of your horsepower under control.  The belt drive makes for nearly silent operation (unlike motorized choppers), and the dual crown fork smoothly transitions into burly chrome handlebars.  Take a look at the pin-striping on the tank, fender, and belt guard.  Great details all around.

We’ve had a lot of offers, so we know you’ve been waiting for us to do this. The Rain City Chopper is now for sale. $2000.

Panasonic Individual Custom System 1988

1988 Panasonic custom titanium

Industrial giant Panasonic has been making bicycles in Japan for decades.  In the 1970′s and 80′s, Panasonic bikes were quite popular in the U.S, with obviously good brand recognition and a high quality selection from which to choose.

In 1987, Panasonic launched PICS, their Individual Custom System.  Get a high quality custom Panasonic bike of your own design in two to six weeks!  Bike shops like Classic Cycle were given a Panasonic combination TV/VHS tape player, which could be set up in the shop to play a looping video showing a factory tour and explaining it all:

A pump peg for a full size frame pump

Scott-LeMond DropIn handlebars

Your name goes here

First, a customer would select a bike style: road or mountain.  Next, pick steel or titanium tubing.  Six mountain bike sizes and about eight road bike sizes to get just the right fit (not a bad selection at the time).

Regina hollow pin chain

Campagnolo's Chorus group

Components could be selected from two tiers of Shimano mountain bike equipment, and Shimano 600, Sante’, or Dura-Ace groups for the road bikes.  A glossy brochure showed all of the paint styles available with one, two and three color stripes, panels, and fades.  The bike shop would have a dozen sample frame tubes on hand painted with all of the bright options (there was probably about a thousand different paint schemes available).  The PICS buyer had 12 letters with which to spell out their name, which would then be laser etched into the handlebar stem or stamped on the top tube.

Panasonic PICS paint samples

Once all of the selections were made, the order form was faxed to Japan on the bike shop’s new Panasonic facsimile machine (super high-tech!), you waited a few weeks, and voila!  Federal Express dropped off your new bike.

This particular bike was customized for an “R. McReynolds” in fashionable lavender and polished titanium.  We don’t believe that Campagnolo equipment was ever an option straight from Japan, and this bike was most likely given a new component group in about 1991 or ’92.

My personal PICS bike was a red, white, and blue steel mountain bike with Deore XT equipment from 1988 and ”P.R. Johnson” on the top tube.  It took fourteen days to get it from Japan, and it was stolen during my sophomore year of college.  Anyone seen it?

2012 “Classic” Retrotec

“Classic” Bike, built by Curtis Inglis of Retrotec

This bike is not old…. It’s Classic.

Curtis Inglis builds wonderful steel bikes in his Napa, California workshop.  If you want a hand-crafted bike with custom touches, an Inglis should be at the top of your list.  For curvy-tubed bicycle goodness, Curtis and his Retrotec label should be your only consideration.

Retrotec was founded by Robert Seals, the godfather of the modern multi-function bike tool (he invented the Cool Tool, patented in 1990).  For his Retrotecs, Bob resurected the old Schwinn cantilever frame style.  Curtis, who worked for Bob back in the 1990s, took over the Retrotec name in 2001 and expanded the number of available styles, and they’re all cool.

Note the Ritchey "Classic" stem

When going custom, why not put your name on it?

Inglis' fillet brazed construction is perfection

Wanting a modern “Classic” that would be at home within our museum collection, we asked Curtis to show us his best work.  Fine fillet brazed joints, expertly curved tubing, and sparkly green custom paint make this a bike as impressive as anything on our walls.

XTR brakes with cooling fins on the brake pads, Ti bolts

Retrotec Triple model

The XTR group is museum worthy itself.

The parts show off  classic design cues and modern materials.  Shimano’s XTR group is the best available today, and looks great with the gold chain and cables.  A green Brooks saddle was a natural choice, as were the Portland-made Chris King headset and bottom bracket.  We had to use the Ritchey “Classic” seatpost and stem, as they inspired us to build this bike in the first place.

Paul with Curtis Inglis and the bike

Inglis' shop, with bikes in various stages of production

Bikes look very different without all of the paint...

A trip down to California for a friend’s wedding coincidently put Jaime and Paul in Curtis’s workshop during construction of the Classic Bike.

This bike isn’t just for show. It’s for sale. Modern mountain bike performance and Classic style for $5499.

1987 Trek 8000 XT

1987 Trek 8000XT mountain bike in camouflage

Oh, it was good to be a mountain biker in the ’80′s.

For instance, in 1987 you got to choose between camouflage and neon pink paint colors for your bike.  This was important, as you wanted the bike to look good with your matching Oakley sunglasses (that were big enough to cover your entire head).  In those days chainrings were oval, forks were curved and made out of steel, brake levers were huge, aluminum was considered “high-tech”, and nobody gave you a hard time if you used the word “rad” in a sentence.

ODI Mushroom grips, Avocet 20 bike computer

A Hite-Rite allowed you to adjust your saddle on the go

Shimano's Indexed shifting and Biopace chainrings seemed miraculous

Trek had a good time in the ’80′s too.  They turned out radical machines like this 8000XT mountain bike, and riders lined up in their acid-washed denim to be the first to get one.

1992 Trek 5500 OCLV

1992 was the year that Trek introduced their OCLV carbon fiber bikes to the cycling world. 

1992 Trek 5500, the start of a winning streak

OCLV stood for Optimum Compaction, Low Void.  The label was more than marketing hype.  Trek used high grade carbon material and well engineered tooling to mold each lug and tube individually.  By using this method instead of trying to create an entire bike frame in a single shot, Trek’s engineers were able to reduce the amount of epoxy and fillers left over in the completed frame.  The carbon molds squeezed the tubes extremely tight, reducing the size and number of “voids”, and leaving them with “optimum compaction” of the material.  This patented “OCLV” method is still used today by Trek and the aerospace companies that license their process.

Optimum Compaction, Low Void carbon fiber

Campagnolo's Record group and Look pedals

It's not one piece, those are tubes and lugs

Delta brakes, Treks emblem from the '90's

This bike probably looks like any other that you would see in the shop today, but remember that carbon fiber pioneers like Trek, Kestrel, Look, and Colnago were flying by the seat of their pants twenty years ago.  Some of the bikes they came up with were radically different at the time, and some have stood the test of time.

This wonderful piece of cycling history was originally owned by our friend Michael Powers of Summit, New Jersey.  This baby is not stock.  Michael spared no expense while building this bike, opting for Campagnolo’s swoopy and aerodynamic looking Record component group, Look “Carbon Arc” pedals, and Modolo’s anatomic handlebar.

2003 Mondonico Pista

2003 Mondonico track bike

Antonio Mondonico made this bike for us in 2003.  We asked him for a modern track bike that would steal some attention from the antiques on the walls.  He delivered. 

This Italian gem comes from a small workshop just outside of Milan.  Built for sprint distance and mass start track events, it is made of extremely springy nivacrom steel, silver brazed into Mondonico’s custom lugs.  The orange paint is about as subtle as a traffic signal.  A bit of chrome here and there to remind us that this is not a plastic bike.

Custom Selle San Marco Rolls saddle

Hearts, Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds

Antonio Mondonico head badge

The machined quill stem matches the fluted seatpost

The parts are a mix of modern classics.  Paul Components made the gambler’s crankset, with the four card suits machined into the chainring.  A fluted seatpost and machined stem harken back to the 1970s, while the paired-spoke design of the wheels says this is a modern build.

Antonio spent decades building bikes, and many famous Italian racers rode Mondonicos (even if they were painted in another brand’s colors).  Unable to interest his son Mauro in taking over the family business, Antonio retired from bike building in 2007.

1990 American M-16

1990 American Bicycle Manufacturing M-16

American Bicycle Manufacturing made beautiful, cutting-edge mountain bikes in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Well known in the mountain bike world for producing polished and anodized aluminum bike frames at a time when painted steel was the norm, American was ahead of the curve.  Their bikes were light and distinctive looking, some built with such novel ideas as having adjustable head angles, Beryllium tubing (2 pound mountain bike frame for $26,000), and replaceable derailleur hangers.

“Toothpaste” welds and replaceable derailleur hanger

IRD Switchback, a precursor to “V” brakes

Look closely. That’s a suspension stem and early hydraulic brakes

Outfitted with Shimano’s first off-road clipless pedal

American was the original sponsor of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in nearby Hayward, Wisconson.  The festival today is one of the biggest and oldest off-road races in the world, drawing over 2500 participants into the woods each year.

Unfortunately, American Bicycle Manufacturing did not survive the mountain bike boom.  As a builder for other manufacturers as well as for their own brand, American sometimes lost market share and intellectual property to their own customers.   In 1993, a deal to produce tandems for Specialized fell through, leaving American with over 200 tandem frames they couldn’t sell…

Want an old-school mountain bike for yourself?  This bike is for sale from the museum collection for $1600.

Horsecycle

Giddy-up!

A friend of ours named Bill Scarvie brought this awesome recumbent into the bike shop a while back.  His wife had owned a toy store (or was it a tack shop?) and this was one of their big sellers.

This recumbent has it all.  A full one horsepower engine.  An enclosed chain guard to keep your chaps free of oil.  Rein and pinion steering.  A custom saddle.  Brakes to help hold your horses. 

Whoa, Nelly.

Stevenson Demountable

1986 Stevenson Demountable travel bike

Before there were S & S couplings or Ritchey Breakaway travel bikes, there was the Herse Demountable.

This demountable is made by Bill Stevenson, a talented and experienced bike builder from Olympia, Washington.  Over the years, Bill has designed and built frames for Gary Fisher, worked as a designer and quality control inspector for Ross Bicycles and Alpinestars USA.  Bill apprenticed with Albert Eisentraut in the early seventies and built his “Limited” series of bikes.

This bike is based on a Rene’ Herse design from the early 1970s.

Lugs that melt into the tubes

Inventive and strong frame coupling

While the travel bike was built in 1986, it was years in the making.  It languished in Bill’s shop raw for a number of years before he gave it to Jeff.  The painter Jeff chose to finish the bike claimed to have “Painters Block” and let the frameset sit on a shelf for over six years.  Coming up with just the right mix of parts was quite a task itself. The bike was finally finished in 2007 and is now in regular rotation in Jeff’s fleet.

Seat tube shifters and lots of quick releases

Even the saddle is adjustable

There is a great mix of engineering and artistry evident in this Stevenson.  Shifters on the seat tube avoid problems when the frame tubes are taken apart.  The bike has a Stevenson stem that is beautiful and functional.  Check out the smooth fillet brazed lugs on the bike, the head tube lug just melts into the top tube…

Hetchins Millennium

Oh no! My bike is melting!

Head badge or a coat of arms?

Imagine how long it took to file and polish these

Built in honor of Hetchins' finest work

Bicycle hub or cheese grater?

I know, this bike seems too new to belong in a museum.  Well, this Hetchins is a remake of a more “historic” bike, and a true classic itself. 

To commemorate the new millennium, Hetchins offered to bring back one of their oldest and most ornate lug sets. 

Jeff commissioned this bike to be a replica of the Hetchins that Tony Merkens rode at the 1937 Crystal Palace six-day race.  It is one of 15 Hetchins Millenniums that were built, and one of two that were brought to North America.

Bike Appraisals

Have an old bike that you’d like to get appraised?

We can help, but we have a few guidelines that we’d like you to understand.

First, we have no idea what your bike is worth without seeing it. We’re just not that smart. Don’t call us and try to describe it over the phone. Serial numbers do not help. Instead, you can send us an email with some pictures attached or bring your bike in to the store.

Take a photo from the “drive side” in front of a neutral background

To make the appraisal more accurate, prepare the bike and take photos like you would if you were going to sell it. Clean the bike, remove any broken or rough-looking accessories and put some air in the tires.
Take pictures straight on in front of a blank background, and take close-up photos of areas that may generate interest (or confusion).

There is no “Blue Book” value for bicycles. Bikes are simply worth what someone else is willing to pay for them. Bicycle values tend to be highest when the weather is warm, in places where it’s pleasant to ride, and wherever there are a lot of people who like bikes.

Badges or labels on the tubes help with identification

Close-ups of the parts tell a lot about your bike

You know more about your bike than we do. If you just bought a bike for $50, you have just established the value of the bicycle (and you are not likely to be able to sell it for $2000 to somebody else). You know when you bought it, so you have a good idea of the age, and you know if it was a high-end racing model or a basic bike from Walmart.

Rarity rarely helps determine value. If you have a one-of-a-kind bicycle, it may mean that no one has ever heard of it and/or nobody is looking for one.

Popularity is no indicator either. Bikes that were sold in large numbers could fall into one of two camps. You could have a bike that will never sell (Schwinn Varsity) because there are still thousands of them out there, or you could have a bike that will cause a bidding war (Bridgestone MB-1) because people rode them into the ground and they want another one.

If what you’re really after is to get rid of an old bike, keep us in mind. While we don’t buy bikes outright, we’ll likely take your old bike as a trade-in for something new….

About our museum…

The bikes featured in this museum section are privately owned by Jeff Groman, as well as other employees and friends of Classic Cycle.  We display them in this space to share their beauty and showcase the skill and creativity that went into making them.

This website is not intended to be a research archive.  While we like to be accurate in our descriptions, we don’t really care if a particular bike was made in 1952 or if it was 1953.  A bike built today could be labeled a 2016 or 2017 model.  It could be exactly the same as a 2014 model, and may not get sold until 2018.  In 50 years it would be really nice if folks just went out for a bike ride and didn’t bicker over the exact vintage of their Classic bike.  In other words, if you’re really concerned about dates and serial numbers, figure it out yourself.

To the serious bike collectors out there:  We don’t care if the saddle on our 1972 Colnago isn’t “period correct.”  Enjoy looking at the collection or don’t.  Plenty of brand new bikes roll out the doors of modern bike shops sporting saddles or bottle cages that were new during the Reagan administration.

Likewise, this museum section is meant to be interesting and entertaining, and we would never let the facts get in the way of a good story.