Effectively at this time marks the tip of Faggin Week right here on the weblog:
Whereas I lastly received a correct journey on it the opposite day, I received an much more correct journey on it at this time, with reasonable climbs and descents and the whole lot:
The bike could look its age after which some, but it surely looks like 1,000,000 bucks, or extra precisely its pre-Euro equal, which might have been someplace round ITL3,000,000,000,000,000,000.
There may be an attract–dare I say a romance–to the Italian highway bicycle that’s maybe extra highly effective than every other. And naturally the biking cognascenti cogoscenti know-it-alls every have their favourite marque and builder and might determine from which Columbus tubing a motorcycle is made just by licking it in addition to describe in nice element its journey attributes, as if their scranuses are as finely tuned devices as delicate as an oenophile’s tongue.
However how a lot of that’s really the bike, and the way a lot of it’s as a result of we’re principally simply dumb anglophones? Whereas I think nearly all of traditional Italian highway bikes journey fantastically, I additionally suspect the gorgeous method during which they journey is pretty indistinguishable, and that most individuals kind their impressions and preferences about which Italian highway bike they like greatest primarily based largely on the identify and the paint. For instance, once I was first getting actually into highway bikes, I assumed Ciöcces (or is it Ciöcci…? Like gnocci…?) have been extremely cool:
[Via Classic Cycle]
I didn’t know a factor about them, besides that the identify had three “c” and an umlaut in it and was fully unpronounceable, which I discovered beguiling. And that was sufficient. In truth, I think the unpronounceability of Italian highway bike names accounts for a minimum of 50% of their attract:
[Seen at Jersey Cycles]
I imply it’s an actual magnificence, however the identify with a bunch of additional letters you don’t pronounce actually takes it excessive.
So would a rose by every other identify odor as candy? Think about the Cervino, which is in actual fact primarily a Viner, however bears a model identify most individuals at this time now affiliate with low-cost mountain bikes at Dick’s Sporting Items:
It definitely does odor as candy in that it additionally rides fantastically, however because of the Nishiki decal the uninitiated twenty first century cyclists merely mistake it for an outdated crappy 10-speed–and there’s a sure satisfaction in that, for less than you realize that you just’re driving round with a Viner between your legs.
Experience secure this weekend, thanks for studying, and please settle for my apologies for the Viner puns. However they ain’t stopping anytime quickly.
