Best Equipment Failure Ever

[Eric Sedletzky]

@Alaskan Scuba Dude, Italians do not ride hybrid bicycles .

I do not have any split fins, I found them to be too much like a hybrid bicycle, too heavily compromised to be useful for anything.

I love this thing, just for fun:



Bianchi, the oldest bicycle company still making bicycles and though I am pretty sure this Bianchi is made in Taiwan, I still love it. I also have @Angelo Farina a real Guerciotti Columbus SLX and a Pinarello of Italian Columbus SP and SL tubing. Magnificent steeds. Split fins, not so much.

What about a Serotta, isn’t that an Italian made bike?

 

[Zef]

What about a Serotta, isn’t that an Italian made bike?

Serotta was a US brand out of New York.

-Z

 

[Nemrod]

What about a Serotta, isn’t that an Italian made bike?

Eric, I was not attempting to list every make of bicycle, Italian or not. I only mentioned the three Italian brands I own in reference to a "hybrid" jack of all trades and master of none bicycle. My current favorite is a Made in California 6061, heat treated, aluminum GT triple triangle road sport bicycle. I found it, only the frame, abandoned in a dumpster:



Like my Bianchi Pista SS track bike it appears to have hydro-formed tubes.

I do not have any hybrid bicycles nor split fins.

 

[Angelo Farina]

@Alaskan Scuba Dude, Italians do not ride hybrid bicycles .

I do not have any split fins, I found them to be too much like a hybrid bicycle, too heavily compromised to be useful for anything.

I love this thing, just for fun:



Bianchi, the oldest bicycle company (and Italian) still making bicycles and though I am pretty sure this Bianchi is made in Taiwan, I still love it. I also have @Angelo Farina a real Guerciotti Columbus SLX and a Pinarello of Italian Columbus SP and SL tubing. Magnificent steeds. Split fins, not so much.

I have two Taurus bicycles. A mod. 19 (1939) and a mod. 27 (1950). Here the mod. 19:

 

[BoltSnap]

I have two Taurus bicycles. A mod. 19 (1939) and a mod. 27 (1950). Here the mod. 19:

Do you have/own anything new/modern at all?

 

[Nemrod]

I have two Taurus bicycles. A mod. 19 (1939) and a mod. 27 (1950). Here the mod. 19:

Cool, I have an old English 3-speed of that era complete with oil bath chain guard and the generator and light and the cork grips and Brooks spring and leather saddle. I did convert to alloy wheels and stainless spokes since the old British stuff had chrome plated steel wheels and the darn thing would not stop when wet! I grew up on bicycles and never quit riding, racing and still do triathlons (slowly). I flipped the bars and my saddle is set a bit higher than that in relation to the bars using the LeMond saddle to peddles formula (true inseam X .883) that has always worked well for me setting up a bicycle adjusted for specific shoes and cleats. My cycling coach way back set me up using the LeMond guidance, works good for me on any and all bicycles.

My Guerc that I bought the frame for at Boone Cyclery in Houston, Tx in 1984, originally equipped it with Campy Record but I converted some years ago to Shimano 105 with Indexed shifting.



It is a comfortable bike to ride for road racing here on mostly flat ground but a bit noodley when I go out to Colorado, I prefer the GT for the long climbs or my Japanese Centurion Prestige. Actually, nowadays, I prefer going downhill to up !

 

[Angelo Farina]

Do you have/own anything new/modern at all?

Of course I also own modern bicycles. I and my sons have 3 Merida mountain bikes: alu frame, disc brakes, front hydraulic fork (lockable); gel seat...
Here one of them:

We also have a lot of vintage offroad motorbikes.
Here our three Yamaha XT:

Yamaha Photo Gallery

My collection of Yamaha bikes

www.angelofarina.it

And here my collection of Fantic:

Fantic Motor Photo Gallery

My collection of Fantic Motor bikes

www.angelofarina.it

 

[Zef]

Eric, I was not attempting to list every make of bicycle, Italian or not. I only mentioned the three Italian brands I own in reference to a "hybrid" jack of all trades and master of none bicycle. My current favorite is a Made in California 6061, heat treated, aluminum GT triple triangle road sport bicycle. I found it, only the frame, abandoned in a dumpster:



Like my Bianchi Pista SS track bike it appears to have hydro-formed tubes.

I do not have any hybrid bicycles nor split fins.

Nice bike, but I am pretty sure your frame was built in Taiwan and not the US. If your frame has/had a "Made In USA" sticker on it, it was most likely made overseas despite the sticker, due to some legal loopholes that existed years ago that permitted companies to state their product was made in the US if certain limited manufacturing processes were conducted in the US, such finish work (facing headtubes and bottom brackets, certain paint processes, assembly of finished product, etc.). I think the only non-BMX and non-MTB frames that were produced in the US were the ones built for the '96 Olympic team and some custom models for select members of their pro teams. My understanding was that by the time GT started building frames out of aluminum, they had outsourced production to Asia.

-Z