Monday, December 20, 2010

Athena vs Ultegra 1989

Bicycle Guide Jan/Feb 1989

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Campagnolo Record - the 1994 Spare Parts Catalogue

In 1994 Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. It was also the year of the Rwandan Genocide with the mass murder of 800,000 people, the year Major League baseball players went on strike resulting in cancellation of the World Series, and the year that John Bobbitt released a porn video (“John Wayne Bobbitt - Uncut” if you feel the need to check it out).

More significant for my sheltered life in a bicycle closet, 1994 was also the last hurrah of the Campagnolo Record C (C Record) aesthetic. More specifically it was the last time that the C Record crankarms, front derailleur, and hubset made their appearance. From 1995 onwards the top-of-the-line Record group had no lingering resemblance to the flamboyant groupset that debuted in 1985.

Over the 10 years of C Record, Campagnolo introduced a slant parallelogram rear derailleur into their top line groupset and incorporated a cassette into the rear hub (the combination of both made index shifting a pleasure rather than a nuisance for the staunch Italofile - yeah, so much for “the shifter of champions”...), developed cogs with profiled teeth for smoother shifting (exadrive which became hyperdrive and now, of course, we have “ultradrive”), introduced their Ergopower brifters (more “positive” than Shimano’s STI - ie clunky shifts until they were “run-in” at about 1500km), and brought out their dual-pivot brakes (whilst quietly dropping the delta calipers in 1992 - although they were still available for purchase if you were crazy and rich enough to do so). Beautiful as it was, C Record was in no way an innovative groupset. Every major development was essentially a copy of technology introduced by their Japanese competitor.

And from 1995 Campagnolo also copied a marketing strategy already entrenched amongst other component manufacturers. They labelled all their component groups to allow easy differentiation (you ain’t "pro" if you ain’t riding Record-labelled parts... because ones ability surely wouldn’t give that fact away).

Just as 1994 was the sad end of the C Record era, 1995 was arguably the start of a fresh new face for Campagnolo. They dropped their MTB/ off-road component arm and focussed on development of their road division. And they have contributed their share of useful innovations ever since.

So let's take a(nother) trip down memory lane... (might be helpful to those, like me, that open up stuff then can’t remember how to put them back together again)

Yes, I too wonder how many frustrated delta owners (having opened their calipers in an attempt to work out why they were so terrible to use) would have scratched their heads on referencing their 5-pivot deltas to the illustration of the 3-pivot version

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Total Awesomeness

Apparently some things can be made so ridiculous they become totally awesome. Currently on Australian ebay is this fabulous example:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/chopper-bicycle-highly-customised-LQQK-LQQK-LQQK-/220704242305?pt=AU_Sport_Cycling_Bikes&hash=item3362ff7a81#ht_500wt_1156

I normally don’t like posting pictures of bicycles where the auction/ sale remains open (the troll hates to influence the sale of items - indeed he hates to do anything of consequence lest he be lumbered with some element of responsibility) but I figure it’s safe to do so on a low-traffic blogsite. And hey, it’s nearly Christmas.

If low-rider and chopper bicycles have only been at the very periphery of a marginal interest in bicycles then allow me to whet your appetite a little more.

http://trendsupdates.com/tequila-sunrise-dunk-your-bike-ride-this-bicycle/

Madness.

There is so much I miss about being a child. Like prancing around in a batman suit or telling someone at a party that they are boring and that I don’t want to talk to them anymore.

For those adults amongst us, I appreciate your decorum and diplomacy. For those that don’t know what I am talking about, you, dear sir, have my silent admiration.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Sweeping leaves on a windy day

Memories of India

Bicycle, Mumbai.

MASH-style theatres, Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital.

3-4 beds crammed into an operating room with frequent power cuts, basic equipment

and where sterility is maintained by a strict code of practice and magic jungle juice.

My friend and colleague, Dilip G in action.

Anaesthetist: “You do this case?”

Me: “I’m sorry, but I’m not even sure I know what I am looking at...”

Post-burn contracture in 1 1/2 year old child - over to you Dilip (as with most of the cases)

Model village within the Melghat tribal region.

Community health worker.

Monkey, Chikhaldara.

I am humbled by those such as Ashish & Kavita S (who run the hospital as well as administer community medicine and agriculture programs) that devote their lives to helping others in need, by the enormous problem of poverty, and by how little impact our individual efforts seem to make.

But I would like to come back. Possibly more to satisfy my sense of place in this world and a need to believe that my efforts can make a small difference (yes, it's all about me).

As we are wont to say: “Thank you very much. Please come again”