Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Cinelli Laser "America"




Photos courtesy, and used with permission, of Speedbicyles.

Photos: click to enlarge

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

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I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Cinelli Model B, sn 6597





Owner description: 1960 Model B

Original decals / head badge present on main frame

top tube (center to center): 58.5 cm

seat tube (center to center): 59 cm

seat tube (center to top): 60cm

head tube: 17 cm

dropouts fork (100 mm -. Campagnolo )

dropouts rear (120 mm - Campagnolo )

BB threads: italian,all threads are supernice !

seatpost diameter required : 26.2 mm

The paint is original (silver) , so are the decals - the paint/chrom needs overhaul

no cracks/dents/structural damage on frame

Parts included :

BB with tapered axle - presumably Stronglight


Photo: click to enlarge

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

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I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Antonio Mondonico at Cinelli


This from the "History" page of the Mondonico brand at BIKYLE, a high end bike shop in the USA:

"Antonio's father, Giuseppe Mondonico, opened a framebuilding shop in Milano in 1929. He was soon recognized by the Milan cycling aficionados as a builder with talent. Antonio grew up with bikes and frame building as a way of life. He has spoken of growing up with iron filings under his fingernails. When Giuseppe passed away there wasn't enough money to keep the Mondonico shop going. Antonio became the master builder for other renowned framemakers of the time. Over the years he supervised work for Gianna Motta, Cino Cinelli, and Ernesto Colnago. In the mid 1970's he reopened his own shop and again the world could get Mondonico bicycles."

Photo: Antonio Mondonico working in his home workshop where he built Mondonico frames (photo courtesy Bikeraceinfo)

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

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I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A "Ritter" Cinelli Laser


Matteo sends this photo (originally appearing in gs-guccilife) of a Cinelli Laser with "Ritter" on the downtube.

Can someone identify the rider?

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

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I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Hans-Henrik Oersted and Cinelli Laser



Two items from Filippo in Italy showing Hans-Henrik Oersted riding a Cinelli Laser circa 1984/1985.

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

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I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Sunday, September 5, 2010

USSR National Team Cinelli Laser


Filippo writes, "A strange Cinelli Laser with asymmetric bullhorn used by a member of USSR team during late 80's."

Who can explain the purpose of this arrangement?

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

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I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Friday, September 3, 2010

Eros Poli at 1987 World Championships


I was chatting with my friend Eros Poli about the bikes he rode in the Olympics and World Championships.

His reply, "For the World Championships of 1985, 1986 and 1987, and the 1988 Olympics we rode Cinelli. My gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles was won on a Rossin."

Photo: courtesy of Eros; he is riding in the second position at the 1987 World Championships (click on photo to enlarge) which was won by the the Italian team.

Eros, perhaps best known for his unlikely victory of the Mont Ventoux stage in 1994 at the Tour de France, now owns his own bike touring company based in Verona, Italy. See www.eros-poli.com for more information.

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

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I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Cinelli Laser Air for Italian National Pursuit Team


Filippo writes in from Italy, "My new frame, a Cinelli Laser Air Pursuit, in 59 cm, used by the Italian national pursuit team. Paolo Erzegovesi (Cinelli managing director and Laser engineer /designer) told me that it was built in the 1982-1983 and that his aerodinamic appendix under the bottom bracket was cut because it was considered irregular by the UCI !! More photos are yet to come..."

Photo: click to enlarge

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

Thanks for stopping by.

I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Cinelli XCr Stainless Steel

Cinelli continues to offer a modern version of the classic Super Corsa but they also offer a state of the art "XCr" using stainless steel tubes. Below is an article from Velonews about the XCr and comments from CinelliOnly reader David B. who owns both a circa 1956-1960 Cinelli Model B and an XCr.

From Velonews (May, 2009):

"Cinelli’s XCr frame is an interesting experiment that mashes together classic steel bicycle frame craftsmanship with new world technology.

From the classy side, the XCr features its choice of steel for a material, exquisite Italian welding and craftsmanship, not to mention, a classy design — including the seatstay-integrated seat post clamp.

These features are juxtaposed by the incorporation of, arguably, the industry’s most advanced steel alloy, a progressive BB30 bottom bracket design and an integrated headset.

The result, though not cheap, has an interesting, contradictory, alluring draw. One thing is certain: we’re not sure what type of customer is going to be attracted to this frame; like the frame itself, it’s ideal customer could be a mix of old school connoisseurs and cutting-edge techies.

The Cinelli XCr is built from Columbus’ XCr stainless steel tubeset. It’s the most expensive steel tubeset in the world, but it’s also the only seamless stainless steel tubeset available; Reynolds’ 953 is a welded tube.

The biphasic martensitic seamless tubes are manufactured with high quantities of chromium, molybdenum and nickel to enhance its strength and resistance to cracking, especially during welding.

The properties of the metal give it a high strength to weight ratio and allow tubing sections as thin as 0.4mm. Besides its strength advantage over other metals, XCr stainless steel is corrosion resistant. Columbus offers butted and double-butted tubes for the entire tubeset. It also offers a broad range of complementary stainless components, including the integrated cups and BB30 bottom bracket shell found on Cinelli’s XCr. Last year the Cinelli XCr won an award from Germany’s International Forum of Design.

As you’d expect, using the world’s most expensive steel tubeset — and welding it in Italy, no less — doesn’t produce an economically priced frame. Cinelli’s XCr costs $4,600 in its stock configuration. Cinelli does include headset bearings and a new Columbus carbon fork designed specifically for the XCr. The carbon fork has traditional curved blades that Cinelli believes better fits with the XCr’s aesthetic. The fork weighs just 350 grams and is claimed to be the lightest fork Columbus has ever produced. Other details including the frame’s high polish finish, laser etched graphics and titanium head tube badge highlight the ‘spare no expense’ attitude of the XCr.

The XCr is the first steel bike we’ve seen that incorporates the BB30 bottom bracket design.

A mid-sized, 53cm, XCr frame weighs a claimed 1420 grams. Cinelli offers five stock sizes and, for a $500 up-charge, full custom geometry. At $5,100, Cinelli includes customization not only of the geometry and sizing, but all of the frame’s traits, so a traditional threaded bottom bracket, traditional head tube or even an integrated seat mast are within the scope of a custom project. Oh, and they’ll air ship it from Italy when it’s done, at no extra charge.

One thing is for sure, Cinelli’s XCr offers an interesting alternative to the current carbon trend that’s just as expensive, but guaranteed to be a unique addition to your local group ride."

From reader David B.:




"As for the XCr, I may be a bit biased, I think it is a great bike. I got it last spring, Tom at GVH Bikes made a special order for me. I have put about 3,000 miles on it since. It is very comfortable, I can ride for 6 hours without any discomfort, even with the ridiculously stiff carbon wheels I put on it. But it is very responsive when you get out of the saddle for a town-line sprint or a steep climb. My last modern bike was aluminum with a carbon rear triangle and this one is no where near as harsh. It is not as smooth as my Model B, but that has a 6-inch longer wheelbase and the B flexes a lot compared to the XCr.

For the XCr build quality, I am very satisfied with the welds but I have never compared them to a Moots, Litespeed or Lynskey. This is a picture of the BB:

But the serial number on my XCr is 002. I hope the welds would get better as the serial numbers get higher.

I must say I was a little disappointed with the polish. I was expecting a mirror finish but in reality it is 8 out of 10. I may be expecting too much as I used to restore vintage race cars. I would spend hours getting a mirror on aluminum parts and I know it would take a great deal of time to get that level of finish with stainless."

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

Thanks for stopping by.

I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com