Merry Christmas! Cinelli Style

Chrome Cinelli circa 1969.

Photo: used by permission (click to enlarge)

1969 Cinelli with "Alpine" Gearing by Spence Wolfe

My thanks to Don Martinich for writing in with, "I just wanted to let you know I have a vintage bicycle site which focuses on racing from the 50's to the 80's. It has a page devoted to my family's Cinells including the S.C. my wife bought in 1969 with a Spence Wolf alpine set up and TA cranks. It's spent most of it's time indoors since it was new and is in excellent condition.

Tt wasn't a custom order, but, a Spence-buildup in-shop item. Two components that stand out are the crankset and the rear derailleur. The crankset is a Specialites T.A.'Criterium' with cottered aluminum alloy cranks. The rear derailleur is a Campagnolo Nuovo Record modified by Spence for alpine gearing. The bicycle has all original finish, decals, and components with the exception of the clincher rims. (The original Fiamme sew-up rims have been saved.) The hubs are wide flange Campagnolo Record. The pedals are the classic Campagnolo Stradas. Bars and stem are Cinelli. The centerpull brakes are Universal. The seatpost and bar shifters are also Campy. The bike is now in the care of our son, Anton."

Pictured above is Kathy Martinich's 1969 Cinelli (photos by Don Martinich).

Don's website is www.velovecchio.com

Don also has this photo of Spence and Lillian Wolfe at their Cupertino Bike Shop. They only dealt in quality lightweights and became West Coast (of U.S.A.) importers for Cinelli frames for many years. Spence was also a bike mechanic of "guru" stature and collaborated with the Phil Wood company on their component designs.


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

A Cinelli with a Racing History

CINELLI ONLY reader Norm writes in with his story 1969/1970 Cinelli and its restoration, serial number 6809:

"I acquired this 1969/1970 Cinelli SC from the second owner in 2006. He bought it used in 1973 from Doug Dale, the original owner who bought it in 1969 or 1970 from Kopp’s Cycles in Princeton, N. J. It had seen 36 years of hard use and neglect and was seriously rusty but it had most of its original parts and the price was right so I bought it hoping it could be saved.

It came with a Campagnolo Nuovo Record drive train, 36 hole low flange Record hubs, Nitor seat post, Unicanitor plastic saddle ( no leather ), Cinelli stem with 7 mm expander bolt and 12mm hex head binder, Giro D'Italia bars, and a Universal Model 61 brakeset. Supposedly the only non original part was the Pat 73 NR rear derailleur which replaced a Record steel derailleur as original.

I finally got to meet Doug Dale at this year's Longsjo race. There was a reunion of past champions and a public ride with the 70's Raleigh team. I signed up for the public ride and brought the Cinelli. Doug was a racer in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area as a college student in the mid 1960's when he became involved with Fritz Kuhn of Kopp's Cycles in Princeton, N. J. He described Fritz as a mentor. He got this bike through Fritz in 1969 or 70. He confirmed that it came from the factory as a complete bike and that I did indeed have the original components except for the steel Record derailleur which had been replaced by NR in 1973. He also talked about a few of the races he did with this bike and how he placed. Given this partial history I guess he was pretty good.

1970 1st Fitchburg Longsjo
1971 3rd Quebec to Montreal
1972 3rd US Nationals
1972 Olympic trials

Here is a clip from a note Doug sent me after the ride:

Dear Norm,
Thank you so much for making the effort to make that wonderfully restored bike part of the celebration. It was a moving experience for me to see it reincarnated to full majesty and in race readiness.... Howie ( John Howard ) was telling me about his collection too. But, I doubt his bikes could rival your Cinelli for total restoration which was darn near perfect. Again, thank you for resurrecting my speedy beast.
Doug Dale

The bike was refinished in February, 2007, by Bicycle Specialties (Mike Barry ) of Toronto, Canada; Mike Barry's painter at the time was Noah Rosen who is continuing the business as Velocolour. The parts which were replaced: rear derailleur, stem, front caliper, brake levers, pedals, clips, straps, wheels and freewheel."

Photos: 1969/1970 Cinelli

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