Who are we? We are our stories.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

1948? Galmozzi

This is the iconic picture of Gino Bartali shifting the Campagnolo Cambio Corsa shifter, possibly astride a Galmozzi, often his bicycle of choice. Bartali was a pretty decent rider. He won the Giro d'Italia three times and the Tour de France twice. He probably would have won more, but that inconvenient World War II intervened, then near the end of his career that pesky Fausto Coppi arrived on the scene. 

Below is a watercolor based on the photo. I would like to credit the artist, but such is the way of the internet, I don't know who painted it. I'll just have to give him a two thumbs up.










 
To the left is a copy of Tullio Campagnolo's drawings of the Cambio Corsa. Bear with me campers (or is it, "Bare with me"?) this will all come together eventually.

So much for the hors d'oeuvres, the appetizers. Now the main course, a late 1940's Galmozzi. We'll call it a 1948, as in 1949 the Cambio Corsa was superseded, or rather "joined",  by the single lever Paris-Roubaix. Whatever the age, it was old ... and rough.





Per Aldo Ross:
Gunnar, the two-lever Cambio Corsa continued in production after the introduction of the single-lever unit (not called Paris-Roubaix until after Coppi's win in 1950). The P-R shifter cost something like three times as much as the Cambio Corsa, thus could be sold as an economical alternative. The Cambio Corsa and P-R were both still being marketed even as Campagnolo introduced the Gran Sport derailleur, and were still being used on new bikes into the mid-1950s.



















                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
One can never have too many visual aids or pie charts (actually had a management consultant tell me that one time). Here's a video of a restoration of the above Galmozzi frame. You are permitted to skip ahead and come back to this, but be warned, it's worth a minute, 43 of your life, if only for the musical background.



Here's the results of the above work.


























Rory Mason found this when he was working for Cannondale in Europe and he is responsible for the beautiful restoration. Rory and I trace our relationship back to Dan Ulwelling who died in January of 2006. He was one of the finest men I have ever known.

The dessert? Today I bought this bicycle.

10 comments:

Skip Montanaro said...

Very cool. Did Ciöcc do the restoration?

Silk Hope said...

Never could figure out why he painted it and iconic Masi color.

Gunnar Berg said...

@Skip, Ciocc.

@Jack, People do what pleases themselves. I don't understand the World Championship stripes either. If I live long enough maybe I can put my stamp on it.

Whatever happened to your Gamba/Galmozzi project?

reverend dick said...

wow. That's cool. And I hope putting your stamp on it is code for riding the shit out of it.

Gunnar Berg said...

I have been advised by a a couple of old guys that I'll need to take yoga to reach the Cambio Corsa. But then C.S. says it's a 4-speed corncob freewheel so it's functionally almost a singlespeed anyway. Be fun to learn how to shift it. Loosen the top lever, backpedal as shifting with the lower lever, re-tighten the top leveler - all while reaching blind behind. How hard can it be?

George A said...

I'd probably wind up putting my fingers in the spokes of the rear wheel attempting to shift gears.

As for charts and graphs I advise post-docs that scientists should avoid presenting data in the form of exploding pie diagrams. That format is best left to business majors.

Brooks said...

Hi Gunnar -- Great bike! It should be fun trying to shift. Something I've always been interested to try.

Gunnar Berg said...

Mark Stonich said he would have get off to shift it; Tom Sanders said he got off just looking at it. (They are both off.)

Johann Rissik said...

Sweet pudding indeed. Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

That's one truly a special bike! Stunning, and nice to have the video of the restoration too. Keep me posted when you get her home.

Jonathon