Whilst at the Rouleur London show I stopped by the Colnago stand , and managed to get around the limited edition Colnago C64 Disc Gold Private Collection…
One of only 64 C64 Gold Private Collection models , to celebrate Mr Colnago’s 86 th birthday and 64 years of the Colnago company , only available via the factory at roughly £15,000 .
The most advanced of the ‘C’ range yet , with wider tyre clearance and disc brakes …
While attending L’Eroica Gaiole , Italia 2018 , I had the pleasure of bumping into my friend , Mr Marco Gios again at his family stall ….
Marco’s father , the Legendary Aldo Gios was also there …
some fantastic examples of Gios bikes at the stall too
And this custom built for a friend of mine…
Marco also had a modern example of Gios design , a gravel bike , which he kindly let me test briefly …
Disc brake set up , carbon forks and a Columbus steel frame , quite striking I thought with the blue and orange decor.
Also of note are the wooden rims on the wheels , I met an ex pro who used to compete on steel , he said he used wooden rims on Paris Roubaix as they helped absorb the cobbles , so handy on the Strada Bianca then!
This years festival was a little different , I got a little ‘behind the scenes’ action .
Instead of riding , I helped my good friend on his stall , and catching up with everyone …
My good friend Beppe , proprietor of the best stall of the festival … here with fellow trader , colleague and friend , Matteo….
Some of the treasure in Beppe and Matteo’s corner …
An Art Decor Colnago C35
A rare Ortelli , made by ex rider Vito Ortelli from Faenza , Vito taught Masi and Cinelli how to build frames …
A Cinelli Pista and Super Corsa …
I also managed to see my friend Paolo at his stall , full of prestige vintage treasure , here with a rare Colnago C35 MTB…
Paolo also had this show stopping Colnago Oval CX ….
And this very rare Colnago Mexico ‘Moscow’ Crono bike , the only Mexico produced with ribs inside chain stays …
plenty of treasure on other stalls in the market too .. like this F Moser Crono 
I said ‘Hi!’ to the organisers of Eroica , the founder , Mr Giancarlo Brocci ….
legendary Mr W N Hakateyaman …
Seen again here with my good friend and colleague from Retro Velo Romania , Alexandru
And Mr Amedeo Polito..
Also caught up my friend Joshua , (far right) who has arguably one of the best life / work balances I know , Campagnolo global communications , and who very kindly introduced me to Mr Davide Campagnolo , the third generation of his family running the legendary prestige Italian cycling components brand ….
Joshua also kindly introduced me to the author of legendary derailleur blog http://www.disraeligears.co.uk , Mr Mike Sweatman , with whom my legendary colleague Alexandru had a great chat over beer with …
Alexandru and I working hard …
I also had the pleasure of seeing Mr Marco Gios and his father Aldo , of Gios bikes ,,,
At the Gios stand a new gravel bike was on display , which Marco let me ‘ test ‘ …
Also attending the festivities was the legendary Mr Irio Tommasini …
It was fantastic talking with him ,he spoke of the Super Prestige model , we talked about the Diamanté model with it’s asymmetric Columbus MS tubing , Mr Tommasini also spoke of his regard for U.S.A builder Mr Richard Sachs , and for my friend Simone , Mr Alberto Masi’s frame builder and business partner , I asked if young Simone is “the new Mario Confente” , to which Mr Tommasini replied ” Simone is better, more dynamic ”
This is Simone D’Urbino T’omby , the youngest artisan frame builder in Italy at just 22 , he started learning his trade aged 10 from the late , great , Mr Dario Pegoretti …
The day of the ride , it was raining when we started opening up Beppe’s stall at around 6 am , by around 9 am , things were better ….Even though I was not riding , I still had a great time , down for 2019 Eroica Gaiole certainly .
I met this great bunch of characters at Eroica Gaiole 2018 , real good energy , Team Crit riders now sponsored by Cinelli
They have a great YouTube channel , including this one with a Nun , I got the Nun to bless me before the above photo …
While at Eroica Gaiole in Chianti 2018 , I got the chance to meet Mr Irio Tommasini , the legendary frame builder , pictured here with another legend , Mr Mike Sweatman of the renowned vintage derailleur blog http://www.disraeligears.co.uk …,
I managed to speak to Mr Tommasini again later on , and he told me (among other things) of his high regard for Richard Sachs of U.S.A. , and my friend Simone , partner of Alberto Masi , and at just 22 years of age , Italy’s youngest artisan frame builder …..
I was fortunate to meet Mr Colnago again in 2017 , here pictured in his museum….
I’d been after a Pogliaghi bike for quite a while . Known as ” The Tailor of Bicycles ” , Sante Pogliaghi was a renowned artisan frame builder from Milan .
The Pogliaghi brand was bought by Rossin in the late ’80’s , and this Pogliaghi Lampo SLX circa 1989 is Rossin era , with a lot of similarities to the top of the line Rossin Ghibli SLX , pictures are from when bike was found , in Belgium ….
Found on the internet , an old school documentary film featuring Mr Colnago talking about his build and design process ….
This is a late example of the legendary Colnago Nuovo Mexico frame set
Has Colnago stamp on the top of the bottom bracket shell …
And rounded Colnago stamped seat stay caps , which post date the first circa ’84 Nuovo Mexico ( flat stamped stay caps )
And the iconic 4 ribbed down tube ….
I source a Campagnolo Rally Triple crank set , as I intended to use the bike on the hills in Chianti , at L’ Eroica Gaiole …
And later found a near mint 2 nd generation Campagnolo Rally Triple rear derailleur …
Bottle cage is Specialities TA , with a white cap …
I used a Concor saddle and high flange hubs on the wheelset
The bike performed really well at Gaiole , with the triple crank set , I didn’t have to walk up any inclines
Managed to find a Cinelli ‘The Machine’ frame set , Columbus Max OR tubes , with Campagnolo Euclid Headset ….
frame set had quite a lot of wear ….
which addressed with a rattle can spray …
I mounted a 1st gen Campagnolo Euclid MTB gruppo …
almost finished …
