Author: saarf

Colnago Tecnos 1996

Colnago Tecnos 1996

Finally managed to get one of these , with the help of my friend , legendary Colnago collector and enthusiast , from Eindhoven , Mr Maurice Wiels , man , owe him a tall beer or too for helping a brother out .

The frame is in the iridescent purple/pink and metallic grey , with hints of blue and green .

I have read in a number of places and been told by fellow owners it was the lightest steel frame Colnago made , with an advisory rider weight limit of 80kg .

Came with a mixed Shimano group , the wheels are Mavic SUP ceramic rims on Dura Ace 7700 hubs , so I will keep them and change the other parts to suit .

Ally Capellino X Saarf

Bike/Gear Reviews, For Sale

I had the amazing good fortune to have been able to meet Legendary London bag designer Ally Capellino back in 2017 when I was a bicycle courier .

I arrived at her Shoreditch shop and atelier , with a delivery for her , and gave it directly to her.

A very nice Lady , who generously gave me time for a chat .

I said I had been to her Soho shop back in the late ‘80’s / early ‘90’s , bought a jersey top and admired her fine bags . We spoke about her doing some stylish bike bags , as I felt they would be brilliant , given her attention to detail and use of high quality materials in manufacture .

I said I had a few creative projects I’m trying to get off the ground , and we kept in contact on social media .

Fast forward to this year , and Ally dropped me a line , saying she has another cycle orientated bag range , and would I like one to test.

Naturally , I said yes , and a few days later , the wonderful Pendle unisex shoulder bag arrived ….

The Ally Capellino Pendle shoulder bag

Made with a waterproof Cordura outter , it is robust enough to use daily as a commuter / town bag .

I can fit a D Lock , water bottle , keys , wallet and energy snacks in with ample room ….

The bag has a zipped front pocket with seals , a rear with velcro fastening , a zipped inner pocket and a mesh wall with two pockets . The interior material is rip stop , which is great as it stops any unforeseen tears spreading .

The shoulder strap is made from Duck Cotton , so is soft and non abrasive against thinner material jerseys or skin , and splits in two with a robust clasp

The strap is attached at a 45 degree angle on the bag , so has a pretty much ergonomic fit to the torso .

Ally has named each bag in the Travel and Cycle range after cyclists significant to her. The unisex Pendle shoulder bag is named after British Olympic Hero , Victoria Pendleton .

Ally Capellino has very , very generously given you lucky readers a chance to win your very own Pendle bag , click the link below and enter .

Move as quickly as Victoria , as the competition closes on July 5th.

https://www.allycapellino.co.uk/pages/competition-ally-capellino-x-julian-saarf

In the Travel and Cycle collection is a fabulous ‘tote’ bag , the Saarf , one can only imagine what this Saarf character is like ….

Saarf Travel And Cycle Tote in Black

Tommasini Monte Amiata Mountain Bike

Tommasini Monte Amiata MTB

 

As I said in an earlier post , last year I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the Tommasini bicycle factory , in Grosseto , Tuscany , Italy .

While I was being given a tour of the premises by Don Irio Tommasini’s daughter Barbara , I saw a beautiful mint condition Monte Amiata Mountain Bike , with original Shimano Deore XT group…

A Columbus Cromor OR frame , with Tommasini cut out lug work . It is like museum condition .

 

I had been thinking about it for some time , almost a year , then , Don Irio allowed me to buy it , and I imported it to London …

 

saarf.london on tour , Eroica Gaiole 2019

Races and Events

I managed to attend this years Eroica Gaiole , thanks to the hospitality of my Danish friend Claus ( aka Velo Claus ) , founder of Team Patelli Denmark and a sponsor of Eroica South Africa .

I arrived late on Friday , after being foolish enough to miss time my leaving home for the airport , but all was good in the end

The Saturday was spent catching up with friends and meeting Legends .

I caught up with Srs Aldo and Marco Gios on their stall with my good friend Dave , who just had an exact replica of Roger De Vlaminck’s own Gios , painstakingly hand made by Mr Aldo Gios himself , the Gios family still take commissions for bespoke frames …

Dave told that Mr De Vlaminck cut the ends off his Campagnolo pedals to get the tension he wanted with feet in the cages …

Mr Davide Campagnolo was present , with his family brand , Campagnolo sponsor Eroica ..

I had a wander around the worlds greatest vintage bike market and went to see my well regarded friend , one of the most established vintage traders Beppe on his stall .

Beppe is a well connected man , who knows many of the Italians involved in the industry from past to present , and whilst at his stall , I had the honour of meeting the man who made the mythical Cinelli Laser bikes , Mr Andrea Pesenti .

The Legend arrived with his own bike , and very kindly gave me a few minutes to talk about it ….

Staggering piece of work , best bike of the festival for me , fillet brazed , under bb rear brake calliper mount , internal cable routing , integrated seat post , and aero tubes .

I walked back into the main square area and then had the good fortune to bump into Mr Federico Stanzani , with whom I have become friends after he told me ride this Cinelli Laser Tandem through Gaiole in 2016

Federico is the Columbus brand manager ,

And he said Mr Antonio Colombo himself , owner of the brands Columbus and Cinelli , was at the festival for the promotion of the centenary edition Columbus Steel tube set. I had actually met Mr Colombo in his Milano art gallery back in 2016…

I left Federico and was wandering around again when I walked straight into Mr Antonio Colombo … I was stunned when he said he remembered me …

Was really good to talk with him and his partner , who is instrumental in design for the Cinelli Winged store . I said I had seen Mr Pesenti earlier , to get a photo of the two of them with the Laser bike would have been pretty much historical .

My friend Simone won a prize for the Masi he built , he told me he took a month and a half to finish it , hand made bike usually take a week .

Simone is the youngest artisan bicycle builder in Italy currently , with a fascinating narrative .

When he was 10 he knew he wanted to build bike frames , so knocked on the door of the late , great legend Dario Pegoretti , who told him to watch him weld .

Simone is now Masi frame builder , working with Mr Alberto Masi at the atelier in Milano , Simone actually works at the late Mario Confente’s bench , and honours him in his work by implementing the Spade symbol .

Here is a Masi Stradivari , hand made by Simone and owned by a Japanese rider , shots taken on the ride , when the Gent’s chain had snapped ..

Some of the other gems seen…

Sunday was ride day …

With blessings from legend , friend and Eroica Global Man Amedeo at the start , we were off to a good ride …

Our group included Iron Man contestant Jean and Jens , a Team Molteni Denmark founder member .

Patelli is an old established artisan frame builders from Bologna , Claus had an aero model

And Jean had an earlier model , also equipped with Cambio Rina…

Vastly underrated , Cambio Rina was practically the best performing Italian gruppo of it’s era .

I rode a 1985 Colnago Nuovo Mexico , with a 1st gen Campagnolo Rally triple crankset , a 2nd gen Rally rear mech , and the rest 2nd gen Super Record

oi

As I was riding later I managed to face plant , not paying attention to riding , ( easy to be distracted by the beauty around ) , but still finished

with another flash of genius , I managed to get to the airport too late and missed another flight , so stayed in Pisa then flew the next day .

Another magical Eroica , the brand has spread it’s wings world wide , looking forward to many more ..,

Eroica 500 @ Eroica Britannia 2019

Races and Events

I recently attended the U.K. Eroica event , held by Eroica Britannia organisers , the 500 .

Instead of the usual 3 day festival , The Eroica 500 took place for one day only , Sunday the 18th of August , riding out from Bakewell for a scenic 65 mile ride around the surrounding Peak District .

I rode on my circa 1985 Colnago Nuovo Mexico , in the company of legend Doctor D

Eroica globetrotter Mr Amedeo Polito was present , always a pleasure to see , and it was nice to meet the U.K. organisers . True Eroica enthusiasts , they started riding Eroica in Chianti back in 2004 , and managed to secure U.K. rights to run an event in 2016

The region is an excellent choice to host the event , and I look forward to riding the next event .

The start at Bakewell , I managed to be possibly the only one to post there number on the front of jersey , I was always backwards …

I found this on the Eroica 500 gallery

The Tommasini Factory …

Mr Tommasini

I was in Tuscany recently , and for my birthday , a good friend arranged for me to visit the Tommasini factory .

I had met Mr Irio Tommasini previously , and we talked about his builds , the type of steels he used and who in the current sphere of artisan frame builders he liked …

On this occasion I was unable to see him as he was attending matters on his olive farm , instead , I was fortunate to meet his two daughters , Roberta and Barbara …

The bike in hand is the iconic ‘Diamanté model , named by Roberta on the right , because that is what she saw in the multi shape tubes ..

I was given a tour of the factory very kindly by Barbara , a lady of in-depth knowledge of the science of frame building , fascinating to talk to , aware of geometry , physics and able to predict a frames performance from it’s movement , like a professor ….the gentleman bellow is involved in the iconic frame painting process …

Forks and frames , Tommasini provides restoration services to older frames ..

As well as tailor made frames , a prime example of serendipity striking , at that moment one of Tommasini’s highly skilled in-house frame builders was actually working on Barbara’s personal gravel bike frame ….

Barbara also explained the Tommasini ethos to me .

Irio Tommasini has selected the best of the best to work in the in house production process , all are long serving staff , numbers have applied to work within , but only those that reached Mr T ‘ s exacting standards got accepted .

Only the highest grades of Italian steels , aluminium and titanium are used to produce the frames , no carbon ones are produced as Tommasini are unable to source Italian material .

The lugs are produced in house … one of the latest model , steel framed gravel bike , the , the ‘ fire ‘..

This an anniversary edition Super Prestige made from Columbus SLX steel , only 10 more will be made

It was an unforgettable birthday experience , a chance to see behind the scenes of an iconic artisan’s factory , and learn so much about what it takes to understand the true art of fine frame building , many , many thanks again.

Happy Birthday Mr Colnago

Mr Colnago

I was blessed to have been invited to the London unveiling of a very , very special road bike ….

Made in honour of Mr Ernesto Colnago ‘s 87 th birthday ,

A one of a kind Colnago ‘ 87 ‘ , a 24 carat gold plated 2nd generation Colnago Arabesque , with Campagnolo 50 th anniversary gruppo …

I managed to wish Mr Colnago happy birthday …

And thanked Mr Alex Colnago …

And I managed to meet the Steve McQueen of pro cycling , Mr Giuseppe ‘ Beppe ‘ Saronni ,

Happy Birthday Mr Colnago , thanks for the joy you bring !

Colnago C64 Disc Gold Private Collection

Dream bikes and frames

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 …

Mr and Mr Gios

Mr Gios

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!