Effectively right this moment marks the top of Faggin Week right here on the weblog:
Whereas I lastly bought a correct trip on it the opposite day, I bought an much more correct trip on it right this moment, with average climbs and descents and every little thing:
The bike might look its age after which some, but it surely seems like one million bucks, or extra precisely its pre-Euro equal, which might have been someplace round ITL3,000,000,000,000,000,000.
There’s an attract–dare I say a romance–to the Italian street bicycle that’s maybe extra highly effective than another. And naturally the biking cognascenti cogoscenti know-it-alls every have their favourite marque and builder and might determine from which Columbus tubing a motorbike is made just by licking it in addition to describe in nice element its trip attributes, as if their scranuses are as finely tuned devices as delicate as an oenophile’s tongue.
However how a lot of that’s truly the bike, and the way a lot of it’s as a result of we’re largely simply dumb anglophones? Whereas I think nearly all of basic Italian street bikes trip superbly, I additionally suspect the gorgeous method during which they trip is pretty indistinguishable, and that most individuals type their impressions and preferences about which Italian street bike they like finest primarily based largely on the identify and the paint. For instance, once I was first getting actually into street bikes, I assumed Ciöcces (or is it Ciöcci…? Like gnocci…?) have been extremely cool:
[Via Classic Cycle]
I didn’t know a factor about them, besides that the identify had three “c” and an umlaut in it and was utterly unpronounceable, which I discovered beguiling. And that was sufficient. In truth, I think the unpronounceability of Italian street bike names accounts for at the very least 50% of their attract:
[Seen at Jersey Cycles]
I imply it’s an actual magnificence, however the identify with a bunch of additional letters you don’t pronounce actually takes it excessive.
So would a rose by another identify scent as candy? Think about the Cervino, which is in reality primarily a Viner, however bears a model identify most individuals right this moment now affiliate with low cost mountain bikes at Dick’s Sporting Items:
It definitely does scent as candy in that it additionally rides superbly, however due to the Nishiki decal the uninitiated twenty first century cyclists merely mistake it for an outdated crappy 10-speed–and there’s a sure satisfaction in that, for less than you already know that you just’re using round with a Viner between your legs.
Journey protected this weekend, thanks for studying, and please settle for my apologies for the Viner puns. However they ain’t stopping anytime quickly.
