Bit more about Paavo's new business here.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
More Erik Salumäe
Lefa got inspired by my post yesterday and took a dive into his cycling book collection and found more original photos of Erika Salumäe with her Cinelli Laser Pista. Go here to see more of his scans.
Also, the Ebay auction of the said frameset which already had bids on it at around 4000 USD got pulled down all of a sudden yesterday. Just a coincidence?
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Erika Salumäe's Cinelli Laser Pista
This Cinelli Laser Pista, which is currently up on Ebay from a French seller, earns its serious OMG WTF status for two reasons:
1.) Cinelli Laser Pista is pure awesomeness and extremely rare, but of course you all know that.
2.) However, the crazy thing here is that there's an old bike shop sticker on the frame indicating that the frame was originally imported from Italy and sold by some long forgotten LBS in Kotka, Finland, of all places. Kotka is a small coastal harbor town in the southeastern Finland and certainly not known as a cycling city. Also there's never been a velodrome or anything like that there.
So who was the shop-owner Mr. Matti A. Salomaa, why did he have a Cinelli Laser Pista in his shop, who originally bought it and rode it, and how it ended up in its current location in Villeneuve le Comte in France?
Also, was this the only one he had or was there maybe more, and is there possibly another one like that hidden somewhere in here? Questions, questions...
Edit.
Ok, the plot thickens. Anon just pointed out that the frame is actually being sold by Velorama.
In the description in french they pose the questions that since there is a vague number 3 inscribed in the BB shell, could the frame be the third Laser Pista ever made? Also they claim that the mentioned sticker is an address of an Finnish velodrome but that's just wrong. It's the original importer/seller LBS's sticker.
Edit 2.
Ok, turns out kid_scientific was faster than me and contacted the LBS's owner and here's what he said:
The last time the shop had been in contact with Cinelli was in the late 1980s. The frame in question is probably the one that was special ordered via the shop from Cinelli for the Estonian track cyclist Erika Salumäe, who according to Wikipedia "won the first Olympic gold medal for Estonia after the country regained its independence in 1991.
Salumäe won gold medal in track cycling in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, competing for the USSR team and in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, competing for Estonia. From 1981 to 1989, she won 10 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze medals in the World Championships"
It seems very likely to me that this was the very frame she rode for the ladies gold medal in Seoul in 1988, I mean it's a damn Cinelli Laser Pista so it needs to be the fastest bike there is, right? So now you know.
Thanks to Konkeli for digging up the clip.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Congratulations Tampere! -> Tampereen Fillarilähetit
Paavo did it. Probably the most northernmost bicycle courier service in the world Tampereen Fillarilähetit starts operating on December 9th 2010, in Tampere Finland of course. Fast and Ecological and yes, they do deliver during the winter months too. Way to go!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Seen In Amsterdam
I visited Amsterdam last weekend and among the many strange and facinating things I saw and experienced, besides meeting the almost mythical bike messenger legend of Finnish origin Hattara, this thing somehow really struck me as bit special. What is it, look at all the details, it is like a Dutch tricktrack-commuter bike or what?
I also visited Pristine Fixed Gear boutique. I didn't buy any colorful fixie components but they served really excellent coffee in the upstairs of the shop. Go there if you're in town.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Un Giro Di Sporco Sud 2010
Un Giro di Sporco Sud - The Film from Martin Lang on Vimeo.
"Un Giro di Sporco Sud 2010 - The Film
On April 24th 2010 the bike race »Un Giro di Sporco Sud« took place on countryside roads between Höör and Malmö in southern Sweden. 90 brave riders took part and started in the early morning. Almost as many as rode the whole 110 kilometres."
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
KRNKY World Domination Starts Now!
It was about time. KRNKY is finally ready to start shipping their goodies almost worldwide:
"Much interest towards KRNKY goods has been shown from all around the globe and you have been asking us to open our store to more and more countries. Now it’s time for USA, Canada, Japan and Australia! Shipping costs are 13€ per parcel and all international orders are shipped registered with a tracking code."
Look here for more: http://krnky.com/
(And no, they don't sell bikes, at least not yet at the moment. That's just Tuukka's Pelago prototype with a KRNKY sticker in it.)
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Corima X Mack Collabo
Corima X Mack collabo AKA Arrodynamic Crabon Hipster Wheel. One of a kind too, 'cos it's handbuilt by yours truly. Mack hub on Corima Aero 24h full carbon clincher rim with DT Swiss Revolution spokes. Took me ages to finish this but I'm quite happy how it turned out. Thanks to Konkeli for the rim and inspiration for the project.
And in case someone else is building with the same rim I used 574 ERD to calculate the spoke length, which is not what Corima officially tells you to use but you need to calculate some extra for the upside down nipples.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Pentabike Handlebar Muststash
I just got a word that there are still some of these fantastic items available, if you're into this type of thing...
