Sunglasses for cycling appeared around the 1880’s. To trace the origins of modern cycling eyewear, we must go back to a time when the bones of animals covered the eyes of hunters, to reduce the glare of bright white snow. The history of sunglasses begins with Inuit “sun goggles”. Carved from the bone of the animals that the inuit hunted, these sun goggles were made around two thousand years ago. Strips of hand hewn bone covered the eyes, furnished with thin slits to see through. Another remote testimony on the problem of protecting the eyes from sunlight was written by Pliny the Elder, who in ..read more

Bianchi X4 Serial Numbers Bianchi X4 serial numbers, is there a list? This is the most asked question on Velo Aficionado. You can help answer this question by submitting your Bianchi X4 serial number below. Here are the top 6 reasons why Bianchi X4 owners ask about serial numbers. Can my Bianchi X4 serial number help identify my X4? What year and date was my Bianchi Specialissima X4 produced? How many Bianchi X4’s were made and how many in each year of production. This question is linked to how rare Bianchi X4’s really are? How many of a certain type were produced and over what timefr ..read more

During the 1970’s if you visited the right north Italian village in the vicinity of the Campagnolo factory, you could sit yourself down at the local barber shop, get a hair cut and shave then purchase unauthorised, home made Campagnolo components. Campagnolo parts with the words Campagnolo, Super Record, Nuovo Record,  or BREV.INT. cast into their silver coloured lightweight alloys. Yet the home made components, almost as rare as defective postage stamps stand out as the discordant cousins to their factory worked counterparts.  This barber was not your run of the mill scissor w ..read more

Cycling safety is always an issue when riding on public streets, you never know when a car will appear from nowhere and smack you into the tarmac.  Joe at the Melbourne bike show shortly after his red and white Faema styled bikes were completed. Already forming a bond with the Merckx inspired Faema styled Frezoni. Photo by Evelyn Cosgrove Just after Christmas 2014 Joe Cosgrove called. Joe told me he'd been run over on Christmas day morning by a motorist who was in a hurry to get to a Christmas party. Early in the morning the driver failed to notice Joe, the driver should have given way t ..read more

  PART TWO of the interview with Frank Boifava from Carrera Pro Cycling. PART ONE of the Carrera Cycling Team interview. THAT SHIMANO GUY IN SWITZERLAND A SHIMANO REP APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE, IT’S THE MIDDLE OF THE 1980’S IN A EUROPE WHERE TEAM MECHANICS SPEAK CAMPAGNOLO ONLY You became an unwitting accomplice to a stalker from Shimano, when everyone was still using Campagnolo.  The first time I saw this Japanese guy was in Switzerland. We were at a race and I was working on a bicycle changing a cable, I'd thrown the cable on the ground, you do that to keep the workflow going a bit qu ..read more

Magistroni bicycle components, the leviathan of Italian cycling manufacturing industries. No one could ever have imagined the demise of this legendary bike parts company.  The failed Officine Meccaniche di Vedano Al Lambro, Magistroni crankset. At Coff's Harbour in banana country New South Wales Australia, a black and chrome spinning symbol, representing the end of a giant amongst north Italian manufacturing firms, is kept on display in the office of a local bike collector. The story of this Magistroni crankset sounds too good to be true, a cycling fable. The custom c ..read more

Handmade, custom racing bicycles. Built in Zurich by Leo Estermann. The story of the famous Swiss bike frame builder. Cycles Estermann Zurich was founded by Leo Estermann in about 1939, by 1960 the workshop was located behind Restaurant Felsenberg in Seebach, Zurich Switzerland. Leo Estermann built his bespoke racing frames for elite riders as well as discerning customers who required a custom built frame, initially building lugged frames and probably progressed to the fillet brazed work when the fad for funny bikes began to take hold in the late 1970's. Leo Estermann was also President of Vel ..read more

Geoff Scott custom frame builder of Gefsco and Clamont bikes, in Brisbane for Pushies Galore 2015. Geoff Scott builds custom bicycles from his workshop in Camden. His reputation for building Gefsco custom bikes lead to building Clamont bicycles.  Geoff Scott’s reputation as a custom frame builder is as closely linked to the successes of Australian cycle sport, as the race wins of the riders who raced his bikes. Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medals were won on Geoff’s bikes, some built in his shed at Camden New South Wales. When Geoff first started building custom bikes they were br ..read more

Pushies Galore 2015 Bianchi Specialissima X4 from Cologne, winner of the road bike category. No sheep stations here! Bianchi SPECIALISSIMA X4 SPX year build 1988, Road Bike Of The Year at Pushies Galore 2015 Pushies Galore 2015 is done and dusted. This year is the first time I'd brought along some of my own bikes to enter into the Pushies Galore show 'n' shine. Two Bianchi Specialissima X4's, the Bianchi Specialissima X4 Piaggio team bike and a totally original Bianchi X4 that had been kept in almost new condition since 1988. It's a fun day out at Pushies and entering a bike into the show 'n ..read more

Roberto Maspes was one very lucky bike racing kid. Roberto's dad Antonio Maspes established himself as a mid twentieth century Italian track cycling powerhouse, known for his prowess as a sprinter. Maspes won seven world sprint championships between 1955 and 1964, including the world championship of 1962, won on his home track the ever enduring Velodromo Vigorelli. Around the time when Antonio Maspes won his world championship in Milano, Maspes commissioned the building of probably the most exclusive junior bike ever made. Roberto Maspes' junior bike has the ..read more