Funny how so many people think "if it's good enough for $Random_Motorized_Vehicle, it is surely good enough for a bicycle". Like a bicycle is something of a lower technological level than a machine that runs on fossil fuel.

It is not. The level of efficiency required for a bicycle staggers the imagination. The human engine is a engineers nightmare: high, irregular force, low speed and almost no power. Motorized vehicles have plenty of energy to spend, and engines which behave much better.

This is why good bicycles are at the highest level of innovation allowed by the UCI (*f##k* them), or higher if compliance is not required. Cyclists know this. Motor guys don't, and regularly come up with solutions that work fine in a car or motorcycle, but simply suck on a bicycle. Shaft drive is the classic example.

In this bicycle it is less obvious, but I see several things that look like a nice new idea, but will not work well. They say the classic headset is a bad construction, but their alternative is almost a braking parachute. Same for the placing of the back wheel. And wheels without a quick release are just plain stupid if you don't invent the unflattable tyre at the same time.

So sad his record was waived at a much later date because he didn't do it the Eddy Merckx-way...

Neither did Merckx.

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http://djconnel.blogspot.com/
Fuji SL/1
Send your data to Weight Weenie listings!

My inlaws gave me "The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles" also by Jan Heine. The craftsmanship that these builders had was amazing. I wasn't aware of "The Competition Bicycle," but will definitely be checking that book out as well.

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KirkLee Bicycles | Frame Repairs | Austin, TX

Some info on the Merckx 1974 5.5 kg bike, from EC himself:

CN: The story of Merckx's World Hour Record and the special bike you built is so interesting, even 32 years later. How did it all come about?

EC: Even today, it's hard to imagine how much work we put into building those two bicycles... in those days, the tubing was 6/10 to 4/10 wall thickness. A guy like Merckx, who weighed 72kg., 1m85cm high with incredible power, well, to build a superlight bicycle for someone like that took a lot of courage. I lightened everything; the cranks, drilled out the chain, because we wanted the lightest material and well, you couldn't buy a Regina Extra chain with holes drilled in it! So the bike ended up weighing just over 5.5kg.

Do you realize that the tubular tires we used, the Clement number 1 Pista, weighed 90 gr. for the front and 110 gr. for the rear! No one else could have put this bike together. For example, no one in Italy could weld titanium, so I went to Pino Morroni in Detroit, America to weld the special lightweight titanium stem for Merckx's Hour Record bicycle.

_________________
http://djconnel.blogspot.com/
Fuji SL/1
Send your data to Weight Weenie listings!

I have several memories of the 1988 World championship in Ronse. One was keeping very quiet at the finish lest some of the Belgian fans assumed I was Canadian . . .

Another was about half way through the race when my friend and I came across the pit stop as we walked the course. Life was a little more relaxed in those days, and we were allowed to pick up Laurent Fignon's spare bike. We looked at each other in puzzlement: the pros had the lightest and best of everything didn't they? We were agreed: his System U bike weighed a ton (well, 22 pounds at least). This compared with 19 pounds and a few ounces for my 6 speed TT bike. Now an extra chainring, front mech and down tube lever doesn't weigh 3 pounds, so what was going on? The only conclusion we could come to was that that either Fignon didn't care, or that he cared a great deal . . .

Since then, I've always assumed that pro bikes are as light as they need to be, but no lighter.

On the Merckx hour record bike, it's interesting that some of the minor details vary on different sources.
According to Bike Cult, Merckx used 200g Nisi rims (not Fiamme) and the frame was a combination of Reynolds and Columbus PL steel

http://www.bikecult.com/bikecultbook/sp ... sHour.html

Vietto was riding an aluminium frame ... not steel. They had a lot of breakages with that frame.

Regarding bicycle history.

Speedplay has an online BICYCLE PEDAL HISTORY MUSEUM with a time line starting all the way back in the 1860's:
Quill/Platform Pedal Gallery and Time Line: http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuse ... seum.quill
Toe Clips, Toe Straps and Shoe Cleats Gallery: http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuse ... eum.straps
Clipless Road Pedal Gallery and Time Line: http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuse ... m.clipless
MTB Specific Pedal Gallery and Time Line: http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuse ... museum.mtb