---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

Italy's 7-time world champion sprinter Antonio Maspes was a rider who demanded a lot from the equipment that he used. In this rare photo he can be seen riding one of Faliero Masi's Special Pista. Circa late 50's.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

November 4, 1940: The famous pair line up for a match in which Fausto would win, just as he had won against 30 prior challenges.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

Rotterdam, 1973: Merckx holds off an attack by Netherlands' Piet De Wit.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

I've had some requests for more photos of my Gloria track bike so I've uploaded several pictures to the gallery portion of the site. Additional detailed photos will get uploaded as time allows.

The Gloria gallery can be seen at this link below:
http://chainedrevolution.com/CS/photos/terminaut/category1067.aspx

Once you click on any of the thumbnails, you can view larger sizes by selecting one of the larger "Alternate Sizes" from the menu on the side of the page.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

This is a page scanned from an old Reg Harris scrapbook assembled by a fan in the UK. Over his career, Reg would end up breaking the 1000-metre record a total of 5 times. These photos are from his first attempt.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

November 7th, 1942. Fausto Coppi rounds the bank at the Velodromo Vigorelli aboard his Legnano (there are some rumors it was built by Faliero Masi) for a successful attack on the hour record distance. At the end, he would set the new standard at 45.798km.




Below is a sampling of the lap times of interest:

1 km	01:17
2 km	02:36
3 km	03:53
4 km	05:12
5 km	06:30
10 km	13:02
15 km	19:35
20 km	26:08
Half Hour Mark	22.946km
25 km	32:41
30 km	39:14
35 km	45:47
40 km	52:19
45 km	58:51
Hour Mark	45.871 km, later corrected to 45.798 km

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

To help balance out all the Euro content lately, here are a couple of items from the good old US of A. These are very early Schwinn stems and are little different than the more familiar version which has the adjustable aluminum slider. Presumably, these are both products of Emil Wastyn's handiwork.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

Was out messing around a bit with my bikes and thought I'd throw a photo of my Gloria track bike on to the site. It's difficult for me to pick a favorite from my small stable of track bikes, but this bike would almost certainly be in the top three.

Although the bike hails from the 40's, its aggressive angles and short chain stays are more reminiscent of the 80's. This was almost definitely a sprinter's bike. The nickel finish and paintwork on the bike is mostly intact save for sporadic peppering of rust here and there. The current Cinelli bars and stem aren't quite period correct so if anybody out there has a great set of 40's Ambrosio Pista bars/stem they'd like to part with please get in contact. :-)


 

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

Two-for-one deal with today's POTD entry. Here's the one and only Eddy Merckx during his triumphant attempt at breaking the hour record distance (by riding 49.431 km in an hour).

Although adorned with Windsor stickers at the time, the actual bike used during the record is now well-known to be a highly custom Colnago Pista equipped with various parts of magnesium and titanium that were provided by Pino Morroni.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

Gloria La Garabaldina Extra badge	These are likely to be two of the most beautiful badges from the golden era of cycling. Even in these days of NAHBS, top end builders don't seem to go the distance to finish off their handiwork with a spectacular head badge that's both interesting and artistic. The two badges seen here are from the top-tier bikes of Gloria AMF and Cinelli, storied marquees from Italy with a rich racing heritage.
Cinelli Cambio Corsa badge

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

I've been having some Masi discussions offline today with a couple of folks so thought it'd throw in another Masi Pista photo. This is once again Jacques Anquetil but in this photo he's aboard a Faliero Masi track bike (despite his Helyette sponsorship) on a successful attempt at breaking the hour record in 1956.



Faliero must have been rather proud of this achievement and in a pleasant surprise, I found a Beriano / Masi ad inside a track program from Reg Harris' last race (when he retired in '57) that alludes to Anquetil's use of a Masi.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

In this rare photo a young Eddy Merckx is seen aboard what looks to be a Masi Pista with the faux twin-plate fork.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com

In his 1974 comeback, Reg Harris ("The Maestro") is temporarily behind Trevor Bull as they head down the back straight on the second ride of the British pro sprint championship final. Reg then makes the jump he is so famously known for and overtakes Trevor to win the title.

An interesting note about this photo is that the RRA bike Reg is riding had to be "reconstructed" since Reg had given away all or sold all of his RRA machines when he retired. The reason he chose to ride the "vintage" racer was not for nostalgia but rather that he felt its longer chainstays would hold the line better on the rough surface of the track. Anyways, the bars and stem had to be borrowed back from a friend as Reg insisted on using one of his custom made Raleigh setups (the stem's bar clamp is machined from a solid block of chrome-moly alloy). Such a stem was also used on my Masi Pista that was made for Reg, and is seen below.

---

http://www.chainedrevolution.com