In the seventies, we had a good number of regular visitors to our shop on King Street in downtown Toronto. One of the regulars was a Frenchman, named Jean, who visited…
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Praderio. Gallarate, Italy. 1950
Gino Bartali’s frustrations with the Italian back-peddling derailleurs encouraged him to approach the Vittoria Company, makers of the Margherita derailleur, and propose that he finance the production of a derailleur…
Restoration Feature: A Ride On My Gios
In April the thoughts of the tifosi turn to the spring classics. The cobbled classic, Paris Roubaix would have been run last weekend if it hadn’t been cancelled due…
Shifting Gears: A brief history of derailleurs
Multiple gears, whether they are the internal hub variety or the derailleur, are the most complex mechanisms on bicycles. An internal hub gear can be interesting enough, but to fully…
Restoration Feature: 1970s Chris Chance Road Bicycle, USA
The Chris Chance frame we recently restored was built in the late 70’s by Chris. The story goes, that he built a couple of frames and then traveled across the…
Cinelli Laser. Italy, 1984
A short time after Antonio Colombo took over the management of the Columbus bicycle company, he introduced the Cinelli Laser, the design of which is revolutionary. Although the changes were…
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Velo de Ville. 1946, France.
A typical French city bicycle of the period with 650B wheels, demi ballon tires, Alex C Singer brakes, Simplex “Tour de France” three speed derailleur, alloy fenders and chainguard, Radios…
Vintage Bicycle Feature: c1960s Cinelli Pista Track Bicycle
Specifications: Serial number: 3312 Size: Seat Tube: 55 cm Centre to Centre, 56.4 cm Centre to Top. Top Tube: 56 cm Centre to Centre. Finish: Black with Chrome head…
Vintage Bicycle Feature: 1938 Bates ‘Volante’ Track Bicycle
Bates is one of the most highly regarded of the English lightweight frame builders. The company became famous for its racing successes of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s but it…
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Gardin. Canada, 1983.
Joe Gardin came to Canada from Italy as a young boy. He settled in Toronto and later established successful business manufacturing material handing equipment. But Joe’s passion was cycling and…
Vintage Bicycle Feature: c1968 Cinelli S.C.
Cinelli Bicycles was founded in 1948 by Cino Cinelli, (born in Montespertoli, Italy, 9 February 1916, died 20 April 2001), a former professional road racer and president of the Italian…
Vintage Bicycle Feature: CCM Flyers
An excerpt from A Life With Bicycles by Mike Barry. Photography by Walter Lai The Canadian Cycle and Motor Company was formed in 1898 through the amalgamation of several smaller…