'Fake ' Pro riders bikes

It's a common themes across other sports to be honest, many pro cricketers use there favourite cricket bat models re-branded with their sponsors bat stickers.

Barry Hoban's 'Merciers' were Woodrups. He came home in the Autumn with a couple of sets of Mercier decals and went back in the Spring with some new 'Mercier' frames.

Luis Ocana rode Speedwell titanium frames badged as Motobecane for TT's and mountain stages.

Apparantly back in the eighties all the Dawes racing teams bikes were resprayed Gazelles.

vivelesalpes":1nyiybf9 said:

Apparantly back in the eighties all the Dawes racing teams bikes were resprayed Gazelles.

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not true, some were for a season

Sorry I stand corrected 'some' of the bikes were.

I was speaking to the guy who sprayed them yesterday.

Hi everyone, nice post I always followed the belief "that gold is gold" nothing else is the genuine article. For me (someone who knows little of who built what for whom) the gap between a decent bike and the best there is, lies in the actual quality of materials used.

I don't know anyone (yet) who has crashed because of a bad frame builder, Dodgy materials, yes, Bad design, yes. Never heard of 531 tubing failing on a regular basis, or any other tubing for that matter (exceptions being the crap stuff used in mass production).

I was quite baffled when I asked about my Bonavia last year, and it got sort of short shrifted, yet it is immaculately put together with 531 tubing and excellent geometry. I think what I'm saying is "without the framebuilder & his knowledge, all things good or bad about a frame would be pointless, ie not exist, since the framebuilders often controlled what was designed in new stuff".

Early Campagnolo parts have a proven longevity. Likewise High end Reynolds tubing, high end Columbus Tubing etc. Ultimately the pro's ride the best bikes that can be built for them specifically, the best framebuilders use the best materials available, then kit them out with the best parts. Sponsors simply use the pro's to get attention for their name, hence this mishmash of brand names attributed to bikes.

I look for nice looking lugs, neat joins, good tubes, good geometry, reliability in that mix, and the brand is then upto the rider. Myself I rarely brand, just use paint and the odd Campagnolo sticker, that's it. The rest is just free advertising for whoever gets their name on the bike. Later everyone, yours Laz.

I have two bikes that were custom-built by Ugo De Rosa for pros, one being built in late 1967 for the 1968 season and the other built in 1968 for the personal use of the pro. One is decaled as a Chiorda (the sponsor of the Salvarani team) and the other is decaled as a De Rosa. If you compare the two they are almost identical. They both have the same twin plate fork crown with round fork blades, the same lugs with heart cut-outs, same BB shell with 6 cut-outs, the same brazed on male-type water bottle braze-ons and drop-outs that have been filed down in a similar manner. The similarity is visible to anybody. One is however a Chiorda built by De Rosa, whereas the other is De Rosa by De Rosa. Even Ugo De Rosa described the Salvarani bike as being a Chiorda that he built.

I have likewise spoken to other builders who have "ghost-built" frames for others and they all seem to refer to the bikes by the brand name of the sponsor and not by their own name (they do however accept paternity of the frames). I guess we should think of this like a single mother giving her name to a child at birth, without indication of the father. If you later find out who the father is, the child nonetheless will generally keep the original last name.

An interesting article here on modern plastic bikes which is in a similar theme to this thread: http://inrng.com/2012/02/who-made-your-bike/

vivelesalpes":3pm2rfh2 said:

Apparantly back in the eighties all the Dawes racing teams bikes were resprayed Gazelles.

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At least one definitely was. Given the relationship between the rider and the Gazelle agent, hardly surprising!

orbeas":3stfuqwn said:

In a recent post on here on ' No name bikes Chinese bikes'

somebody posted

" Yeah, getting it branded as something it's not is a bit odd. "

Now as somebody who has to admit that some of my own racing bikes were not what they appeared in the pictures in cycling magazines, I thought that little research would show that it was nothing new..

this is what I found

Tom Simpson --- His Peugeot's were not made by Peugeot, but by Massi

Eddy Merckx - His Peugeot's were made by Massi after the first year then had bikes by De Rosa - Colnago

Freddie Maertens - He never rode Flandria bikes, they were Gios that he smuggled into the Flandria Factory at night to be repainted..

Greg Lemond - Seems his Gitane and Bottechia steel bikes were built in the USA

Miguel Indurain - His Pinarello's were made by Dario Pegorretti

Marco Pantani - His Bianchi's were mostly not made in the Bianchi factory as he used to change his design weekly and various frame builders in Tuscany were used..

Tom Boonen - His early Specialized bikes were not made by them..

Lance Armstrong - His Eddy Merckx frames were from Litespeed...

My own Jacques Anquitil frames were made by Harry Quinn
and my Ron Kitching X frames were by Harry Quinn - Neil Orrell..

please add if you know any more ???

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Another Quinn connection - the Lejeune bikes that Alan Ramsbottom rode in the early '60s were actually repainted Harry Quinns.

Some (Malcolm Elliott & Paul Watson??) ANC-Halfords riders had their "Peugeot" frames built in Stoke by Brian Rourke.

Luis Herrera rode at least one TdF on a Vitus bonded frame (probably a 979) crudely re-labelled as a Mercier, although in that instance the Vitus decals were retained.

Similarly, re-badged Alan bonded frames masquerading as Guerciotti etc. used to be fairly common on the international 'cross scene.

David