A Beauty to Behold!

While looking at eBay for a frame to start my next bike project, I came across this stunning classic Italian road frame made by CIÖCC in Columbus double-butted Reinforced tubing. It was definitely love at first sight! This particular frame appear to be from the early or mid 1980s. It is a fine example of the great Italian frame-building tradition. The classic Italian road bike frames are primarily characterised for their stiffness, responsiveness and great handling which results in very fast, pure-breed, racing machines.

Ciöcc (pronounced “cheeoach”) was founded by builder Giovanni Pelizzoli, a former apprentice of Ugo DeRosa. Ciocc (local Val d’Aosta, Italian dialect for "poker faced" hence the Ciöcc badge of four aces in a cross formation) was his nickname as a pro rider. Although less well known than Cinelli, Colnago, DeRosa or Pinarello, the excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail evidenced in all his frames put him rightly alongside these other renowned Italian frame builders. I particularly love the painting and finishes of the frame: understated and simple yet at the same time elegant.

Check out and enjoy this truly work of art in the pics below:

At the end of the auction, alas, the frame did not sell as the reserve price was not met by any of the bidders, including myself. The other three identical frames (but of different sizes) which were also on auction by the same seller experienced a similar fate. He can definitely take his time to bring them again to the market as these "beauties" in mint condition are not likely to loose any of their value in the foreseeable future. A sound long-term investment indeed!

Wallpapers for your Desktop

I have recently found this nice artwork created by ilovedust for The Ride Journal. Enjoy!

Don't forget to have a look at The Ride Journal for more awesome pics. Sweet stuff indeed!

Few pics from the ECMC 2008 Eindhoven

What a fantastic championship we had!! Big thumbs up for the organisation who planned and ran the whole event admirably well. The race course was awesome: particularly well-thought to simulate the working conditions of messengers (minus live traffic), with some cobbled sections, lots of up and down stairs and ramps, narrow bridges, and sharp corners, which made the race a veritable "hell of the north" for all participants. Other competitions taken place over the weekend were the polo championships, skids, trackstand, rollapaluza, and a massive alleycat on the streets of Eindhoven. Beautiful fixed gear bikes all over the place, loads of fun watching the race and other competitions, and, above all, a nice vibe and sense of camaderie among all participants and spectators, .... what else can you ask for a great weekend!!

Here some pics from the event that I have picked up from the various links at the ECMC 2008 web page. Thanks to all people for sharing their pictures and let me"nick" few them for my blog.


Plus a great video of the main race, skid competition, and sprints


ECMC 2008 Eindhoven from MESSENGWEAR.com on Vimeo.

And another couple of videos I have recently found at the web channel CLTR/CTRL (Culture Control) of the main race and bike polo competion.





Well done to all you folks!! .....And see you next year at Berlin, host city of the ECMC 2009.

Fixed Gear Videos

Nice images, lovely tunes, awesome skills.


Macaframa SF Track Bike Promo from MACAFRAMA on Vimeo.

Check out more videos from the MACAFRAMA crew here.

ECMC 2008

The European Cycle Messenger Championship (ECMC) are to be held at the Dutch city of Eindhoven from the 24th to the 27th of July 2008. With less than two weeks to go, the organisers appear to have done a great work in sorting everything out and preparing what promises to be a hell of an event for both participants and guests.
As they comment on their web site:

Our racecourse is ready - beers stand cold - and the amps are set!

From my part, I just wish a safe journey to all people attending the event and look forward to have a great time there in a couple of weeks...

A final word of advise: pack lightly if you don' want to be the proverbial "donkey"


Photo courtesy of Keirin Berlin

See you all there....

London's Calling 08

Another edition of this wicked messenger event appears to be on the works for the 22nd-24th August 08. Highlights include Tour de Ville race, Messenger Olympics, and Rollapalluza.
More info and poster for the event can be found at Moving Target.
Meanwhile, click on the image above and enjoy the awesome detail of the original work, a quite irreverent piss-take on Her Royal Highness coat of arms courtesy, I believe, of House of Pistard

New Fixed Gear Magazine Launch

Coming hot from the presses, the first London-produced fixed-gear magazine now available in PDF format for you to enjoy.

Links to and reviews of other current fixed gear magazines can be found here