A theme across cycling history
Bicycles and technical change
Mechanics, materials and solutions that changed the bicycle or the way it was ridden.
See all seven themes →When the rider was his own mechanic
Early Tour riders repaired their own bicycles. From Christophe at the forge to neutral service, the tools gradually moved into the following cars.
Open →Story · c. 1900The centimetres between Gresse and Nasq
A surviving postcard naming stayer Gresse and pacer Nasq opens the story of motor-paced racing, where two people and two machines had to work as one.
Open →Story · 1956When Magni bit an inner tube to stay in the Giro
With a badly injured shoulder, Fiorenzo Magni continued the Giro with an inner tube tied between his handlebars and teeth.
Open →Story · 1934The spectator's bicycle that cost Lapébie Paris–Roubaix
Roger Lapébie punctured near the finish, borrowed a spectator's bicycle and crossed the line first. The rules awarded victory to Gaston Rebry.
Open →Story · 1990–2007Principia and the Danish aluminium dream
Three triathletes in Aalborg began welding the aluminium frames they could not afford to buy. Within a few years, Principia was racing far beyond the basement workshop.
Open →Story · 1968Ole Ritter's hour in Mexico City
On 10 October 1968, Ole Ritter rode farther in one hour than anyone before him. The thin air of Mexico City helped the speed, but it did not make the effort easier.
Open →Story · 1972–1977When the neutral service car became everyone’s mechanic
A car broke down during the Dauphiné Libéré. The following year, Mavic sent out a yellow service car to help the entire field — including riders far from their own mechanic.
Open →Story · 1973–1977When the Brooklyn team turned GIOS blue
A sponsor's request joined the Brooklyn jersey, the GIOS Super Record and Roger De Vlaeminck's team — and the colour outlived the contract.
Open →Story · 1959–2026When the bicycle left its first owner
A gold Favorit F11, its 1960 receipt and a meeting with the man who had kept the bicycle for more than six decades.
Open →Story · 1995When Olano finished on a flat rear tyre
Abraham Olano punctured shortly before the finish at the World Championships in Duitama. Behind him, Miguel Induráin kept the chase under control.
Open →Story · 1982–1989When heart rate joined the rider on the road
A chest strap and a small wrist receiver made it possible to follow the heart without laboratory cables. Training acquired a new number to discuss.
Open →Story · 1946–1970’erneBianchi on the down tube, Drali at the file bench
Peppino Drali built made-to-measure Bianchi frames in Milan. The large factory supplied the name and materials; the small workshop supplied the fit and handwork.
Open →Story · 1948The track bicycle said to weigh 3.48 kilograms
Ugo Bianchi built bicycles for Legnano’s finest riders. A later account credits him with a 3.48-kilogram track machine—a number that invites both curiosity and a raised eyebrow.
Open →Story · 1946The gear change with a loose rear wheel
Cambio Corsa offered several gears, but demanded two levers, back-pedalling and a moment with the rear wheel released while the bicycle was moving.
Open →Story · 1980–1983When even the pedal thread had to be aerodynamic
Shimano built a wind tunnel and gave Dura-Ace AX smooth forms. The idea reached all the way to the pedal and showed how far a complete system could be pushed.
Open →Story · 1949–1969The tailor beneath the Vigorelli
Faliero Masi built bicycles beneath Milan’s velodrome and fitted them to riders including Anquetil, Van Looy and Merckx – often with another name on the down tube.
Open →Story · 1992The bicycle without the usual triangle
Mike Burrows’s monocoque idea, Lotus engineers and Chris Boardman met in a black track bicycle that won Olympic gold in Barcelona.
Open →Story · 1899–1927From Paris–Roubaix to spark plugs
Albert Champion won Paris–Roubaix at twenty. His work and a dispute over his name later produced two American spark-plug brands: Champion and AC.
Open →Story · 2015When the gear cable disappeared
SRAM RED eTap made road shifting wireless and gave riders, mechanics and frame designers a new way to think about control.
Open →Story · 2009When the Roubaix favourites disappeared one by one
Flecha crashed at Carrefour de l’Arbre, Hushovd hit the barriers and Tom Boonen rode alone into the velodrome for his third victory.
Open →Story · 2000–2009When the carbon bicycle reached the weight limit
Carbon gave designers new shapes while the UCI’s 6.8-kilogram minimum made ballast and gram counting part of the mechanics’ work.
Open →Story · 1984When Moser rode 51.151 kilometres in an hour
In Mexico City, Francesco Moser made aerodynamics, disc wheels and a new riding position visible on the stopwatch.
Open →Story · 1984–1985When the toe strap gave way to a click
LOOK transferred the ski binding’s lock to the racing bicycle. Bernard Hinault’s fifth Tour victory made the clipless pedal visible to the whole peloton.
Open →Story · 1989Eight seconds on the Champs-Élysées
Greg LeMond began the final time trial 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon and finished the Tour eight seconds ahead.
Open →Story · 1951When gear shifting finally became modern
Campagnolo Gran Sport allowed the rear wheel to stay fixed while a spring-loaded parallelogram moved the chain between sprockets.
Open →Story · 1955When a bent crank gave Colnago access to the Giro
Ernesto Colnago was 23 when a mechanical observation on Fiorenzo Magni's bicycle took him into the Giro service crew.
Open →Story · 1891Paris–Brest–Paris 1891 – Charles Terront's three days
Charles Terront covered 1,200 kilometres in 71 hours 37 minutes. The newspaper race tested both the rider and the young safety bicycle.
Open →Story · 1960’erne–1970’erneDrillium – when the drill became a weight-saving tool
Chainrings, brake levers and derailleurs went under the drill. Drillium became weight saving, workshop craft and decoration.
Open →Story · 1965Bordeaux–Paris — with a motor pacer ahead
Jacques Anquetil won the Dauphiné and, a few hours later, began the 557-kilometre Bordeaux–Paris with motor pacing over the final part of the race.
Open →Story · 1935–1937When gears arrived — and beer fooled the peloton
The Tour’s resistance to gears and Julien Moineau’s unusual breakaway towards Bordeaux.
Open →Story · 1927When the cold created the quick release
Tullio Campagnolo’s frozen wheel change became the beginning of a new mechanical solution.
Open →Story · 1954The 16-year-old mechanic who became two years older overnight
Ivo Faltoni was 16, good at building wheels and too young for the Giro service caravan. A false document made him eighteen on paper.
Open →Story · 1964–1990The patent headache that lasted twenty years
SunTour found the slant movement. Shimano answered with indexing, cables and a complete system whose parts had to work together.
Open →Story · 1968–1988When Gunnar Asmussen made the bicycle lower
From Olympic gold in Mexico City to a yellow-and-black funny bike from a bicycle workshop in Aarhus.
Open →Story · 1951The yellow jersey disappeared down the mountainside
Wim van Est crashed over the Aubisque and was hauled back up with an improvised rope made from inner tubes.
Open →Bicycle · 1994Vitus 992
A French bonded-aluminium racer with a Danish frame number, Shimano 105 and Henning Jørgensen’s name on the tubes.
Open →Bicycle · 1959Favorit F11
A gold Czechoslovak Favorit racer with a documented Serbian ownership history, restored by reader Stefan Đurić.
Open →Bicycle · 1978, oplystOlympia
An orange Italian steel racer with Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport, Universal brakes and an Ofmega chainset, preserved in the owner’s photographs.
Open →Bicycle · c. 1980Bernardi
A turquoise Italian steel racer with Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport, high-flange hubs and Universal brakes, preserved with an uncertain connection to Guido De Bernardi.
Open →Bicycle · 1986Faggin
An Italian Columbus Aelle racer in its original net-pattern paint, built with Shimano 600 and Cinelli — a precise meeting of two bicycle industries.
Open →Bicycle · 2013Scapin K6
A modern Italian carbon racer with Campagnolo, Fulcrum wheels and a design in which frame, equipment and riding position were conceived together.
Open →Bicycle · 2007Principia Evolution
A Danish aluminium racer with large shaped tubes, a WEAVE carbon fork and Dura-Ace components from the years around Principia’s change of ownership.
Open →Bicycle · 1975GIOS Torino Super Record
A Gios-blue Columbus racer with Campagnolo Super Record and details from the heyday of the Brooklyn team.
Open →Bicycle · 1978Rossin Record
An early Italian Columbus SL racer with Campagnolo Record, pantographed details and a distinctive yellow-and-blue finish.
Open →Bicycle · c. 1988Asmussen Super Prestige
A Danish custom-built time-trial bicycle with a small front wheel, low front end and Campagnolo equipment from the funny-bike period.
Open →Bicycle · 1995Colnago Super Thron
A classic lugged steel frame with Campagnolo Chorus and Shamal wheels — from the decade in which carbon fibre was taking over.
Open →Bicycle · 1993Colnago
An Italian racer in Japanese Tange Prestige steel, equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace 7400-series components and Campagnolo Shamal deep-section wheels.
Open →Bicycle · Early 1950sGiamé
A rare Turin racer whose drilled seatpost, Simplex derailleur and surviving Giamé parts show the pursuit of low weight.
Open →Bicycle · 1947Stella Veneta
An Italian racer with Campagnolo Cambio Corsa — a gear system that required two long levers, balance and a very particular sequence.
Open →Bicycle · 1965Schrøder
A Copenhagen-built Reynolds 531 racer whose workshop ledger links frame PS 1018 B to Gert V. Nilsen and 22 May 1965.
Open →Bicycle · 1983 modelKoga-Miyata Gentsracer-Aero
A silver-green steel bicycle with Shimano 600 AX and Dyna-Drive from the first major experiments with aerodynamic components.
Open →Bicycle · c. 1978–1982Atala Sanremo
A red Italian racer with Campagnolo, Gipiemme and a name that reaches back to the early Giro.
Open →Bicycle · c. 1919Cycles France-Sport
The bicycle that waited almost 100 years in a barn — with a brass nameplate and a flyer hidden inside the handlebar.
Open →Bicycle · 1937Wonder Saint-Étienne
Monsieur Paubert’s bicycle for road and track, preserved with its purchase receipt, original paint and Super Champion Course derailleur.
Open →Component · 1946Campagnolo Cambio Corsa
Two levers, a released rear wheel and a gear change that demanded balance and a particular sequence.
Open →Component · 1967Campagnolo Valentino
Campagnolo’s attempt to build a derailleur for riders outside the professional elite.
Open →Component · 1978Shimano 600 EX Arabesque
Japanese engineering dressed for the European racing bicycle.
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