The neatest thing happened for my birthday this year. My old Miyata was getting just way too tattered to help me be a good ambassador for retro. I’ve had this same road bike for 20+ years now. It’s been a great bike: a rock-steady ride which I’ve done 100+ races on. But I thought I’d start figuring out how to get a new (old) bike, thinking it would take til Spring to find something right. I think old lugged steel bikes look and work great, and are super values. So I asked around. Right away a web-pal says he has an ’85 Pro Atala I could have cheap. Then eBay pops up with a ’93 RB1 going cheap. So, I said Yes to both. (I can always resell the one I like less.) They arrived on my B-day! Two new bikes for the price of a pair of fancy wheels. They’re about 21 pounds each. Both bikes arrived superclean and tight, in what seems like mint condition. A few scratches but, overall, the paint, workmanship and care just have them glowing. The Atala came with a complete team outfit gratis! Both bike models come with worldclass bonafides: the RB1 was a top race winner in the US and the Atala was a TdF team bike.
I first tested the RB1. Amazing! It’s like a Superman bike. The stock 13cm stem, relaxed seat-tube and 175mm cranks give a very stretched-out position, but so far I find that I can relax into it. Also, I’d never used STI shifting before. I’m very impressed. It made me want to race! (If I decide to slow down, I’ll probably switch to a 12cm stem.)
A couple days later I tested the Atala. Oh my, another amazing bike. But very different! The front end handles like it’s on greasy bearings (which it is)—the steering is very mobile. But not in a bad way. It loves to corner. It’s set up in a classic position that feels just right. Everything is crisp on this bike. (It came with plump tires, so now I have 3 wheelsets, including my fine old sew-ups, that I can fiddle with to see what makes for the best ride.)
So far: no clear winner! Both bikes are SWEEET!
These bikes are so pretty to me that when I was out of town a few days I carried some of the following digi-images with me as a reminder.
Here are some more pics:
Here’s more pics of our Fleet.
