Did someone win the tour on a fixed?

MA3K [quote]Todd [quote]TheBrick(Tommy) [quote]Buffalo Bill The first bicycle race ever was won a fixed wheel. By an Englishman.

I want a t shirt with that on.[/quote]

Nice idea Tommy. Perhaps that's the start of the official londonfgss t-shirt!? hinting...[/quote]

Hear, hear![/quote]
First post and all that, but you need a proof reader fellas- there's an important word missing from the statement: 'on' between 'won' and 'a fixed wheel'

Then it'd be a grand t-shirt (if I knew how to insert a smiley it'd be a winking one!)

the-smiling-buddha
did not Fausto Coppi win the tour on a fixed

That looks suspiciously like a manual-type derailler on the back there.. lever just above the chainstay.. (but I know fsck all about this old stuff so..?)

Isn't that the Campagnolo Cambio Corsa? It's not fixed, it's not even ss.

I think it's a bit of myth that tour riders ever used fixed, the flipflop hubs would have been ss on both sides.

Yep I would be up for a t-shirt.

fixer Isn't that the Campagnolo Cambio Corsa? It's not fixed, it's not even ss.
I think it's a bit of myth that tour riders ever used fixed, the flipflop hubs would have been ss on both sides.

No idea about retro stuff.
As for fixed tours: http://www.63xc.com/willm/tdef.htm
"The event was in its fourth year before a competitor risked riding on one of the new-fangled BSA freewheels!"
"Woodland quotes a 1920 report from one Vernon Blake detailing a gear setup which would make good sense today: a flip-flop hub with 65" and 48" gears, often double-fixed, but with many riders preferring a freewheel on the larger cog for fast descents."

Yep I am just reading The Hour and it goes on in there about how (forgoten the name) the guy who started the tour at first did not want to allow gears and the stages where 400 + km, he 24 hr type rides, he wanted to more or less see people collapsing.

TheBrick(Tommy) Yep I am just reading The Hour and it goes on in there about how (forgoten the name) the guy who started the tour at first did not want to allow gears and the stages where 400 + km, he 24 hr type rides, he wanted to more or less see people collapsing.

"Desgrange stood out against the use of derailleurs for decades, and that, in the year he finally gave way, Roger Lapébie won the Tour on a gearie bike."

Yeah, his idea of the perfect Tour was where only one rider actually made it to the finish. HARD!

fixer Isn't that the Campagnolo Cambio Corsa? It's not fixed, it's not even ss.

Could be Simplex - depends when the photo was taken..
"Fausto Coppi was paid a considerable sum to switch from Campagnolo's Cambio Corsa to Simplex derailleurs.
Coppi went on to win the 1947 Tour de France using Simplex equipment. He would go back to using Campagnolo equipment to win the 1950 Paris-Roubaix."
http://www.theracingbicycle.com/Tullio.html

benthebrummie ...or i am imagining it?

Someone fixed the tour on a whim.

I like the idea of 'One ring to rule them all...'

splutters My favourite colour. Can I get one with French cuffs please?

Can only do standard double cuff I'm afraid....

what about lord of the rings with a sprocket?

or my precious?

my precious ring???

I need to get a new saddle for my precious ring

the-smiling-buddha
did not Fausto Coppi win the tour on a fixed

No!

Early Campy clutch thing, I reckon, cos that looks like northern France.

There was a rod and tine arrangement to move the chain across the 3 sprockets.

Have a look at this
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/campagnolo.html
for a closer look.

hippy [quote]TheBrick(Tommy) Yep I am just reading The Hour and it goes on in there about how (forgoten the name) the guy who started the tour at first did not want to allow gears and the stages where 400 + km, he 24 hr type rides, he wanted to more or less see people collapsing.

"Desgrange stood out against the use of derailleurs for decades, and that, in the year he finally gave way, Roger Lapébie won the Tour on a gearie bike."

Yeah, his idea of the perfect Tour was where only one rider actually made it to the finish. HARD![/quote]

The Pelissier brothers hated him! They thought he treated the riders like slaves.

The track bike or ‘flip bike’ is very unique. The bike is inspired by legendary cyclist, Fausto Coppi who competed and won the Tour de France with a fixed wheel track bike.

From the MERCIAN website

http://www.merciancycles.com/psmith_track.asp

He won 5 times.. perhaps one of them was on fixed. I'm pretty sure that pic above is not a fixed gear bike.

from Bill's link:

he's running some voodoo like that

Coppi won the Tour in 1949 (not 1947! any serious cycling scholar knows that the first post War Tour was won in dramatic fashion by Jean Robic) and 1952. I can't say for sure, but it's virtually certain that he was riding gears. Coppi was very scientific in his preparation, and it's hard to believe that the Campionissimo would sacrifice a whole bunch of time (which he would certainly lose on the descents) simply to ride a fixie.

Coppi could and did ride the track - he broke the Hour record at the Vigorelli in 1942, and rode a major track meets across Europe - including the Good Friday meet at Herne Hill Velodrome.

There's a brief list of his wins here:
http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=2679

cheers for all the info :-)

Buffalo Bill Coppi won the Tour in 1949 (not 1947! any serious cycling scholar knows that the first post War Tour was won in dramatic fashion by Jean Robic) and 1952.

Typo on the site's part or wrong name? The site http://www.theracingbicycle.com/Tullio.html mentions Jean Robic winning '47 Tour right next to the paragraph Coppi is named in.

I have two T-shirts with a chainring on the back saying "If it ain't fixed it's broken"

One of the guy's on the C+ forum a few years ago did a run of them I'll get a pic later