Battaglin Piranha Author: Artistic Racer
Let me take you back in time the year is 1985 the place Verona Italy. The Giro D’Italia has transformed the town by draping its surroundings in a pretty pink colour.
The Italian sun warming the faces in the crowds its rays dancing off the old brickwork of ancient Verona. Then faces in the crowd began to turn.
In the hands of Roberto Visentini a futuristic looking bike made of a one piece carbon fibre monocoque. Designed by Italian manufacturer Battaglin history would come to know it as the Pirana.
At the Giro Prologue the Battaglin Pirana was ready to race . Its design so futuristic that it could have come from William Gibsons’s science fiction novel Neuromancer. The crowds parted allowing officials to scan their eyes over the new monocoque machine.
Within a few minutes it was all over for the Pirana the verdict was clear that it would not be allowed to race. So the first chapter in the story of the monocoque time trial bike was firmly closed.
One can imagine the futuristic bike as it sat atop the Carrera team car its contours bathed by the neon lights of the Verona. Instantly it had become a piece of cyberpunk art an advanced piece of technical design destined never to race.
In 1986 Ernesto Colnago began working with Ferrari producing the remarkably advanced Carbon Velo. Its design was not outlawed and so it was allowed to race.
In the hands of Poland’s Lech Piaseki it went on to win the World Pursuit title. Not to be outdone by the Italians FES of Germany creates a monocoque time trial to rival the Colnago Carbon Velo.
An epic battle was fought between these machines at the 1988 Olympic games. The red Colnago Carbon Velo in the hands of the Soviets and the stealth black FES monocoque in the hands of the East Germans.
The all red combination of Soviet skinsuit combined well with Colnago racing colours. This bright fiery combination was in stark contrast to the approach taken by the East Germans who went into battle wearing the cool grey of the German Democratic Republic.
Grey is virtually absent of colour and almost ghostly in appearance so the German riders were to become known as the Grey Ghosts. Astride the highly advanced FES they were unbeatable taking Gold with the Soviet team run out of the medals.
The mid 1980s were a time of great uncertainty for cycling with design racing ahead only to be held back by the hands of officials. But uncertainty can also breed innovation Bianchi creates the Bianchi C4 a one piece carbon frame for its star ride Moreno Argentin.
But unlike the Battaglin Pirana, the new C4 was allowed to be raced in the Giro D’Italia of 1987. It too was subsequently banned.
Despite all the regulations the opening prologue of the Tour De France was a revelation in technical terms with every rider now equipped with the new Lo Profile time trial bicycles complete with new aerodynamic disc wheels.
Lo Profile bike Author: Eric HOUDAS
Lech Piaseki of the Del Tongo team was a spectacular sight in the time trial with an evolutionary version of the Colnago Carbon Velo. However the Carbon Velo was soon absent from competition by 1989.
The Lo Profile time trial bikes dominated the peleton for the next few years. Then in 1994 a sleek black monocoque framed time trial bike in the hands of Chris Boardman wins the opening prologue of the Tour De France.
The Lotus 110 time trial bike created by a British designer and then developed by the Lotus sports car company it was the start of a new phase of developments in the world of bike design.
Lotus 110 Author: ell Brown
The Lotus 110 was also produced more numerously than any other monocoque framed bike had been before as it was produced by a car company and not a bicycle manufacturer. 1995 saw the widespread use of the Lotus 110 by the GAN Team of Chris Boardman.
The Lotus 110 was one of the most memorable futuristic designs of the early 1990s and set the stage for what was to become the final act for such particular frame designs. Not to be outdone by the British the Italian bike manufacturer Pinarello began working with Lamborghini and Bugatti to create a rival to the Lotus 110 .
The result was the Espada an unusual looking bike that had the look of a flying wing electric guitar. The name Espada is the Spanish word for sword and Indurain used it as a weapon to destroy rivals in the time trials in the Tour De France.
The Espada Author: Turismo y Economia
Whilst carbon racers like the Lotus 110 and the Pinarello Espada started the technological arms race of the 1990s designers soon rediscovered their love of metals and began producing designs rivaling that of their carbon brothers.
Battaglin creators of the Pirana the monocoque bike that started it all produced a very special metal monocoque design for the Refin Mobilvetta team and its 1996 season. Then Giovanni Battaglin old rival Francesco Moser entered the fray.
Moser who like Battaglin was a racer turned bicycle manufacturer creates the F.Moser Wind for the Saeco Team. The Wind was a wild design constructed of aluminium .
Bianchi and Pinarello produced similar interesting designs for teams like Gewiss , Banesto and Team Telekom.
1996 was an amazing year with so many unusual designs but the stand out bike for that year was the LOOK KG 296 CLM of Team ONCE.
1996 Atlanta Olympics TT Author: majortaylor 68
Then a bombshell in the fall of 1996 the UCI drafts the Lugano Charter. Its wording declared an intention that it would ban the use of time trial bikes that did not follow the classic diamond shaped pattern.
Designers could have just given up and took the easy route but as the draconian measures were some four years away from implementation they continued to innovate. It was to be the final flourish for these wonderful time trail machines.
Like how the gift of a paintbox can bring out huge creativity in an individual designers would take the gift of the time that was left and what they produced for 1997 was fantastic.
Pinarello creates the Paragina also know as the Swan. An evolutionary version of the Espada one can imagine its design was as a result of entering the dreamlike world of Salvadori Dali.
In terms of the wow factor the Paragina had a rival in the shape of the English designed Hotta TT 700. Its design was so advanced that it became branded by several bike manufacturers.
When the bike was repainted in the different corporate colours of various teams it took on a life of its own especially when mated to different components such as disc and aero wheels.
Especially the bikes of TVM which were painted in a bright green of the Dutch bike manufacturer Gazelle. Alongside the exotic carbon monocoque bikes there were unusual and beautifully styled monocoque frames made of metal.
Such machines were used by teams like Festina and Banesto. These metal framed bikes were then rebranded as Peugeot and Gitanes amongst many others.
As time ran out these bikes too ceased to be employed and where quietly retired. By 1999 only two bikes remained the Pinarello Parigina of Banesto and the FES aero bike in the colours of Team Telekom.
Its competitors now all conforming to the traditional diamond shape. The bikes of the Euskatel team in 2001 shows an example of the diamond frame regulation. The UCI ruling meant that futuristic technological advanced bikes were now seen as nothing more than mutations and as a result by the year 2000 they were placed in the collections of the various bicycle maufacturers.
Euskatel rider 2001 Author:Brian Townsley
It was the end, but every ending can also bring a new beginning. Bikes and tech that could have remained hidden away in such collections found a gateway back into the world through Ebay and into the eager hands of triathletes and fixed gear enthusiasts.
A quote from William Gibson cyberpunk novel burning chrome seemed so applicable "The streets finds its own uses for things ".
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