Alfa Romeo builds a bike-- wild design

[C5 Snowboarder]

I think the Industrial Designer is not a biker. Looks like it goes down hill quite well though, even going up hill it looks like it is going down hill.

[atmo]

oh - you mean standover height refers to that atmo?

[DWF]

Didn't I see that bike at Costco with a Mongoose label?

[Louis]

'
WWFR - What Would Fangio Ride ?

[Larry D]

The frame deign is very similair to the b"Twin city bikes from what use to be Decathlon, now b'Twin.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Didn't I see that bike at Costco with a Mongoose label?

. . . my reaction when I saw a pic of this bike a few months ago.

So incredibly FUGLY . . . :eek:

BBD

[Serpico]

a lotta companies are trying to re-brand as 'lifestyle' companies. hummer sells sandals, cadillac sells all kinds of schwag. all good I guess. whatever.

slightly off-topic: was that 'colnago for ferrari' bike a real bike, or just a contracted bike for ferrari clients?

thanks

[sg8357]

pardon, Commendatore, I cut the top tube too short......
Italian framebuilding ain't what it used to be.


Scott G.
There is no Framebuilder but Dario and Atmo is his prophet.

[rounder]

i was going to say that fangio would probably ride a german silver bike (since he drove mercedes) ...couldn't think of any. But i looked it up and he drove maseratis early in his career...so maybe he would ride a red derosa.

[Louis]

i was going to say that fangio would probably ride a german silver bike (since he drove mercedes) ...couldn't think of any. But i looked it up and he drove maseratis early in his career...so maybe he would ride a red derosa.

R, he drove ALFA's in the early 50's. In fact, his first big wins were with ALFA: ALFA web site (http://www.alfaromeo.com/cgi-bin/pbrand.dll/ALFAROMEO_COM/history/history.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0805077342.1175911638 @@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdaddkiliddgfcefecejgdfiidgnk.0&categoryOID=-1073750519&contentOID=1073793807)
'

[rounder]

i used to read about those guys...fangio was a legend. racing is a whole lot safer today. michael schumaker was more sucessful (from what i understand) but the only one that i remember who was maybe great the same way was jim clark.

[saab2000]

Schumacher is the greatest driver in a long, long, long time. He could start last and still make a race of it. And if there was rain? Race over. Schumacher wins.

He brought Ferrari out of the doldrums with his attention to detail and talent. I never saw F1 in the 'old' days, but Schumacher was head and shoulders above the rest from the day Senna died. Even Prost was not in the same league as Schumacher. Schumacher was the Eddy Merckx of F1.

So there.

Oh, and the bike? Fugly. Prolly made for sale in tacky US dealerships.

[rounder]

i have subscribed to road&track for a long time (doesn't make me an expert)...no racer that i can remember was successful as long as schumaker. he drove ferarris but probably would have won with whatever...so long as it was reliable. i agree with you...he probably brought back the good name for ferarri.

[saab2000]

...so long as it was reliable. .

Reliability is the key to any motorsport. But even moreso in F1. Ferrari reliability was terrible pre-Schumacher. Then he showed up and it improved. Of course, Jean Todt was also key.

You are right that he could win in anything. But to win you gotta finish and when half the field don't finish in F1, Ferrari was frequently 1 and 2 in their prime.

The other key was their pit stop strategy. Schumacher made this into a science. He and his team would shave 10ths and even 100ths of a second off the pit time and this meant exiting the pits before the 2nd placed driver. Since passing in F1 is so difficult that often meant the difference between first and second.

Schumacher was like Lance in that is was fun to watch because the perfection and cold calculation was so evident. At least it was sort of fun. F1 that is. Lance became less fun to watch as the years went by, but no less incredible.

[rounder]

yeah...i agree.

[TimD]

The only reason Prost might not be in the same league as Schumacher is because Prost would not resort to punting his opponent off of the track in order to gain postition.

Schumacher could not carry Senna's helmet bag, and (per Jo Ramirez), even Senna could not beat Prost when Prost got the car perfect. For the moment The Professor remains among the last of the top-line 'sporting' drivers (along with Mika Hakkinen).

Schumacher's string of records (set in an era when seasons had 18 races and more) may never be broken, but you'll probably never see him at the top of an all-time great driver ranking. MotorSport's of two years ago, for example. Take away the car and team tactical advantage and install a similarly-capable driver in a similarly-capable car and the advantage disappears. Not the case with the other greats, for example Senna, Fangio (Moss etc.), and Clark (various).