obscure motorola/merckx trivia

[yeehawfactor]

for the 1993 paris-roubaix steve bauer rode a "stealth" bike that was made especially for him by eddy merckx. it features a super slack 60 degree seat angle, long chainstays, and apparently a longer wheelbase. why did he use this bike? it looks like a friggin caddilac......

[Bill Bove]

It was for suspension, the UCI later ruled it illegal.

[LegendRider]

He also rode it at the First Union Grand Prix in Atlanta that same year. Apparently Eddy did not want to build it. Bauer was off the bike by the end of the spring and it was never seen again.

[jerk]

here the jerk is going to say it; that bike was stupid.

jerk

[yeehawfactor]

when did eddy stop making bikes? eddy himself.....

[e-RICHIE]

he never stopped...
he NEVER started!!

[Tony Edwards]

pics?

[yeehawfactor]

he never stopped...
he NEVER started!!
d'oh!

and i'm looking for pics. so far october 03's cyclesport has the only one

[David Kirk]

Bauer rode the bike due to issue with his back.

Dave

[Climb01742]

at the time, i think it was jokingly referred to as a "chopper".

[zap]

I was under the impression Steve was trying an extreme setback position in an attempt to extend his Pro career.

I might have a blurb or two about this in my archives. But yes, it was ditched pretty quickly.

[Marron]

While we're on the topic of weird positions; who remebers Alexi Grewal's extreme tri-bike position that he adopted for the last year or two of his pro career? I recall that in addition to the steep seat tube he was using extremely short chain stays to maintain the overall balance of the bike. I can't recall if it was a back or hamstring problem that led to this design.

Baur's bike was a hoot. I guess both the chopper and the tri bikes prove that you can rotate around the BB much more than we think.

[weisan]

pictures, we NEED pictures!!!

[jerk]

While we're on the topic of weird positions; who remebers Alexi Grewal's extreme tri-bike position that he adopted for the last year or two of his pro career? I recall that in addition to the steep seat tube he was using extremely short chain stays to maintain the overall balance of the bike. I can't recall if it was a back or hamstring problem that led to this design.

Baur's bike was a hoot. I guess both the chopper and the tri bikes prove that you can rotate around the BB much more than we think.


neither, it was mental instability. thankfully he has since traded a weird obsession about unworkable bicycle geometry for a somewhat more healthy obsession concerning jesus christ.

jerk

[sspielman]

As I recall......Bauer was without a contract that year. He was allowed to start in a number of races in the spring as a free agent (I can't imagine that happening today) Eventually, Motorola picked him up for the remainder of the year. As I recall, Bauer's original chopper was not built by Eddy (his company that is) but by some obscure small framebuilder in Belgium or the Netherlands. (Today, he could probably get something like this built by Rivendell!!!-just joking, folks...)The chainstays were too long for any available tubes to work, so I remember that they had an extra length of chainstay welded to the ends (on the BB side). The chain was also almost twice the normal length. To add to the chopper effect, he used a saddle that had about a 10 cm section of back on it...ostensibly to push against....

[Too Tall]

If you just step back and imagine why Bauer and Grewal had these bikes made up due to tender backs than it's kinda cool as one design worked and the other did not. The Chopper sits the rider low in the frame to get your back at a more neutral angle. Alexi's bike sought to create a larger less acute hip flexor angle with a curved seattube creating a virtual 76'ish angle however the curve shoots the bb backwards for a normal setback....see?...no chopper effect. If we could get a pic of these guys I think we'd see that Alexi's position was indistinguishable from the typical euro pro from the side or front whereas Bauer looked wierd.

My racing bike is an AX-1 and is a copy of Alexi's...just a bit larger. Yep, short chain stays, whacko fr. derailleur cable route through the chainstay and a large tab for the fr. der. are some of the creature features. As soon as I heard about it my shop contacted the maker and had one made up for me. Sweeeeeet. It's far from any tri-bike design and a clever way to deal with tall doods with out shoving their seats into impossible slack positions...knees sucked into your chest!

Only in America.

[David Kirk]

I was the "lucky" bastard who go to build Alexi's wierd Serotta's. The curved seat tube, the 36cm stays, and the ultra long down tube were all a lot of fun (sort of stick in the eye type fun). The chainstays were so short that the bottom bracket had to be cut away between the chainstays for tire clearance.

This reminds me...........during the time that I was building these bikes my wife Karin's brother happened to be housemates with Eric the Coors team mechanic in Boulder. Karin and I went to visit one winter to do some skiing in Summit county. We pulled our rental car up in front of the house and I noticed that Alexi was standing on the porch with Eric. I thought this was going to be great.............I get to meet Alexi, gold medalist and euro pro. I walk up and Eric very excitedly introduces me to Alexi....." hey Alexi, this is Dave Kirk, the guy who spent all the time to build your bikes just the way to want them.........".

Alexi looks at me with disdain and says- "not enought tire clearance!". I say "excuse me?" I look down to see the fattest tubulars I'd ever seen ( Vittoria Utmost). The chainstays could be no longer than 36cm or Alexi "would send it back". He says again,"not enough tire clearance!" this time with some anger. I wasn't getting the warm and fuzzy feeling so I just walked away puzzled. He yelled at me "make me another with more clearance!!!"

I think it was his own unique way of saying........."thanks so much, I really appreciate your efforts, nice job."

I really miss him.

Dave

[jerk]

yeah the guy sucks.
jerk

[weisan]

I was the "lucky" bastard who go to build Alexi's wierd Serotta's. The curved seat tube, the 36cm stays, and the ultra long down tube were all a lot of fun (sort of stick in the eye type fun). The chainstays were so short that the bottom bracket had to be cut away between the chainstays for tire clearance.

This reminds me...........during the time that I was building these bikes my wife Karin's brother happened to be housemates with Eric the Coors team mechanic in Boulder. Karin and I went to visit one winter to do some skiing in Summit county. We pulled our rental car up in front of the house and I noticed that Alexi was standing on the porch with Eric. I thought this was going to be great.............I get to meet Alexi, gold medalist and euro pro. I walk up and Eric very excitedly introduces me to Alexi....." hey Alexi, this is Dave Kirk, the guy who spent all the time to build your bikes just the way to want them.........".

Alexi looks at me with disdain and says- "not enought tire clearance!". I say "excuse me?" I look down to see the fattest tubulars I'd ever seen ( Vittoria Utmost). The chainstays could be no longer than 36cm or Alexi "would send it back". He says again,"not enough tire clearance!" this time with some anger. I wasn't getting the warm and fuzzy feeling so I just walked away puzzled. He yelled at me "make me another with more clearance!!!"

I think it was his own unique way of saying........."thanks so much, I really appreciate your efforts, nice job."

I really miss him.

Dave

Dave-pal, the alexi guy owes you an apology. He's prolly talking out from the podium.

[Mike V]

I was looking for a picture of the Steve Bauer bike and found this thread. Thought someone might want to see this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3449/3880719332_60ba5ef366.jpg

[Pegoready]

I'm OK with digs from the past if you have something awesome to add. Thanks for the pics-- I was always curious about this bike.

[jednjen42]

I don't know how to post pics, so here's the http://www.flickr.com/photos/11910102@N08/3880719332 .

[Keith A]

Here's a bigger picture of the same...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3449/3880719332_cd36c97dff_o.jpg

[shiftyfixedgear]

Is Bauer's frame design possibly the result of what happens when you leave your bike on the roof rack and drive into a garage at fairly high speed ?

[harryschwartzma]

It's from driving your body into the wall at high speed.