Session 1

The following are the confidential notes of an interview with an OldVelo conducted by the well-known cycologist Iva Cervélo

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Session 1

IC:      Take a seat, relax. Before we start let me give you some background on myself which may help you appreciate that I understand your obsession  addiction interest in bicycles. I am a triathlete. Before my wife left me I had a Cervélo C5 now I am fortunate to have a Cervélo P5, I miss her and the kids but I know a bike will get you through a time of ‘no family’ better than a family will get you through a life of ‘no bike’.

OV:    I think we may have a problem here; you can’t make bikes out of dust and plastic. Unless of course you are talking about the contribution of Simplex in the late sixties with their innovative derailleur. Really lets be serious, what you have does not really qualify as a ‘bike’. I think we may have difficulties communicating…

IC:     We seem to have got off to a bad start. Let’s try again… Tell me a bit about how you became interested in dinosaurs vintage steel bikes.

OV:    From what I can recall it started when I had my Gianni Motta steel frame resprayed. The bike had gone through the usual evolution of bikes: You buy the best you can afford and you upgrade it as the technology advances.  It is the other love of your life until one day you realise your joint account is ‘in the black’ and there is a bargain on offer in your local bike shop. You have the family credit card. The new bike is yours. For a while you have to sleep with it in the spare room (how bad is that?). 

The Motta served me well as a training bike but it seemed like a shame to subject it to the rigors of an Irish winter, particularly when there were good training bikes on offer at unbelievable low prices on the Internet. I had it resprayed and once again looked very attractive.

IC:      I understand what you are saying but what happened next?

OV:    Well, while browsing on the Internet for somewhere to bring Mrs OV for holidays I came across the L’Eroica. I thought ‘Perfetto!’ she likes Italy, good food, fashion and the odd flagon of Chianti. Sure she will be so impressed when she sees how thoughtful I am. Unfortunately I must have misread the situation, once again, so it was off to Tuscany for me and one of my cycling friends.

IC:      That was very considerate of you to not initially putting Mrs OV’s name on the booking.

OV:    Although I missed her terribly on the holiday my friend did his best to console me and we had a wonderful time. The only problem was that the Gianni Motta was not fully compliant with the regulations. I did manage to get past the scrutineers but I made a pact with myself it would never happen again.

IC:      I can see you are a person of integrity. What happened next?

OV:    When I got back to Ireland I went back to the shop that had restored the Gianni Motta. Unfortunately they did not have the parts I required. I wracked my brains trying to think of what traditional bike shops were left. I thought of John Piggott’s ‘Bike Rack’ on Johnstown Road in Dun Laoghaire. I called out to his shop, by chance he had also done the L’Eroica that year so he understood my requirements. With a glint in his eye he said ‘There is nothing I can do for you, you need to speak to someone who he referred to as ‘El Diablo’ that he knew in Cork. He used words like ‘supplier’ and ‘dealer’ when he referred to him. Little did I realise what I was getting myself into.

IC:      Well that is quite enough for this session. You were really open and I think we have made great progress. We can relax for a few minutes before you go. Would you like to have a look at some of the latest Triathlon gear available on this website I was browsing during our session?

…… to be continued.