{"id":177106,"date":"2020-03-06T11:05:36","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T11:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=177106"},"modified":"2021-11-25T14:36:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T14:36:53","slug":"3-road-bikes-that-changed-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/03\/06\/3-road-bikes-that-changed-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Road Bikes that Changed Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Even the cheapest racer you buy from a big-box store is better than the most advanced bicycle used in the first Tour de France. The awesome technology we take for granted was hard earned and well appreciated by amateurs and pros alike. So, which bikes made the most difference \u2013 and why?<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>1937 \u2013 Royal Fabric<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This French invention was the first bicycle with a derailleur allowed to compete in Le Tour de France. Before 1937, you were allowed as many gears as you wanted \u2013 but if you wanted 22 gears you\u2019d have to carry 22 wheels on your back and change your wheel every time you wanted to change gear. Most cyclists opted for one or two gears per stage.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j3-as2mpwp4&#038;feature=youtu.be<\/p>\n<p>This derailleur certainly looks alien to what we enjoy today \u2013 but changing gears without leaving the saddle must have felt like the future come early for the athletes. And given the modern cyclist\u2019s obsession with weight, I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t need to tell you what this must have meant on the climb.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1948 \u2013 The Legnano team bike<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Gino Bartali will be remembered for many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/09\/07\/gino-bartali-cycling-champion-helped-jews-escape-nazis\/\">glorious reasons<\/a> but he\u2019ll also be remembered for riding the first Cambio Corsa derailleur in competitive cycling. The Cambio was Campagnolo\u2019s slightly less elegant solution \u2013 changing gear involved groping around the seat stay for the gear lever.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=dlbBCYA82uE params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/dlbBCYA82uE\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>But Campagnolo judiciously sacrificed ease-of-use in favour of reliability, allowing Bartali to change gears with impunity during the punishing mountain stages of 1948. Bartali exploited the reliability of the Legnano, claiming victory in the Parc des Princes velodrome during Le Tour\u2019s first live broadcast.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1986 \u2013 Look KG86 Tour de France<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>My dad once challenged my brother and I to snap a 2 by 4 made of carbon fibre using a hammer in our garage. It was the late 80s and we marvelled at the strength of material so weightless. As we settled down to watch Le Tour highlights on British TV, my dad\u2019s enthusiasm started to make sense&#8230;<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=mZMkZN-PGCo params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/mZMkZN-PGCo\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>In 1986, bike manufacturers couldn\u2019t fully exploit carbon fibre\u2019s potential, relying on 3rd party manufacturers to provide carbon fibre tubes that were bonded to aluminium lugs. But even this cobbled-together approach was enough to help propel Greg LeMond to victory in Le Tour 86.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even the cheapest racer you buy from a big-box store is better than the most advanced bicycle used in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":174392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[1303,3968,3970,3969],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-177106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-gino-bartali","tag-look-kg86-tour-de-france","tag-royal-fabric","tag-the-legnano-team-bike","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>3 Road Bikes that Changed Racing - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even the cheapest racer you buy from a big-box store is better than the most advanced bicycle used in the first Tour de France. 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