Rondinella track - 1974 (1)
Posted: Wednesday 19th August 2020
| Frame | Rondinella 23½" track frame no. RO74036 - built by Vic Edwards (see text below); 23½" seat tube, 22¼" top tube, 16¼" chainstay, 39½" wheelbase; 74° head / 72° seat tubes. Campagnolo track and front ends Reynolds 531DB tubing; Resprayed Anthracite with white lug lining by Mario Vaz. Topeye holes painted red,white and blue to complement head and seat tube transfers. |
| Wheels | Mavic 700 MA2 HP rims on large-flange Campagnolo Pista hubs with Vredestein Tri-Comp tyres; or with Fiamme sprint rims on Airlite LF D/F hubs, all 15/17 spokes |
| Chainset | TA 5-pin alloy cranks with 48T x 1/8" single TA ring drilled by Stuart Henderson with red, white and blue filling to match head/seat tube badges and topeye feature. Detail below. |
| Pedals | Shimano SPD platforn |
| Gears | Single-speed 20T fixed wheel 64.8 for general town and short distance riding |
| Stem/Bars | Cinelli track bars on 11cm Cinelli XA stem |
| Saddle | Brooks Professional saddle on alloy seat pin 27.2 |
| Extra details | Original paint was red with single Rondinella head tube transfer. Previously had been used only for track racing on the Paddigton track in the 1970s. Rondinella transfers have large 'R' on red, white and blue background plus 'Built by Vic Edwards'. Vic Edwards also built for others in his time and was a highly respected builder, especially in the London area.. |
This track frame originally belonged to Richard (aka Spider) Westwood who was a member of the Archer Road Club. Spider was a very useful local roadman in West London during the late 1960s through to the latter part of the 1970s. In the early 1970s Spider went off, with three others, to race for two seasons on the roads of Northern France and Belgium. Following his subsequent return home he had both this track frame and and a road frame built for him by Vic Edwards. He continued to ride for a further couple of years, mainly on home roads, with varying degrees of success. The track frame was used mainly to compete in the then regular Tuesday evening meetings held on the old concrete track located within the Paddington Recreation Ground, which at the time was the hotbed of track racing for West London. Sadly the track was subsequently demolished and nothing now exists of it.
By the late 1970’s Spider had retired from competition and the frame was put into storage and has remained so up to the present time.”
In its’ original form the bike was made up with the following components:
Cinelli 66 bars and stem, a Unica saddle on a Campag twin bolt pin, Campag Pista chainset and pedals. Wheels were 28-spoke Campagnolo large-flange hubs on Mavic rims with the then very popular Clement 10 tubulars.
Posted: Wednesday 19th August 2020
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