Sad News About Wilier

The last time I posted "sad" news about Wilier is was a rant about a guy destroying a rare frame, but this time it's actually sad news. The owner of Wilier, Lino Gastaldello (seen here with his son, Andrea) was killed last weekend during his regular Saturday morning ride when he was hit by a car. The 71 year-old was struck at about 10:30am and died in hospital a few hours later. Mr. Gastaldello was one of the people responsible for rescuing the grand old company from the doldrums and turning Wilier into one of Italy's best frame manufacturers, and will be missed by everyone involved with the company, Wilier fans (like me) and, of course, his family. More details here and here.

Ballan's World Champion Wilier

I didn't want to start the weekend on a downer, so following that Wiggins' article I though I better post some bike porn, sharpish! I like Alessandro Ballan, and I love Wilier, so I was pretty excited to see this World Champion edition Wilier Cento built specially for Bettini's successor. Sweet.

Wilier Tragedy!

I'm not a snob. At least, I'm not a snob about bikes. People can ride whatever they want to, and good luck to them. Track bikes on the street? Fine. Time trial bars on a cruiser? Grand. Risers with a drop stem? I actually think that looks good. But I draw the line at stupidity and ignorance. If you want a riser bar and deep v hipster bike, then just buy a cheap track frame and do it up, but don't fucking destroy a beautiful and rare vintage track frame! Jesus!! This was just brought to my attention, and I'm raging.

Before:
After:

ARGH!! I think I'm taking it so badly because I absolutely love Wiliers, and I know that late 70s Wilier track frames aren't very common. But also, just from an objective standpoint, it's offensive! Look at how beautiful that bike used to be, and look at how boring it is now. It looks like every other bike on the street: colourmatched deep vs, risers, ourys. It boggles the mind. How could anyone do this? How could someone look at that gorgeous vintage Wilier and think to themselves "Yeah, it's alright, but I think it would look better black." What has gone wrong with the world? Thanks to Brandon and FixedGearGallery for ruining my morning.

To the bloke who did this: you are a wanker.