Stars and Watercarriers

[@handlebarchap898]

I ride a 1981 Colnago Super and its still an abslute joy. The confident click of campagnolo, buzz of the freewheel and stability and speed is fantastic. Even the wool jerseys are ok!

[@macmanmanny3983]

And beer? like @ 42:15?

[@kiwiguy4764]

Such memories at this time I started racing in New Zealand as a junior rider first place was a 2$(nz) gift certificate for a local bike shop and a glass fruit bowl or something similar as a 12 year old boy never as proud again in my life to win anything didnt do it for money or fame it was a high unlike anything else to finish a race merckx was a living hero thanks for the time slip

[@roadglide]

Another beautiful race of hard men riding minimalist steel and elegantly laced spoked bicycles. Even today under the power of fit individuals would hold it’s own against any of today’s over marketed and priced carbon. Steel has always been real. The whole combination together is amazingly smooth and lively in a special way. Ride safe and ride often. Peace.

[@charlificity]

The commentary on the time trial was simply poetry. Makes you want to hop on your bike and power down to the shops.

[@abdul-kabiralegbe5660]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@stevestewart-sturges2159]

I have seen this before but never stop marvelling at the pure tenacity, power and grace of the racing back then. Seeing Eddy being the savage, destroying everyone day after day.. My knees and back ached just looking at that cadence and the size of the gears going uphill, what was it, 42 and 52 front rings, and maybe a 5 speed block with a 23...? younger cyclists should be watching videos like this one and A Sunday in Hell, to see just how brutal and committed these cyclists were back then. Thank you for this amazing video....!

[@classiccycling48592]

Glad you liked it

[@rojkar1300]

@@classiccycling48592 Its the same director Jørn Leth, that made A sunday in hell.

[@pauldarling330]

I started riding a nuevo record Raleigh pro set up like most of these. It was a 52/45 with a 14-24 5 speed cassette. 172.5 cranks. Brutal.

[@stevestewart-sturges2159]

@@pauldarling330 That's intense, you know now why some of those guys got that real faraway look grinding up a mountain pass... hard men...

[@loonranger469]

Not a power meter in sight. Proper racing. Pure instinct, not by numbers

[@juanshaftpatel7488]

ok boomer

[@lipsterman1]

The bicycles of today are faster and more dependable. The bicycles of this era are WORKS OF ART!

[@Penfold-zr2be]

Lipsterman. They aren't more dependable. Electronic gears, disc brakes, thinner chains all add up to more things that can (and do) go wrong. Simplicity tends to equate to more reliability and ease of maintenance.

[@lipsterman1]

@@Penfold-zr2be I'm going by my personal experience.

[@trackie1957]

Bike races sounded great back then with the collective buzz of the silk or cotton tubular tires glued to thin aluminum rims on steel spokes. Like a million bees swarming.

[@brianbuday8639]

I love the collective hiss of those old free wheels. Steak for breakfast ! Crazy epic time! 🇨🇦😎

[@ViveSemelBeneVivere]

And wine in the earlier days when they were given food and wine by the roadside spectators. By the end they were well oiled like their chains!

[@larrbrown7277]

👍👍

[@martmako1]

this is fantastic, amazing footage of all the superstar riders from that era, such classy rigs and jerseys, superb aesthetically classic designs and quality Campagnolo components made for top notch racing in the best Grand Tour in my view, grazie mille

[@roadglide]

100% accurate.

[@dewindoethdwl2798]

Alloy & carbon frames, as amazing as they are, just don’t seem to have the aesthetic “lightness” of the steel ones.

[@HarrySinanian]

Imagine the camera they are carrying!! awesome post

[@aBRUSHforCONFUCIUS]

Nothing better than Columbus or Reynolds tubing. Very smooth ride and the most responsive handling. Carbon fiber feels dead, aluminum is jittery and titanium lags. Steel is also best going down hill. I miss riding.

[@death2pc]

Beyond platinum............... Untouchable. Thank you Jørgen Leth!

[@Sills71]

They were racing in WOOL shorts... with a Chamois pad and shoes with wooden soles....

[@robertmuncaster3510]

Great music too.

[@joelsavrimuthu4404]

The best of the best history I have ever seen and heard about cycling thanks you very much Sir. From a great fan of your blog Sir. Joël from Mauritius.

[@classiccycling48592]

So nice of you

[@ucheucheuche]

8:14 Cosy chat. 😏 The narration is so laid back, with plenty gaps to take in visuals. Done right.

Very very good movie ! A real gem that explains with accuracy and poetry the cyclist’s condition. By the way, a great archive about what this sport was at its core : courage, suffering, solitude, a form of madness.

[@cliffcox7643]

Great movie.

[@peterpfenninger8990]

Toller Film, Tonspur schlicht genial, die ganzen philosophischen Ergüsse mit einem grossen Augenzwinkern genehmigt und hab grosse Lust, das alte Rad nochmals aus dem Keller zu holen. Aber leider bin ich auch gealtert;-)

[@adjusted-bunny]

Komm,.hol das alte Rad aus dem Keller! So alt bist du gar nicht.

[@peterpfenninger8990]

Hast recht, ich bin dabei ;-)

[@hebehall]

Brilliant. Good to see my hero Kuiper mixing it up with the big boys in the mountains. Great upload and much appreciated

[@rhobi-jb9um]

What's amazing is how fast they were on those old bikes. What we ride today are like spaceships by comparison!

[@trackie1957]

Those old bikes were far more capable than you think, especially if you are only familiar with today’s machines. Perhaps the biggest improvement is not index shifting or even clipless pedals but the frame stiffness that provides greater stability on descents. Can you imagine being a descending specialist on alpine dirt roads?

[@zacharycat603]

The lighter stiffer frames, more gears and faster shifting speed up the climbs. The biggest difference might be the time trials where nobody had the aerodynamic gear they have today. They mostly just rode their regular road machines.

[@trackie1957]

@@zacharycat603 Yes, and the new bikes are several pounds lighter, but for most of us, that’s over rated. For the pros, hoisting a few extra Kg over a few passes makes a difference. The rest of us can shed a few Kg off our bodies and feel a greater difference! Sorry for the mixed units..,

[@gammondog]

01:10:15 I wonder if those bottles were in cork sleeves. Soaking in water so that as it evaporates it cools down the contents of the bottle.

[@aledge6317]

love this

[@glennoc8585]

All done on hard gearing and 9kg bikes too. Look how well dressed the Italian spectators are.

[@roadyeti3697]

@ 10:00 "Sent two of his strongest henchmen". Well, it is Il Giro d'Italia ; ) Great doc

[@nickmcmaster7434]

Brilliant!

[@sebk3922]

Amazing, thankyou. :)

[@edwoodsnowden]

Wow this is amazing thanks for uploading!

[@classiccycling48592]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tinmachine693]

What year did they stop invading bars????

[@adjusted-bunny]

Not only had they stronger legs but stronger hair, too.

[@Jharfouch]

thanks

[@patrickj4747]

They turn some big gears.

[@lobserve1]

23:10 mid race interviews?

[@jaysoper3974]

#1 again - who else? Merckx!

[@adjusted-bunny]

9:46 Not fair! He's using a smart phone!

[@mauchi930]

😂

[@nielskjr5432]

Ole Ritter was a time trial specialist. Always in a lower gear and with longer cranks than the others. Not like Merckx or Swerts. Who can push the highest gear?

[@nicky.hamlyn]

'Beer for his comrades'? @ 42' 13"!

[@krisjones74]

@ 12:58 we see the Olympic Champion Queefer. I guess queefing is a winter sport and she does cycling in the summer.

[@kevinmckechnie456]

Merckx could have used a can of wheelsucker repellent. He's typically dragging the whole peloton up the road.

[@maxw5229]

Got the juice

[@charlieboy7502]

Beer soft drinks for the easy ride on the flats...... um that's easy? Also a beer too? I guess you need those carbs

[@cdogensis6392]

So essentially... Merckx would use up his domestiques to wear the field down, then he'd take over on domestique duties to force the issue, then he'd disappear into the sunset for the win

[@fabioqueiros9322]

And nowadays people think Froome’s victories were boring and that Merckx was the gold standard when their tactics were not too different 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@cdogensis6392]

@@fabioqueiros9322 Well put. Froome's solo ride to Giro glory a couple of years back, was pure Merckx

[@yourrightiamwrong9643]

@@cdogensis6392 not to mention his bizarr career, from being a white kid among local african cyclist, to winning the Vuelta retroactively. Most people know absolute nothing about him other than doping conspiracy.

[@trackie1957]

@@fabioqueiros9322 True, but Merckx won all year round, one day classics, grand tours even track. Nobody is that well rounded today.

[@ringscircles142]

bar end shifters?

[@trackie1957]

Yup. They were more popular in criterium and cyclocross, though. When I built my first road bike back in ‘74 it HAD to have Suntour bar ends!

[@LucasEmanuelSerrano]

how many sticky moments haha

[@adjusted-bunny]

It's so sad that this is only nostalgia today. I remember the women to be more hairy and smelly.

[@nielskjr5432]

Hear hear!

[@tinmachine693]

Was that a good or bad thing? The hairy smelly women that is?

[@PaulTomblin]

How are they letting the camera get ahead of that guy in the ITT?

[@BrunoCostaBarreto]

What is the year of this documentary? Please?

[@domestique3954]

Bruno Costa Barreto 1973 🤙

[@martin3203]

It was released in 1974.

[@lntersteIIa5555]

canzone a 14:50 ?

[@ViveSemelBeneVivere]

What is the name of the piano soundtrack?

[@momo1momo]

An historical document, a tribute to when road racing was real.

[@omer_an]

Eddy Merckx is a shame for cycling sports as he used drugs in several races abusing the time and the efforts of hundreds other riders.

[@zacharycat603]

Merckx was an animal! Wonder what drugs it took to win back in those days.

[@andrewhtf]

Look ma, no helmet!!!

[@Mike-zb7ts]

Love it. Before cyclists started looking ridiculous in the helmets, bug eye glasses, long socks, etc. I can't watch the sport these days without cringing. I remember back in '86 when the USCF instituted the hard shell helmet rule. People went apes**t. We buckled, obviously. And now everyone looks stupid. When they did the same thing with the pros in '90 or '91 there were rider revolts. Guys actually getting off their bikes and refusing to race. Classic. Helmet nannies be damned.

[@harrykuntz878]

I only started back cycling with the lockdown on an old mountain bike . I moved on to a 2006 trek alloy frame road bike on which I done 64 miles one day followed by 101 miles the day after . I had no helmet clip less shoes or any kind of clips . I have clip less shoes now and I wear a helmet too because I remembered I got concussion and ended up in hospital because of it twice before after I crashed of bikes when I was young . It's my head my choice I don't question other people's choices in life or care what they think about what I do . Recently a child asked me why don't you take off your helmet and cycle like a man . I said why don't you mind your own Business go bang your own head if you want . I have flashing lights on in the day time too not to fit in with the in crowd but to stand out do partially sighted road users see me . A helmet is only good in a crash up to 30mph anyway but last two times I was going slower . Wearing dark clothes and no flashing lights at dusk or in the shade of trees is just asking for it . Dim wits drive around with cheap badly scratched greasy smudge sun glasses while driving they can't see for shit out of them but hey they feel like the look very cool and sexy and that's all that matters . Some things were better in the past but I like being in the present I like the new technology available to me . I can study any subject I like . I have gone mad cycling and I have acquired a lot of knowledge on the subject on the internet and I have set my bike up great it is the right size for me and I have fitted it perfect for me and I have the best of gear . How ever my main interest now is classic cycling racing and old steel frame racers . I intend on buying a nice one for summer rides .

[@4791_]

How do they know their speed when they were racing? They don't have any speedometer on their bikes.

[@asamusicdude]

cars can gauge speed by going the same speed as riders

[@bill21967]

Shocking how little they are paid, see around 47:00 minutes

[@LB1973]

its 1973 - add a zero and a wee bit for pounds today. (100 = 1063 today)

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

Pretty much why until well into 80s even successful riders had to race all year round. Good agent also help too, that why in the past there were many alliance between rivals to denied another represented by rival agent

[@Surfmus]

No helmet needed. Lol!

[@Nwa_dw]

and no mask...

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

Fuente not in great form, so no one challenge Merckx in high mountains until last days. Gimondi in fine form, but not good enough in the first week and a half. Battaglin was impressive, but his lacked of experience cost him 2nd place when he was caught in a split in Peloton. Panizza, Peseradona, De Vlaeminck, Ritter, Kuiper, and Moser were in good shape for top 5 GC, stage victory and secondary jerseys.

[@Mike-zb7ts]

Wow, beautiful. Before cyclists looked absolutely ridiculous in their helmets, long socks, bug eye glasses, etc. I can't even watch the sport anymore without cringing.

[@lobserve1]

You have a problem with cyclists wearing helmets because you don't like the look?

[@Mike-zb7ts]

@@lobserve1 I think helmets look stupid, yes. Cyclists are perfectly free to wear them, of course. I just can't watch. Have a nice day.

[@Bayo106]

@@Mike-zb7ts they did look cooler then but its safer now

[@Mike-zb7ts]

@@Bayo106 It certainly is. As would driving be with mandatory roll cages in all vehicles, fire suits, helmets, etc. In fact, YOU would be safer if you used such things each day. Do you? And if not, why not? And since we're speaking of safety, do you drive the speed limit? Over? And even if you do drive the speed limit, would you not be much safer driving well under the speed limit? And staying off freeways, of course. Really, though, driving is fraught with hazards. How about running? Seems much safer than either driving or cycling. Of course, I've seen runners trip. Not only that, I've seen runners hit their heads! Perhaps a well-ventilated running helmet of some sort would be appropriate? And what of young children? Have you ever seen 1st graders tearing around a playground? Running, tripping, jumping, falling, pushing, etc. Little savages they are. I'm sure you are aware of the several accidents that occur each year as a result of this rough play. I have no doubt we could cut down on these unnecessary injuries if all children wore a rigid body suit of some sort. No doubt this would cut down on twisted ankles, strains, sprains, etc. Oh, and helmets. Lest we forget the helmets. Forgive my ramblings, Bayo. I absolutely agree with you. Cycling IS much safer. I'm simply pointing out (in a playful, sort of "a**h**e kind of way) that life is filled with risk. And whether or not you are aware of it, you make a thousand decisions a day that balance risk and reward. Just imagine the next time a wall mounted microwave falls from a wall and lands on a young child. No doubt there will be calls from consumer safety advocates for all microwaves to come with a special bracket that is 10x stronger, more secure, that probably adds $500 to the price. And the reasoning behind it will be iron clad, "It's for safety. Don't we all want to save the lives of children?" Simply because something IS safer does not necessarily make it a required course of action. Also, it does not mean that those people who do not take all risk mitigation steps are terrible people who want others to die. Long live cycling! :)

[@trackie1957]

@@Mike-zb7ts One thing about life - nobody gets out alive.

[@zacharycat603]

Wool jerseys and downtube shifters, those were the days.

[@PInk77W1]

All black shorts was the rule in those days

[@valeenoi2284]

Where are the steriods?

[@andrewcooper3393]

2006 Tour de France

[@classiccycling48592]

No, I am sorry. I don't have that

[@tinmachine693]

Short sleeves, short shorts, short socks = a less ridiculous sun tan