# Alan super



## bikebozo (Apr 21, 2022)

1985 , 55x55 full campy , any knowledge is appreciated , I am buying this bike , in about an hour


----------



## The Spokemaster (Apr 21, 2022)

Screwed and glued 😉 👍

First ones of these I saw was in 1974 ....the original 'Olympic' model ....the Polish national team all rode gold anodized Olympic models ....these guys were fantastically talented riders ....look up *Ryszard Szurkowski* on google = 








						Ryszard Szurkowski - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				



 , he rode the Alan frame ( although re-labeled as WAJA )

https://www.alamy.com/warsaw-poland...ot-jan-rozmarynowskiforum-image264649437.html ....on his WAJA ( Alan )

25.0 mm diameter seatpost used on those ALAN ....I had Charlie Cunningham make seatposts for me, fully trick s/p = seriously ultralight with a very special *magnesium* top ( later Charlie became legendary in the MTB realm, he created Rollercam brakes etc. )


----------



## bikerbluz (Apr 22, 2022)

Nice!


----------



## juvela (Apr 22, 2022)

-----

this blog carries much Alan information

lots to explore...






						Fabio Farelli
					

De Eerste Enige Echte Rooms-Katholieke Nederlandse Wieler Blog




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com
				




---






						History
					

VITUS HISTORY Vitus is an iconic bicycle company born in France as a high-end steel tubing manufacturer in the 1930s and became one of the most sought after high-end race frames as we established ourselves as a frame brand in the 1970's. Our rich heritage in road cycling and pioneering role in...




					vitusbikes.com
				





-----


----------



## The Spokemaster (Apr 23, 2022)

Fabio Farelli blog has 29 photos ....only 11 of them have any Alan bicycles shown ....scant Alan info.

Fabio Farelli blog gives interesting photos of Erik Breukink ( a very good rider ) riding Colnago and then Gazelle bicycles, ( he also rode Concorde, Look and Lotus bicycles ).... but, no photos of him riding Alan

Vitus ( France ) and Alan ( Italy ) ....*NOT* related in any way at all ....they were manufacturing 'competitors' to one another


----------



## fabio farelli (Apr 23, 2022)

The Spokemaster said:


> Fabio Farelli blog has 29 photos ....only 11 of them have any Alan bicycles shown ....scant Alan info.
> 
> Fabio Farelli blog gives interesting photos of Erik Breukink ( a very good rider ) riding Colnago and then Gazelle bicycles, ( he also rode Concorde, Look and Lotus bicycles ).... but, no photos of him riding Alan
> 
> Vitus ( France ) and Alan ( Italy ) ....*NOT* related in any way at all




Sorry to introduce myself here this way but it seems you missed some things. 
And indeed, Breukink did not ride Alan and the connection between Alan and Vitus is thin, both alu and about the same time, that's it.






						Fabio Farelli
					

De Eerste Enige Echte Rooms-Katholieke Nederlandse Wieler Blog




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com
				











						Alan Octrooien van Lodovico Falconi
					

klik hier  voor het zoekresultaat bij het europees octrooibureau in den haag    Official Gazette of the United States Patent and ...




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com
				











						Alan Flyers, Catalogs and Tests (incl. Colnago Dual/Carbitubo)
					

1972/1973 1972/1973 1972/1973 1972/1973 1972/1973 1972/1973 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1977 1977 1977 19...




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com
				











						Alan Determinatie Kaart
					

Versie 3.5, dank Piero Zanini.




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com
				











						Alan Ploegen
					

wega-gbc, 1975     jan van erp-saicis, 1975       teka, 1976      furzi-vibor, 1976     magniflex-torpado, ...




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com
				











						Farelli's Alans
					

53x54, record, record486       52x53, super record, alan583        54x54, cx, alan681      53x54, competition, 1979         53x54, com...




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com
				











						Farelli's Alan Truikes
					

Alan, 2012?   SC Michela Fanini-Record-Rox, 2004?             Alan, 2002      Gerber-Alan, 1995       Amore&Vita-Galatron, 1995, special edi...




					fabiofarelli.blogspot.com


----------



## The Spokemaster (Apr 23, 2022)

Ahh, that looks like the Alan information that was certainly missing from the earlier post ....cool stuff is all there now

Seemingly, the engineering principle of 'Youngs modulus' escaped Alan in their early versions, the later versions took that engineering principle into account and the form of the frames were substantially changed to reflect that insightful knowledge

I see from the info. now posted, that there is a Alan 'road test' done by Gary Fisher ....I have a very humorous story about another road test he 'wrote' on a different bicycle that had to be re-written ....too long to go into here

Sadly, the last time I drove past the old location of Mel Pinto it had become a 'thrift' store, I remember well, buying Alan Olympic frames from MPI and the excitement every time a new one arrived, some may think those were 'the good old days', that's an illusion, exactly '*right now*', _*ARE*_ 'the good old days ! ....and the Jacobs Corporation is long-gone too, I remember buying many, many Italian-made cycling shoes from them

Very cool photo of Hennie Kuiper riding for Rokado, 'at speed' on his Alan Olympic ....what do you want to bet he's got OR7 rims on those wheels ?....I remember when he won the Olympic road race ....he's 75 years old now ?....doesn't seem possible ! ....*ouch !*, I just got 'thumped' by the persistence of time !


----------



## fabio farelli (Apr 23, 2022)

The Spokemaster said:


> Very cool photo of Hennie Kuiper riding for Rokado, 'at speed' on his Alan Olympic ....what do you want to bet he's got OR7 rims on those wheels ?....I remember when he won the Olympic road race ....he's 75 years old now ?....doesn't seem possible ! ....*ouch !*, I just got 'thumped' by the persistence of time !




Here Kuiper in the first half of '73, as his age is now. 
I'm not familiar with the type indication 'Olympic', those years there was only the Competition. A US thing?


----------



## The Spokemaster (Apr 23, 2022)

Yeah, quite likely ....the distributor we bought them from always called them 'Olympic' ( it was the familiar 1st generation Alan, the one with the 'nearly-round' fork blades ) ....might have something to do with the 'stamped' detail on the *front* of the Alan headtube lug that looks like the wreath that ancient Olympians wore on their heads....hence, 'Olympic' for those first generation Alan frames ....would not surprise me if it was called 'Competition' on your side of the pond ....I still recall the 'glossy' catalog from Suntour where the 'lockring' that came with the Suntour track hubs was referred to *IN THEIR GLOSSY CATALOG* as a 'rockring', yes, with a 'r' at the beginning of the word....very nice hubs, unfortunate mis-spelling for such a fundamental part ....it still brings a smile to my face ='rockring', _oh boy_ -I would guess that Suntour simply did not want to pay a few dollars for a 'proofreader' prior to the printing of those nice glossy catalogs 😉 🤔


----------



## The Spokemaster (Apr 23, 2022)

BTW -that photo of Kuiper ....it looks like he may be in a 'skid' ....rear brake looks like he may have it 'locked up' ....his eyes and head are oriented so it appears he is about to make a 'left-turn' ....his front wheel does not appear properly oriented for a left turn ....rear wheel looks like it might be 'drifting' out to his right ....bad road surface along with the combined mud could easily result in a 'skid' while cornering

I actually snapped a photo of Greg Lemond years ago when he was in 'mid-air / free-fall' to a crash....his bicycle has the very end of his right pedal about 4 inches above the pavement and he has his right arm extended straight out to 'support' himself from the coming crash ....essentially, his bicycle was nearly horizontal, but his body had not yet 'contacted' the road ....he was in *mid-air* on his way down when I snapped the photo ....he did then actually crash right in front of me and wound up laying on his side in the road, a 'scramble' then came with spectators picking him up off the road, helping him 'remount', then 'throwing/pushing' him so he could get back in the race ....I always thought I should get that "one-of-a-kind" photo printed onto a coffee mug


----------



## fabio farelli (Apr 24, 2022)

The Spokemaster said:


> BTW -that photo of Kuiper ....it looks like he may be in a 'skid' ....rear brake looks like he may have it 'locked up' ....his eyes and head are oriented so it appears he is about to make a 'left-turn' ....his front wheel does not appear properly oriented for a left turn ....rear wheel looks like it might be 'drifting' out to his right ....bad road surface along with the combined mud could easily result in a 'skid' while cornering




He just finished his first Paris-Roubaix.


----------



## fabio farelli (Apr 24, 2022)

bikebozo said:


> 1985 , 55x55 full campy , any knowledge is appreciated , I am buying this bike , in about an hour
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 1611460




And? You like it? Has it the flattened top tube?


----------



## Schwinny (Apr 24, 2022)

Strange that I look on CL this weekend and there is an Alan for sale 2 blocks away from me.
Looks to be in great shape. you can see it on Des Moines CL.


----------



## bikebozo (Apr 24, 2022)

Yes , flat top tube , number record186


----------



## fabio farelli (Apr 24, 2022)

bikebozo said:


> Yes , flat top tube , number record186



In my opinion the most beautiful model from Alan, congrats!


----------



## bikebozo (Apr 24, 2022)

Thank you ,


----------



## The Spokemaster (Apr 24, 2022)

*l'enfer du Nord*


----------

