Tag

trackbikes Archivi - Cinelli

16 Dicembre 2022
3

How We First Met #4: Bibi Enriquez and Cinelli Vigorelli “Shark”

By | News, True Stories | No Comments

Bibiana Enriquez  is a fixture of the Oakland fixed gear scene.
From a background in competitive running she has slowly morphed into alley cat and crit racer as well as face of new, more diverse, wave of San Francisco riders. Here she tells us the story of how she got into track bike riding and her beloved 2020 Cinelli Vigorelli Shark.

 

I’ve been riding bikes and doing sport since forever. All my childhood I was a competitive runner from age 6 onwards.

I competed at the Junior Olympics in 2018 and won the silver medal for Mexico in the 5k. I was Norcal champ in my sophomore year and had a full scholarship at USF. In 2020 I tore my harmstring 90% and had to more or less give up running competitively.

The only thing they told me I could for my rehab was bike riding. I’d be limping around when I was walking but on the bike I felt no pain…

 

 

 

I started riding fixed seven years ago.

One weekend I was in downtown Oakland, at Lake Merritt, I was there with my regular bike that I used for riding everywhere… and I saw this guy riding backwards and I asked how is that even possible and somebody told me it was a fixed gear.

I looked around and saw tons of groups of people riding the same kinds of bikes… so that day I decided I wanted to buy a fixed gear too.
I didn’t know what kind of bike I wanted exactly, I just bought an old steel bike and put a fixed hub on the back.

Some people say I was the first Oakland girl to ride fixed

 

“In 2020 Shaun called me and said to me a Cinelli Shark is coming in today come check it out.
I went down and the very same day I cashed out.”

 

Because of my new interest I discovered the shop King Kog and started going there all the time. Each week they’d have some new frames in and I’d go check them out and Shaun, who is my main guy at the shop, would explain them to me.

One time there was a bike I thought was so beautiful I asked what’s that? They said “Oh that’s a Cinelli”. It was beautiful but so expensive and I would have been afraid of breaking or scratching it.

In 2020 Shaun called me and said to me a Cinelli Shark is coming in today come check it out. I went down and the very same day I cashed out.

Because of the sparkles in the paint, the shape of the tubes, everything. I had to have it! I built it up as my race frame for alleycats and the Mission crit but whenever I ride it around town people stop me and comment it especially at time when the paint sparkles… I also always flip the bike to show people the “shark fin”…

These days I prefer competing on the bike to running… I ride everywhere commuting to build my condition which means training is much easier to fit in around work unlike when I was running which was almost like a full-time job… The bike community here in Oakland is great and mixed and for me riding fixed and the visibility it has given me is kind of a social platform.

There is not a lot of women, especially women of colour, riding round here and I love inspiring people to keep riding more or start riding.

 

Discover more about the NEW Vigorelli coming back in stock very soon.

24 Novembre 2022
1

How We First Met #3: Eric Scaggiante and Cinelli Vigorelli “Vigorosa”

By | News, True Stories | No Comments

Eric Scaggiante is a Milan-based fashion and street photographer as well as proud owner of the Vigorelli Vigorosa (his first track bike) and the world’s youngest ever finisher of the legendary unsupported endurance Silk Road Mountain Race.

We sat down with him in Milan and asked him about how him and Vigorosa met and what cycling has meant to him culturally over the last ten years.

 

If I’m a photographer today it’s thanks to my passion for cycling, which was the first important passion of my life.

I grew up in Spinea, a small town near Venice, and always loved cycling. As a kid for me it was a first taste of independence, and of speed.

But my real passion started in around 2013 when I first discovered the world of alley cat races and fixed gear bikes which at that moment, in Italy at least, were in full boom. I was initiated into this world by the ragazzi of TrueHardcoreCycle (THC).

After discovering this world I immediately started looking to buy a track bike for myself. One day on Subito [an Italian second-hand listings website – ED] I came across a listing for a Cinelli Vigorelli Vigorosa for sale in Treviso, fully-built up, for only €560! A real deal! I was so excited I immediately counted up all my savings from little jobs I’d done and sold anything I owned that had value and managed to scrape together the money to buy it.

 

 

“I can still remember how much fun I had on that bike… I rode it everywhere, so much so that my first – and probably only – nickname was “Vigo”.”

 

 

Among the most important races I rode with my Vigorelli I remember in particular my first Respvblica, Italy’s greatest fixed gear hill-bombing race, organized around Genova by SCVDO.

Through this scene and its races I subsequently met another a cyclist called Cesare Pedrini, from Bologna, who at the time was preparing to ride the Transcontinental Race on a fixed-gear. Through him I discovered another new cycling world: unsupported ultra-cycling.

To cut a very long story short I too became interested in ultra-cycling and in 2019 shortly after graduating from high school I flew to Kyrgyzstan where I celebrated my 19th birthday alone in a hotel room and two days later set off to ride the Silk Road Mountain Race. The race was my personal chimera, the single most beautiful, challenging, intense experience of my life. I completed the race becoming the youngest ever finisher and, upon my return to Italy, started my first job, at 3T in Bergamo.

With my first paycheck I bought a camera and from there discovered a new passion. Soon after I quit and began my career as a photographer… But the genesis of everything was the purchase of my Vigorelli Vigorosa for €560 in 2014!

Discover more about the upcoming release of the newly redesigned version of the legendary original “Vigorosa” paint scheme.

CLICK HERE to receive early access to purchase the limited edition frame before its public release!

14 Novembre 2022
15

How We First Met #1: Anton’s Vigorelli

By | News, True Stories | No Comments

Anton Kuznetzov aka @antonbentframe is a young Russian ramen chef living in St Petersburg.

Earlier this year a video of him executing a “fish and chips” underneath the security barrier of a car park – that is sliding his bicycle and torso in a 360° rotation, what he calls a “normal trick” – became a viral sensation, evoking the ultimate, original, dream of urban track bike riding i.e. the ability to seamlessly adapt in motion to any obstacle whatsoever with perfect composure.

The bike ridden by Anton in this video was a 2016 Cinelli Vigorelli Alu. We called up Anton to ask him more about himself and how Vigorelli and him first met.

 

 

 

 

I started cycling in 2014. My first bike was a track bike Fuji steel track frame. I started riding because I wanted to do tricks and track bikes were popular in St Petersburg.

I immediately got hooked on riding track and for two years I even became a full time messenger.

The first time I saw a Cinelli trackbike was also in 2014, on a video on the internet.
In 2020 I finally bought my own Cinelli Vigorelli through a friend who got it on the blackmarket in Europe and brought it back to Russia.

In Russia it’s hard to buy Cinelli, it was hard then, even harder now… but I wanted  the Vigorelli because of its history, its design and the geometry which for me was perfect.
I was so excited to finally own it! 

 

 

 

These days I am riding my Vigorelli everywhere not just because I like it but for a more important reason: to avoid the police.

A month ago I received my mobilization papers to join the army but I don’t want to have anything to do with this war which only Putin wants.

If you ride the metro or walk around main areas there is always police asking for your documents. On my bike I stay free and off the radar.

 

 

I have taken this bike around Russia racing alleycats in different cities, people always comment on the frame.

In the whole of St Petersburg there are about 25 Cinelli bikes.
Often all the owners meet up and ride together… St Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia and today has maybe the biggest track bike scene.
My guess is that there are about 500 people on the streets currently riding track bikes.

Riding on the streets here is intense, racing against crazy Russian drivers…

 

 

 

My usual set up for the Vigorelli is 43×15 gearing (I just switched from 48×17) with Enve carbon riser bars (15mm rise, 680mm wide) and Vans cult grips for everyday use.

I love these bars and set ups for everyday riding, alleycats and tricks; I’m comfortable, have maximum control of the bike and can achieve a good fit. That said I am now looking to buy some 40mm carbon drop bars for short drag races where an aerodynamic position is advantageous.

When I have to ride mudguards I used a rollable from Mudguard company. Seatpost and stem are Thomson.
Wheelset is cheap because tricks often break bearings or rims.

Other interesting parts: Zodiak moscon chainring and cog, Izumi-Mash chain and a titanium top cap from Oh Sweet Ghetto… drop bars for racing. 

Follow our instagram profile @cinelli_official for more adventures and original stories!

And if you are curious about the Vigorelli frame, check out our website and stay updated because we might be having something special for you in the next weeks!

Pictures: Anton Seleznev