Retro corner: 1990's Pinarello Paris

1990's Pinarello Paris

Pinarello has a great Tour de France record and in recent times have scored eight wins; Pedro Delgado in 1988, Miguel Indurian in 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95, followed by Bjarne Riis in 1996 and Jan Ullrich in 1997. Not forgetting Oscar Pereiro's second in 2006, or should that be first? Nor should we forget since Pinarello's beginnings in 1922 they have claimed wins across the World in many of the top races..

Alex Zulle could be seen sporting a carbon fibre stem

Deda dog fang or dobber

Selle Italia Turbomatic saddle sits on top of the beautiful polished titanium Record seat pin

Equipe mag was not the lightest of pedals... but at the time offered an exceptionally large platform

1999 Record Group

'My first modern (i.e. welded and not glued together) aluminium frameset'

correct graphics as the team bikes

Carbon Aria fork was a custom Pinarello design

Banesto Team Issue

Rohan Dubash reveals his love of Paris
My love of team bikes had taken a back seat for several years after the creation of my “Fignon replica “featured previously here on LeTourGuide.com. Indeed I had taken a few years rest from cycling and the cycle trade. Much had changed in my absence. http://www.protournews.com/news/images/

I will never forget that fateful day during the summer of 1998 when I popped into Cycles Dauphin, a shop I had worked in several years earlier. I was shown my first modern (i.e. welded and not glued together) aluminium frameset. It was a Pinarello Paris… with smooth welds, stunning paint and a custom (ahead!) carbon fibre fork the Paris was lighter, and to be frank, more desirable than any frame I had ever seen. Suddenly the bug was back but it would have to wait. Well, a little…

Not long after that brief encounter I actually started working back at the shop and despite being surrounded by so much beautiful kit the Paris was still “the one” and just kept egging me on…”go on you know you want to “ So, the decision was made, but it would not just be a random build…

Olano’s Vuelta win that year, together with the late, sometimes great, Jose Maria Jiminez’s superb mountain performances in the same race were the exploits that sealed the deal…A Banesto team replica seemed like the only sensible option. They ride Pinarello bikes, I love Pinarello bikes. They ride Campagnolo, I only ever use Campagnolo. Off we go then…

The first port of call was to secure a frame with the correct graphics as the team bikes were different from the standard grace blue option. Not as easy as I thought, but finally, after 8 months. That’s right, 8 months. My frame arrived, it was however worth the wait!. A brand new 1999 Record Group with the recently added carbon fibre levers had already been languishing in boxes under my workbench and due to Pinarello’s unprecedented speed of delivery I had also been afforded plenty of time to acquire all the other appropriate parts.

This build would include my first foray into the world of the factory built wheel, the Campagnolo Neutron. A wheel which I still believe set a benchmark for all others to aspire to. Light, strong surprisingly comfortable and rolling on the ever reliable and smooth Record hub internals they are still a joy to use to this day and have never once given me a moment’s trouble. The team obviously rode these wheels with tubular tyres but in a fit of practicality I opted to run Vittoria Open Corsa CX tyres (amber wall of course!) coupled with a latex tube and the ride quality is close….visually you can hardly tell ;-)

This project also introduced me to the Deda brand for the first time. Initially Banesto were seen running the curvaceous Zero model of stem combined with their 215 handlebar, but despite its streamlined clamping mechanism and clean lines the forged alloy stem was actually quite heavy.

Later that season Alex Zulle could be seen sporting a carbon fibre and alloy model which it turned out came from little known carbon specialist company WR Compositi. Pinarello themselves had sourced these stems but to assuage Deda who were one of the teams sponsors they fitted Deda decals to each side of the stem to keep the marketing guys happy. I couldn’t source these decals at the time so had some made by a friend in a graphics company to maintain absolute authenticity.

A Selle Italia Turbomatic saddle sits on top of the beautiful polished titanium Record seat pin and was used by many of the Banesto squad. As one of my all time favourite saddles no sacrifice in comfort or breach of team spec. would have to be made here…phew!

I had already been using Time pedals since 1988 so there was no compromise in this very personal area either. The Equipe mag was not the lightest of pedals especially when you factor in the cleat weight but at the time offered an exceptionally large platform combined with both angular and lateral float meaning that any rider with small biomechanical discrepancies was catered for…

To finish off a pair of Elite Cuissi stainless steel bottle cages, as per team issue, were fitted but I must confess that their low weight and springy material meant that a full 750 ml bottle was a bit of a liability. A Deda dog fang or dobber as I had affectionately named them was also sourced to emulate the tweak that the team mechanics had chosen to run. This was fitted on the seat tube, down next to the inner chain ring teeth, in an attempt to overcome the tendency that the Record front derailleur has to over shift when changing from the 53 to the 39 and spit the chain onto the bb shell. It works….

So there we have it, well nearly … Banesto’s handle bar tape choice was always one of the Spanish team’s little idiosyncrasies eschewing the ubiquitous cork in favour of some of the cheapest plastic tape you could ever wish to find. Luckily a friend of mine tracked some down while on holiday and brought me back a couple of packs with no hint of source or manufacturer…A little hard on the hands admittedly but strangely quite nice to use, giving a very positive feel to the bike…

My first ride on this bike was a revelation. The stiffness in the bottom bracket area and chain stays made the bike quick to react to sudden bursts of acceleration, a distinctive trait of a good alloy frame and a totally different feel to steel bikes of old. Is it faster, hard to say, and even harder to quantify. More immediate, yes definitely, The Carbon Aria fork previously mentioned was a custom Pinarello design and shares I think genes with Time carbon forks of the same era. Stiff in feel with uncanny vibration absorption this fork was noticeably better than many of its counterparts and contributes substantially to the overall feel of the bike…

I recently dug this bike out of retirement to get the photos you see here and re acquaint myself with the bike as a whole before writing this piece. You may be asking, have I ridden better bikes since? Well, Yes. But did riding this 1999 Paris still bring a smile to my face ? Absolutely, which is the whole point after all, isn’t it?

Bike specifications

Pinarello Paris frame. Dedaccai "Vires" custom drawn 7003 alloy tubeset. Pinarello Aria Fork. Special profile carbon fibre blades with foam fill. Steel steerer tube on early versions... Campagnolo Record Titanium 1999 group (This bike sports 175mm cranks with 53/39 chainrings and a 13-26 cassette which was fitted for the 2000 Pinarello Gran fondo) Campagnolo Nucleon wheels Vittoria CX open tubular tyres 700x23mm (deviation from team issue) Michelin Latex tubes (deviation from team issue) Deda 215 alloy handlebars in "Deep" pattern WR compositi Carbon handlebar stem Plastic waffle tape Selle Italia Turbomatic saddle Time equipe magnesium pedals Elite Cuissi stainless bottle cages and Deda dog fang fitted...