"Drillium", Part I

The photos above are from http://www.velo-retro.com/, a terrific site for buying reprints of vintage T-shirt designs, vintage bike catalogs, reading the Campagnolo and Mavic timelines, and much more.

The components pictured above were made by Frank Spivey. You can read the detailed captions of the components at http://www.velo-retro.com/.

In the 1960s and 1970s, not unlike today, cyclists were interested in both reducing weight and customizing their bikes. This typically involved literally drilling out material from the components, and also removing what was viewed as other excess material. As Chuck Schmidt writes at www.velo-retro.com , "Drillium" was actually more about an obsession with one's bike and customizing the parts than it was about making the bike lighter."

Drillium, Part II will have photographs of the fixtures used work the components.