iab

I wouldn't own a Trump jersey because it is fugly.

But a bike and a jersey represent different things. The bike is merely a tool, a jersey represents something. But that is even a gray area. Bartali worn fascist-Italy jerseys yet was no friend of the fascists.

SurferRosa

If you have Prime Video, the documentary, My Italian Secret: the Forgotten Heroes (2014) is available.

iab

I'm a fan.

Basement45 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Nemosengineer 

I admire the French for going their own way as far as engineering and style goes, after all they invented the metric system and Paris where the world goes to get their freak on.
The Italians gave us art, design, Enzo, Ernesto, Tullio, and some really good looking suits.
England proved you really can have world domination ran from a small island. The home of James Bond 007, Austin Powers, and the real Mini Cooper. First they invented the industrial revolution then they invented the bodge.
The United States had a pair of bicycle mechanics named Orville and Wilbur that built the first controllable airplane and possibly invented the kludge (see bodge) then we went to the moon.
So in the grand scheme of things we all accomplished this together and in some significant way the bicycle helped us along.
I love all bicycles.




: Mike

sheddle

The closest thing I can think of: I'd love to own one of the vintage Basque coop brands if possible, because I extremely support worker co-ops.

Also it's more attainable than anything Soviet.

RobbieTunes

+1
Especially at a party with British Royal Marines and Australians.
I don’t even know what we were drinking. It didn’t really matter.
It was kind of blue. We called it Aqua Velva.

Hudson308 

Nope.
My Paramount frame was brazed in Chicago by a woman, using English tubing, then fitted with Italian, French, British, American, Japanese and Swiss-made components.

mstateglfr 

I'll say that culture influences my bike purchases and interests, sure.

I got into c&v due to my interest in the globalization of manufacturing within the industry. Japan was a major manufacturer of goods when i was growing up and so ive always geeked on road bikes from Japan from the 70s and 80s.

its really simple and nothing more complex.

Slightspeed

Never gave it a thought. I just ride.
Cars too.

polymorphself 

Politics and nationalism? No.

Culture? This may potentially make me interested in certain manufacturers and stylistic choices, but would never steer me away from any bike.

I’ve grown up very close to Japanese culture and lived in Japan, so some things about Japanese bikes strike me as interesting in a way they wouldn’t with other bikes, but I don’t have a thing for Japanese bikes in general.

The mid century French randonneurs are another instance in which culture is intrinsically tied to the bicycles and makes some things about them exclusively interesting.

beicster 

I like that different countries/cultures had different approaches and I like learning about those differences. Currently, I am into English cycling because a few years ago my wife brought home a Raleigh Super Course frame and a box full of parts she found at an estate sale. Recently, that led me to the Rough Stuff Fellowship and I am now the proud owner of the book they published. I admire their desire to ride wherever they want without fear of obstacles. If it requires using a rope to move the bikes down a cliff, so be it. It helps that they just look so darn ordinary in most of the pictures. Just a bunch of folks out for a ride.

A few months ago a search on "531" on eBay led me to a RIH frame that looked interesting. I did not end up buying it but I learned a lot about Dutch bikes and Dutch bike culture in the process of researching the frame. I continue to have an interest in Dutch bikes that may turn into a frame purchase in the future. I really have no idea which culture I'll learn about next.

xiaoman1 

Kanpai!
Best, Ben

robertorolfo

I haven't seen that documentary, so can I ask what it was that disturbed you? If anything, Napoli is usually on the receiving end of it (and I suspect they do sort of enjoy it that way), so what was going on? Some Juve supporters upset that Maradona was way better, and more appealing, than Platini?

For that same sort of reasoning and feel, but at a much easier price point, I bought a couple of Vostok (Bostok) watches. They are very cool in their own way, and you don't have to worry about losing or damaging them.

Yes, much better to wear your pajama pants and slippers to the local super-store, than to be perceived as flashy or gaudy, right? See what I did there? I kid, but perspective...

Whoah, you had an original "Go Pre" shirt? What are those worth these days? Did you get to see him run in the flesh?

Sluggo

Orbea is part of the Mondragon cooperative.

Sluggo

I don't like to support Evil Geniuses that plot world domination, so I try to avoid Shimano, but not always successfully.

SurferRosa

The mob, in-unison, racist chanting, for one. Later, the complete turn on Maradona after he beat the Italian team in the WC, to the point they tried to destroy him. I assume Fausto Coppi experienced it, too. Maybe to the point it led to his death. Just all rather disgusting behavior.

3dvvitch 

I think it's interesting living in a state that had so much bicycle and component production going on just a few years ago- Klein, Softride, Control tech, Machine tech, Sandvik, TST. As such I think it's kind of neat to collect truly local bike stuff. In terms of geography, I don't feel any kind of way about US made bikes in general, that's too generic to be meaningful. But if I can drive half and hour to see the factory where something was made? That's interesting. I would LOVE to own a Halson Inversion fork some day specifically because I'm from Oregon originally.

As far as culture/politics, I​​​​​​ also do pay some attention to when bike brands claim to be for inclusion and whatnot but then support team riders or policies that actually hurt people or foster hostile exclusivity, so I absolutely avoid Trek for example, and have developed something like a begrudging respect for Specialized, with all of their funding support for cool accessibility organizations. And I always thought owning an Orbea would be interesting because of the whole Mondragon collective/cooperative association.

Paramount1973 

I care about frame tubing quality and tire width capability, wider is better.

Fahrenheit531 

I'm anti-French because all the measurements are wierd and exclusive.

I'm pro-Japanese for compatibility, dependability, availability, and affordability.

Beyond that, nope. Just whatever's cool.

Wildwood 

Don't celebrate too much.
My boss (the CEO) made all the sales calls to Eastern Europe and swears the celebratory Vodka toasts were more numerous than sakei & liquor shots.
This was back in the '80s.

xiaoman1 

Nostrovia! and one more, for Mother Russia!
Best, Ben

sincos

Coppi was Northern, modern, sophisticated (for a bike racer), and secular. His great rival Gino Bartali was pretty much the opposite: traditional, parochial, overtly pious. Many of Bartali's rivals hated him, finding him narrow, ignorant, and suspicious with a tendency to renege on promises made. But a great many working class and rural Italians adored Bartali, considering him a proper Italian, while finding Coppi too cosmopolitan, too secular, not Italian enough.

But people are complicated. When push came to shove the worldly, modern Coppi risked life and limb by signing up for the Army, where he was captured by the British in North Africa and served out the war as a POW. Traditional, conservative, extremely Catholic Bartali risked life and limb in a different way, by acting as a courier for the Resistance and helping to deliver Jews by providing intelligence and fake documentation. Papers were hidden in his bike frame, and sometimes also in a small cart he pulled behind him. When stopped by the Fascists, he claimed to be in "training"; when he had the cart it was for "strength training." He may have hidden at least one Jewish family in his own house. Bartali didn't like to talk of his war exploits, and when asked would reply "These are things you did, and that's that."

And when the war was over and racing started back up Bartali was still parochial, pious, and suspicious, and Coppi was still modern, secular, and cosmopolitan. War and sports seem to bring out different things in different people.

sincos

Meant to add, to stay OT: I seem to favor French frames and Campag bits. Also Stronglight, Sun Tour, and Simplex. I don't think that's for political, cultural, or nationalist reasons though.

Wildwood 

Nashunnal pereferrrencess in fermennntashunnnal cullllchure arrrrrr immmmmaterrrrialllll to Me.

edit:....... beer drinkers just get sloshed.

robertorolfo

Ok, I'll have to watch it before I can comment further. I'll only say that, as far as my personal experience goes, the narrative in Italy is that everyone in Napoli was rooting for Argentina to beat Italy in that game, because of Maradona. And the "notti magiche" of the summer of 1990 are still remembered fondly by all Italians, even those that couldn't have cared less about the sport.