UPDATE!!!!! After asking around the WWW I found that my bike is probably an 86 or 87. It was the model below the top of the line bike that I can't recall right now. Any way, I thought my bike was a Gran Velo, duh, it is a Grand Velo. I wasn't looking at the decals on the frame correctly.

This bike was purchased way back in 1994. I wanted to give roadriding a try. I had been racing my Proflex mtb for a while and I was looking for a better training routine. This bike was only $200 at American Cyclery in Stanyon in SF. It was completely original down to the water bottle. I kept it in it's original condition until 1996 when I got the criterium bug. Over the next 2 years I managed to change every part except the fork, Suntour Suberbe front derailleur and seat clamp bolt. I added Record shifters, C-Record cranks, Sachs sealed hubs, 8-speed, hand built wheels built by me, Ritchey steel stem, Chorus brakes, Campagnolo 2-bolt post, Stronglight headset, too many parts to remember!!! It is a little on the heavy side but this equals stiffness in this case. I completed about 8 centuries on this one. The longest ride ever for this bike was the Mt. Hamilton Challenge in 1997. I completed the entire 128 miles in 10.5 hours. It was difficult. The hardest ride ever for this bike was the 1998 Mr. Bill's Nightmare. 108 miles of pure hell. Sick climbs, headwinds, heat, etc. This bike was my exclusive race bike between 1996 to 1999. I won a bunch of races on this machine. It is on the stiff side and it handles good. Corners well, feels neutral at high speed. I never had and speed wobbles ever, even at speeds over 50 mph this thing is on rails. I had the frame professionally aligned and fitted for the 8-speed rear hub at Shaw's Lightweight Cycles in Santa Clara, CA. I only had one wreck on this bike and it was a big one. I gotten taken down by a moron at the finish line of a Cat 4 race in Livermore, CA. I was in 3rd place when dickhead creamed me into the ground. I ended up sliding across the finish line into 4th. After that disaster I had to have the frame and fork realigned, new bars. I also won the Fremont Freewheelers Twilight Criterium series 2 years in a row. While this was Cat 4 and 5 the competition was good. I still ate Taco Bell and drank plenty of beer back then. My endurance was never very good but I could sprint with the best of them so that was my secret weapon. I would do it all when it came to psyching out the competition in a race. Feigning exhaustion (works great when done at the correct time), talking people into taking long pulls off the front, attacking when everyone least expected it. I had to rely on my sprint to win. There was no way I could go off the front and hold off the peloton. Postioning myself within the peloton while also taking my share of time at the front worked good. There were plenty of wheel suckers in all the races that would never get in the wind and crank it, sissies. I pissed off some dicks back then that thought they could beat me and my old ass bike with their titanium, Record everything, Team Replica Luigi Bambini Ultra Squadras. It really doesn't matter what you ride as long as it stays together and has a good strong lightweight wheelset. When I won the 1997 series I even had downtube shifters! Everyone was using bar mounted shifters by then. This bike still honks. I plan on racing it again in 2005.