Book Report: Guido Rubino's Italian Racing Bicycles: the people, the products, the passion

By Rich Hohenbrink

Guido Rubino's Italian Racing Bicycles: the people, the products, the passion reads like a hybrid love letter-reference manual to Italian cycling hardware. And like a hybrid bicycle, each facet leaves something to be desired. The syrupy passages fall short of Buzzati's lyricism in The Giro d'Italia: Coppi vs. Bartali, and it's not a stretch to assume such prose was Rubino's target. The reference material leaves less to be desired, but is hardly exhaustive.

The bulk of the work is situated in 1000+ word histories of the great (and not so great) Italian bike and component manufacturers. Rubino takes care to include anecdotes about the families behind the brands, the teams and riders who wove the brands into the fabric of cycling lore, and the recent technologies embraced by the brands. The stories are good--some even gripping--but they certainly don't constitute a reference guide in the style of Lennard Zinn.

Ultimately, Rubino seems to have aimed for--and reached--'good,' not 'excellent.' IRB's composition, size, and structure sets itself up to be a simple coffee table book. Bottom line: if your bookshelf is home to a 1950s Campagnolo derailleur or your living room to a Super Record Pinarello, your coffee table needs IRB. If your heart belongs to the bikes and cyclists that dominate Belgian cobbles, the French high mountains, or the Spanish sun, IRB merits no more than a glance.

Rich Hohenbrink is a competitive cyclocrosser and roadie, as well as the creator of the First to the Line Bike Racing Card Game. For more info on FTL, check out thebikeracingcardgame.com.

Comments

[Scott]

I have a super record colnago but I'll get the book anyway.