# News from Cambiago and DC



## WrenchScienceCliff (Feb 12, 2010)

Two fun items this week:
1. Ernesto gave the mayor of DC an EPS at a press conference about the likely start of the GIRO IN DC for 2012. 
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/washington-dc-a-front-runner-for-giro-2012-start

2. The official release of the Di2 EPS, posted on Colnago's website and available at any dealer. Same frame, same weight, same price, with sleek routing for Di2 tech. Here's Colnago's blurb:

"The latest made in Italy masterpiece from Colnago, the new EPS Di2 advances the state of the art in road racing bicycles.
We have improved our lugged carbon fiber frame to incorporate ports for the cabling of Shimano’s advanced Dura-Ace Di2 electronic gear shifting while maintaining the stellar EPS ride and handling.
By routing the cables inside the frame, we achieve a sleek, uncluttered look, built on a frame exclusively designed for the Dura-Ace Di2 groupset.
The EPS Di2 shares the essential qualities of the EPS: light weight, toughness and durability. With Dura-Ace Di2 electronic gears, EPS Di2 offers shifting performance to match the EPS frame’s smooth, powerful ride."


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## PlatyPius (Feb 1, 2009)

bikerbabe125 said:


> Hey am i the only person in the world whose still riding this thing??? LOL
> Lemme knw what u think!
> Watch it now!!!!
> 
> Thanks. x


What a busy little spammer.....


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

WrenchScienceCliff said:


> Two fun items this week:
> 1. Ernesto gave the mayor of DC an EPS at a press conference about the likely start of the GIRO IN DC for 2012.
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/washington-dc-a-front-runner-for-giro-2012-start
> 
> ...


There is some discussion on the MABRA board about the Giro coming to the US. Must be nice to be the Mayor and get an EPS from Colnago himself. I guess I'll have to see Fenty on it at the next race or ride I do with him. I actually had to pay for mine. Such is life I guess.

I was just talking about this today with a riding friend of mine that lives in the neighborhood, who races for a different team. We were both talking about Fenty and how it could possibly work for the Giro. Jet lag, terrible DC roads, a crit as part of the Giro, etc. It just doesn't seem like a great idea for a grand tour. Maryland, DC, and Virginia should think about sponsoring something like the Tour of California, but maybe call it the Tour de America. Better yet, have it as a stage race from DC to California, that goes through the Rockies. It could possibly rival the Tour de France in difficulty. Of course, the greater difficulty would be planning and promoting it.


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## iyeoh (Jan 6, 2005)

fabsroman said:


> Of course, the greater difficulty would be planning and promoting it.


I'm not sure which corporate sponsor would want to put big bucks behind an American Grand Tour. We had DuPont, and we know how that went. We even had Trump. Then we have, irony or all ironies, Amgen.

Its still a relatively obscure sport in America, in the year of the Winter Olympics and the World Cup.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

iyeoh said:


> I'm not sure which corporate sponsor would want to put big bucks behind an American Grand Tour. We had DuPont, and we know how that went. We even had Trump. Then we have, irony or all ironies, Amgen.
> 
> Its still a relatively obscure sport in America, in the year of the Winter Olympics and the World Cup.


I'm not sure which corporate sponsors would want to put big bucks towards anything cycling related right now other than those corporations that are directly related to cycling like Colnago, Giant, Campagnolo, Shimano, etc.


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## iyeoh (Jan 6, 2005)

fabsroman said:


> I'm not sure which corporate sponsors would want to put big bucks towards anything cycling related right now other than those corporations that are directly related to cycling like Colnago, Giant, Campagnolo, Shimano, etc.


I see only Giant (perhaps Shimano) as being liquid enough to shell out the good couple million bucks per year to sponsor such an event. Perhaps Trek.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

iyeoh said:


> I see only Giant (perhaps Shimano) as being liquid enough to shell out the good couple million bucks per year to sponsor such an event. Perhaps Trek.


All they need to do is to give Fenty some more free bikes and then DC will pick up the tab. That is one thing that seems completely unethical, politicians accepting "gifts". As an auditor I couldn't accept any gift from the "client" that was above $25 in value because it might sway my "ethical" opinion on the audit work/opinion.


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## iyeoh (Jan 6, 2005)

fabsroman said:


> All they need to do is to give Fenty some more free bikes and then DC will pick up the tab. That is one thing that seems completely unethical, politicians accepting "gifts". As an auditor I couldn't accept any gift from the "client" that was above $25 in value because it might sway my "ethical" opinion on the audit work/opinion.


IRS rules mandate that the donor pay the gift taxes, but in this case, I wonder whether any taxes were paid by the donor, and I'm sure the donee will feign ignorance. Surely a bike is a taxable gift, and surely the Italians don't have a 501(C)3 for that purpose.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

iyeoh said:


> IRS rules mandate that the donor pay the gift taxes, but in this case, I wonder whether any taxes were paid by the donor, and I'm sure the donee will feign ignorance. Surely a bike is a taxable gift, and surely the Italians don't have a 501(C)3 for that purpose.


Even if Mr. Colnago were subject to the US Tax Code, there is an exclusion for gifting purposes. The donor can give a gift of $13,000 to each person without it being subject to gift tax or eating into the $1,000,000 gift tax credit/exemtpion amount. The wheels on that EPS didn't look that exotic, so it probably comes in at less than $13,000 and there would be no gift tax to the donor.

A couple can gift up to $26,000 per year jointly to any single individual. In essence, some rich parents could gift $52,000 a year to their married chilldren by gifting $26,000 to the child and $26,000 to the spouse. It is nice to be rich. I'm still struggling to get there.


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## 27davidson (Feb 9, 2006)

As we residents of D.C. have learned, our mayors, city councilmen and higher echeon city government employees are experts at outright theft, graft, bamboozling and non payment of taxes, so I'm sure this won't prove to be a challenge for Fenty. Perhaps he can pay for it with an "earmark" like our former mayor and now city councilman would do.


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## merckxman (Jan 23, 2002)

Fentry is to abide by the gift rules, they must have them for DC gov't officials...??


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

merckxman said:


> Fentry is to abide by the gift rules, they must have them for DC gov't officials...??


I would love to know what the political gift rules are for DC. I can take some guesses.

1) Rules? What rules?
2) Don't ask, don't tell. What do you mean that is a military policy?
3) Hide em when you get em, and always say it wasn't you that received them.


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## 27davidson (Feb 9, 2006)

fabsroman said:


> I would love to know what the political gift rules are for DC. I can take some guesses.
> 
> 1) Rules? What rules?
> 2) Don't ask, don't tell. What do you mean that is a military policy?
> 3) Hide em when you get em, and always say it wasn't you that received them.


We can turn this into a sort of Top Ten list. Here are some others:

4) Some little Italian guy who didn't speak English came up and put a bicycle in my hands - I didn't know it was a gift.
5) Hey, it's only made out of glue and fabric; how much can it be worth?
6) I took this to help out all of my constituents.
7) Washington D.C. is a lawless city.


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## WrenchScienceCliff (Feb 12, 2010)

Well I didn't expect such backlash, ha but thus is the life of a message board. I suppose the news about the Di2 bike is less controversial.
I understand Mr Colnago gave the bike as a gift to the city and Mayor Fenty accepted the bike on the city's behalf, thus avoiding a lot of the ethical dilemmas (debatably). And according to Colnago's latest news release, it was actually a Flight that was gifted (though an EPS is pictured):
http://futuremail.net/In/5296490/0/MYWvaXwEDbe8fpxw9_mRfM2mGLyHk6dh/


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

WrenchScienceCliff said:


> Well I didn't expect such backlash, ha but thus is the life of a message board. I suppose the news about the Di2 bike is less controversial.
> I understand Mr Colnago gave the bike as a gift to the city and Mayor Fenty accepted the bike on the city's behalf, thus avoiding a lot of the ethical dilemmas (debatably). And according to Colnago's latest news release, it was actually a Flight that was gifted (though an EPS is pictured):
> http://futuremail.net/In/5296490/0/MYWvaXwEDbe8fpxw9_mRfM2mGLyHk6dh/


You do not live in DC, or even the suburbs around here. Fenty has been out riding on roads where it is posted that cyclists are not allowed, and while doing so he has had one and two motorcycle officers as escorts. These are actually group rides and they have resulted in some bad publicity for cycling around these parts. In fact, the local NBC news station did a segment on it. Fenty finally realized that he was riding on a road where bikes are prohibited and he said he would not do it anymore.

DC has also had a ton of corruption with its elected officials.

I cannot remember if WrenchScience is located in Chicago, but if it is then you should understand how a lot of us feel about the elected politicians in DC. Luckily, I live outside of DC in the suburbs.


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## WrenchScienceCliff (Feb 12, 2010)

I hope I didn't sound unsympathetic - I wholeheartedly agree with the cynicism expressed here, and of course that is regardless of whether I'm a resident or not. I lived in Baltimore for years and am quite familiar with the scandals in DC, even if not with Fenty himself.
Wrench Science is located in Berkeley, for the record. It is quite a cycling paradise..most of our scandals about access concern trails rather than roads. I would be aghast to hear about an official using his power to access the forbidden fruit trails around here...but its not beyond imagination!


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## jjmstang (May 8, 2009)

Roman, you just have to look at how many Marion Barry has been elected into office there. I have no sympathy for that city, they get what they deserve.

-John


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

jjmstang said:


> Roman, you just have to look at how many Marion Barry has been elected into office there. I have no sympathy for that city, they get what they deserve.
> 
> -John


John, I agree withh you 100%. They get what they deserve for electing who they do. Likewise, we as a nation get what we deserve for electing who we do to Congress.

I've been thinking about joining NCVC, but have been off the bike for 6 months now so I might take this year off of racing. Might come out and do some rides with you guys though to seee what the team is like.


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## iyeoh (Jan 6, 2005)

WrenchScienceCliff said:


> Well I didn't expect such backlash, ha but thus is the life of a message board. I suppose the news about the Di2 bike is less controversial.
> I understand Mr Colnago gave the bike as a gift to the city and Mayor Fenty accepted the bike on the city's behalf, thus avoiding a lot of the ethical dilemmas (debatably). And according to Colnago's latest news release, it was actually a Flight that was gifted (though an EPS is pictured):
> http://futuremail.net/In/5296490/0/MYWvaXwEDbe8fpxw9_mRfM2mGLyHk6dh/



Indeed a gift for the city, especially when its a top-of-the-line time trail bike that's probably more expensive than the EPS, with Mr. Fenty's name so proudly painted on the top tube. It can be ridden by any official of Washington DC, especially the messenger delivering mail. This is the height of corruption.


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## 27davidson (Feb 9, 2006)

I can't wait to see Fenty riding his new EPS down Rock Creek Parkway on a weekday with a police escort.


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