# An article about Pantani's bike



## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features...rcatone-uno-bianchi-mega-pro-xl-reparto-corse


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

I read that last night. I wonder about the accuracy of those dimensions... they don't seem to add up to me. Those James Huang articles have a track record of obvious (and presumably not so obvious) errors.

I'm 173cm tall and my saddle height 71cm. He was reported to be 172cm tall and his saddle height is also 71cm. He reportedly only needed 52cm of reach (tip of saddle nose to C of bars) while I need 55cm. His top tube and stem lengths are reported to be 52cm and 11cm. Mine are 54cm and 13cm. The saddle on my bike and his bike are both slammed back. I don't have long arms.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

rocco said:


> I read that last night. I wonder about the accuracy of those dimensions... they don't seem to add up to me. Those James Huang articles have a track record of obvious (and presumably not so obvious) errors.
> 
> I'm 173cm tall and my saddle height 71cm. He was reported to be 172cm tall and his saddle height is also 71cm. He reportedly only needed 52cm of reach (tip of saddle nose to C of bars) while I need 55cm. His top tube and stem lengths are reported to be 52cm and 11cm. Mine are 54cm and 13cm. The saddle on my bike and his bike are both slammed back. I don't have long arms.


I'm horrible about knowing dimensions, but I know most of the stuff about his bike was built around his unique climbing style.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

spade2you said:


> I'm horrible about knowing dimensions, but I know most of the stuff about his bike was built around his unique climbing style.



He preferred a relatively tall/long head tube/stack height and he climbed with his hands in the drops.


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## Corsaire (Jun 2, 2006)

Is it safe to say, his bike measurements were, give or take (customized to him) equivalent to what is now a 53 Bianchi size frame?


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Corsaire said:


> Is it safe to say, his bike measurements were, give or take (customized to him) equivalent to what is now a 53 Bianchi size frame?


Perhaps somewhat similar but I'm not sure. It did just occur to me though that the article says "Top tube length: 519mm *(actual)*" so the virtual top tube length would be more like 53cm which makes more sense.


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## Corsaire (Jun 2, 2006)

What's amazing to me is his gear ratio (54/44 - 11-23), considering he was not even 130lbs in weight. That he could turn the cranks up the mountains on a 44/23 or higher, wow, that's amazing!


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Corsaire said:


> What's amazing to me is his gear ratio (54/44 - 11-23), considering he was not even 130lbs in weight. That he could turn the cranks up the mountains on a 44/23 or higher, wow, that's amazing!



Power to weight ratio. Lose 10, 15 or 20 pounds worth of body weight and you'll probably be pretty impressed by how much faster you are going up.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

rocco said:


> Power to weight ratio. Lose 10, 15 or 20 pounds worth of body weight and you'll probably be pretty impressed by how much faster you are going up.


I'm even lighter and that sort of gearing scares the holy hell out of me, although I'm also a very high cadence kind of guy. Most riders that light would have trouble pushing that sort of gearing without having massive legs and weighing a lot more.


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## Corsaire (Jun 2, 2006)

spade2you said:


> I'm even lighter and that sort of gearing scares the holy hell out of me, although I'm also a very high cadence kind of guy. Most riders that light would have trouble pushing that sort of gearing without having massive legs and weighing a lot more.


That's what I meant by alluding to Pantani's climbing gear ratio. The fact that at his lightness (low body weight) he still mastered to crank up those gear ratios even on steep climbs. I mean, real powerful legs for that body! I know Lance, much heavier, uses 39/25 on a tough climbing day. Could Pantani's numbers be wrong? I wonder.

I'm 164 lbs now (winter fat), and I can hold my own on a good climbing day but I'm a high spinner due to my lower back injury. I used to climb on a double (39/27) but after my back problem I switched to a compact and never looked back.


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## Bee-an-key (May 5, 2007)

How about the drugs, could they have helped our little pirate friend? Remember just because that bike had those rings does not mean he was riding it on ADHuez. They could have been changed out for a flatter race. I have seen a Wiler TT bike of his that he rode before the Bianchi sponsorship. Standing next to it I thought it was a kids bike, saddle was high but the frame was the smallest I have ever seen. I have seen pixs where the chain rings look like standard 53/39 but also seen pix where he looks big up front like he is Boonen on the cobbles.


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## Corsaire (Jun 2, 2006)

Bee-an-key said:


> How about the drugs, could they have helped our little pirate friend? Remember just because that bike had those rings does not mean he was riding it on ADHuez. They could have been changed out for a flatter race. I have seen a Wiler TT bike of his that he rode before the Bianchi sponsorship. Standing next to it I thought it was a kids bike, saddle was high but the frame was the smallest I have ever seen. I have seen pixs where the chain rings look like standard 53/39 but also seen pix where he looks big up front like he is Boonen on the cobbles.


Drugs don't give you extra power to turn big cranks, they only help you so far as in boosting your endurance over a long push or hard efforts per se, you still need to have the training. He was a good consistent climber overall. But your second reasoning makes more sense. Those gears could've been for flatter stages.
Phil Ligget always refered to him as "little Marco". Pics and videos can be deceiving too. Does anybody know how tall was he?


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Corsaire said:


> Drugs don't give you extra power to turn big cranks, they only help you so far as in boosting your endurance over a long push or hard efforts per se, you still need to have the training. He was a good consistent climber overall. But your second reasoning makes more sense. Those gears could've been for flatter stages.
> Phil Ligget always refered to him as "little Marco". Pics and videos can be deceiving too. Does anybody know how tall was he?


172cm

No doubt he used those gear ratios for only specific stage profiles.

Having 60% HCT doesn't help turn over bigger gears for greater duration?


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## Corsaire (Jun 2, 2006)

rocco said:


> for greater duration?


That's the key phrase again, endurance. You still need to train viciously at that high pro level.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

rocco said:


> Having 60% HCT doesn't help turn over bigger gears for greater duration?


Hematocrit really doesn't indicate performance. As an immature red blood cell, it does not give you increased VO2 or performance in general. When it becomes a red blood cell and your overall hemoglobin increases, then there's a benefit. 

I'm still on the fence if Pantani doped or not. HCT is a marker of increased RBC production, but I don't consider it conclusive compared to testing for the synthetic EPO variants. Long story short, if measuring HCT were perfect, we would have never developed the test for EPO itself, which is far more conclusive and accurate. 


Back to the subject at hand, I purchased the '98 Giro and TdF from World Cycling. I can almost assure you that a lot of the carbon parts weren't there during the Giro or TdF. I don't think he used different gears. He had a somewhat low cadence, although not quite the mashing style of Jan Ulrich. Back then, constant high cadence wasn't particularly common.


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

The bike is clearly setup for a Time Trial, including the TT tubies...

I'd bet he swaped the gears to climbing ones for mountain stages.


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

I found a picture of Pantani's bike, the one used to win the Giro d'Italia and here it has clearly a smaller inner ring, maybe larger cassette and also Vittoria Pavés


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Salsa_Lover said:


> I found a picture of Pantani's bike, the one used to win the Giro d'Italia and here it has clearly a smaller inner ring, maybe larger cassette and also Vittoria Pavés


Definitely looks more authentic. I'd hate to think they modified his bike. 

I don't know if he switched to different chain rings for the climbs. I just finished the 1998 Giro and couldn't really tell.


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## mendo (Apr 18, 2007)

I recall reading somewhere that they swapped out regular crank arms for much longer ones (something like 177.5 or 180) for mtn. stages. Extra leverage out of the saddle. I would guess they'd swap rings as well.


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