Neo-Retro Fausto Coppi

[spinner]

Wow, interesting info; thanks for sharing.
.... ummm what happened to the bikes?

[Derny Driver]

Wow, interesting info; thanks for sharing.
.... ummm what happened to the bikes?

I have no idea. I will ask him. He rode for Terrot, Raleigh (UK), Healing, Malvern Star (in Australia), Crescent (Danish), Ignis and Coppi (Italian) ... the bikes came and went, the constant was his Brooks B17 saddle which went from bike to bike for 18 years.
Im guessing they were sold or given away. I know that in one six day race in Berlin he won enough prizes to fill a truck, including 2 motorbikes, furniture, 500 bottles of wine ...everything was always sold, including the trophies. He told me that "trophies don't put food on the table for my family". Plus the fact that he couldn't get all the stuff over the borders in Europe, he didn't have a warehouse to keep stuff, or bring it back to Australia.
But just one Coppi would have been nice, or a Raleigh, for his favourite nephew ....

[spinner]

The story gets more & more intriguing; great stuff!
Can we ask his name??
cheers,
andy

[Derny Driver]

The story gets more & more intriguing; great stuff!
Can we ask his name??
cheers,
andy

Sure Andy. Reginald Arnold.
He was a specialist six day track rider, ranked very highly with 16 victories from 103 starts over 18 years. Also won 2 European madison championships in 1952 and 1958. Probably his most famous win was the Paris Six in 1955 which he won with Sid Patterson and Russ Mockridge (3 man teams). He also cleaned up a lot of big road races in Australia when he came back for a break mid career in 1953-4, including the Tassie Tour, Echuca Tour and Goulburn to Sydney.
He received an Order of Australia medal last year and was featured in Bicyling Australia magazine a couple of issues ago, the one with Phil Gilbert on the cover.
His full career palmares may be found here on this fantastic web database in France
http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.eu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Left menu click "Palmares"
then "Reginald Arnold"

I have a biography almost finished, will post on this forum when its done.
He's still alive and well aged 89 living at Banora Point northern NSW.
Thanks for the interest.
DD

[spinner]

Excellent, thanks.
I'm sure he was referenced in a magazine I was reading recently. Have to go searching.....

[Rob74]

64cm = Right size ....very very tempting

Rob