..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
shiny objects
i am, at present, metaphorically kicking myself. some four or so years ago, i assembled a drum workshop 'buddy rich/gene krupa' drumset, after acquiring a larger bass drum to encompass the (very much) louder music i had been invited to play. though messrs. krupa and rich had 24" kick drums at their disposal, something that size would likely prove a tad unwieldy for someone bereft of motorised transport. thus, not that you actually care, i had purchased a 22"x14" drum covered in vintage marine pearl. so attractive did this appear in front of my bass drum pedal, that i ordered 13"x9" and 16"x14" toms to match, later augmenting and matching those with a 14"x6" cherry wood snare drum.
with dw's collector series, it's possible to place an order with the nearest authorised dealer for a drum of specific size and finish, wait a couple of months, and a delightfully impressive example will arrive at the drum shop.
at the risk of alienating the majority on the other side of the computer screen, i might point out that buddy rich sported two floor toms on his set, both identically sized, but the rearmost of which spent most of its life topped by his towel. despite this entailing rich playing essentially a four piece kit such as my own, i still harboured a desire to add a second floor tom to my own setup, a potential order over which i have procrastinated for many a long year. the reason that thoughts have turned to 'kicking', is, now that sterling has sunk against the dollar, any order placed will cost me considerably more than would have been the case had i acted positively, several years past.
were i to return, once again, to the life of a studio drummer, none of this would matter much. recordings are blissfully devoid of visuals; if my third tom had presented itself in red sparkle, only the engineer and i would know. the same cannot be said of my gigs at a local hostelry where my pride would scarcely allow the playing of a drumset on which even one drum did not match the others.
in 2003, i purchased a colnago c40hp in a blue variation of their highly attractive art decor paintwork. at the time, the landbouwkrediet colnago team were riding similar machinery (admittedly, a lot faster), coloured in a highly attractive red scheme, after which i don't mind admitting that i lusted. however, it transpired that an order for such a frameset was likely to take several months (it seems, italy does not rush) and my virtue of impatience would not allow me to wait. so a blue colnago it was.
in the grand scheme of velocipedinal and percussive things, colour really ought not to matter as much as it appears to do. a drum sounds the same no matter its external colour, and according to the laws of physics, bicycles do not depend on their paintwork for their speed. that, embarrassingly enough, does not preclude uncontrollable drooling over a frame that comfortably inhabits the world of 'to die for'. in today's mass-produced market, framebuilders have to try very hard to distinguish the product of their ingenuity from the framebuilder next door. how well they succeed, depends a great deal on your own sense of aesthetic appreciation.
commendably, however, the folks at italy's battaglin bicycles have ushered in an entirely new and highly desirable finish for their portofino lugged steel model. aside from being the first steel frame to accommodate the oversized columbus spirit hss tubing via oversized lugs, the premium edition can now be acquired in a 'cromovelato' finish.
alessandro battaglin described this new finish as "...an Italian finish typical of the bikes from the 80s that creates a translucent color over a chrome-plated steel frame.
"It is achieved by polishing the frame to a mirror shine before the chrome-plating process and then painting the chrome with a colored lacquer. The final result is a coloured mirror-like effect like no other paint.
"With the Portofino Premium, the owner will be able to personalize the frame with their favorite cromovelato colors, creating a truly one-of-a-kind custom steel bike."
as this were insufficient to tempt purchase of the €3,200 frame, until 31 august, each new premium owner will receive a a replica polka dot jersey, signed by giovanni battaglin. there really is little better in the world of bicycles, than coloured shiny stuff.
friday 16 august 2019
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................