Cicli Tomi Part 4

Serfino Tomi is a disciple of Cino Cinelli. He worked with the grand master for almost 5 years before returning to Viterbo and building frames with his name on them- using Cinelli lugs and other parts of course! He built frames from 1975 through 2003 and estimates he built around 2000 in total, each one unique, no two are exactly alike. Each tube hand-mitered using just a file, no hole saws, etc. In the photos here you can see a basic main triangle of a frame on the alignment table and just hanging on a post clamped into a vise. Serafino is a big believer in having all the parts slip together easily with no stress, no jamming or force fits. This example slipped together easily but stayed assembled just hanging there! Tomi insists this results in a long-lived frame that will not fatigue from built-in stress. Being way down here in Viterbo's farm country, Serafino had to do everything himself (except chroming which was done in industrial Milan) including the painting. Next time we'll see some of the finished products, including one that measures out just perfectly for Larry.

Vino Italiano

Most Italians don't uncork bottles of wine for everyday enjoyment, rather they have a carafe of something they poured out of a large jug in their basement or like us, out of a reused 1.5 liter mineral water bottle. Photos here of a typical "vino sfuso" shop - where they purchase wine in bulk from wineries and sell it by the liter. Tastes are free but not too sophisticated as they're done using a plastic throwaway cup. But the wine can be very good at a price per liter around the same as gasoline here--around a euro. That's right --GOOD wine at less than the price of "two buck Chuck" back home!
Symposium has wines from Sicily (we get our favorites Greco and Falanghina from Campania) as well as Tuscany (we like a blend of Sangiovese and Merlot) Lazio and nearby Umbria. The nice fellow just turns the tap and fills whatever vessel you bring. This particular place can even put it into a bottle and cork it up for you, plus make up your own personalized fantasy label and paste it on! Some "Harry & Leather Viterbo Rosso" might end up being created here. Cin-Cin!

Sunday in Viterbo

No big treks to Rome today. This sunday we slept in a bit and awoke to clear but chilly temps. This will not impress any of our friends in Iowa but it was too cold and windy for enjoyable road cycling and too wet and muddy to take the MTB's out. Instead we walked around the town exploring before visiting the Etruscan museum. We're in the heart of Etruscan country and here's a view from the top floor of the museum. If you look close you can see snow on the faraway peak. After the museum we joined our friends for pranzo at their apartment just outside the city walls. Our Italian "Mamma" Rosanna made a wonderful umbrichelli pasta dish using handmade noodles created with the help of a "chitarra" (guitar in English) which is a wooden box strung with wires at high tension just like a guitar. It even makes a guitar-like sound when strummed! A sheet of fresh pasta (Mamma Rosanna adds an egg to the standard flour and water recipe) is laid over the strings (there are two strung sides, one narrow, one wider) and then a small rolling pin is rolled over, forcing the pasta strips to be cut by the wires and fall into the slanted bottom where they can be extracted. We brought a wine from nearby Umbria, which is still in Etruscan country to enjoy with the meal. We ate so much we returned home, took a nap and a bath and skipped dinner entirely! La dolce vita -- indeed!

Cicli Tomi Part 3

Here are more photos of Serafino Tomi demonstrating some of his frame-building techiques. He shows his very basic jig for raking fork blades while explaining how difficult and time-consuming it was to get two to match exactly. Under the bench is a set of jigs to prevent the tubes from bowing outwards as they're bent. A complete fork is shown so you can see the small pins used to hold the tubes into the fork crown before brazing. Tomi's a big believer in the pin method (just like our good friend Antonio Mondonico) where tiny holes are drilled and pins inserted to hold all the parts in perfect alignment, eliminating any tack-brazing and subjecting the material to only one round of heat, brazing the joint completely in one operation. Filing the pins away (a box of them is shown as well) was a time-consuming operation especially as Tomi used just a hand-held file. The other photo shows some tiny frame fittings (brake bridges and reinforcements for bottle bosses, etc.) that Tomi purchased, usually from his mentor Cino Cinelli. Next time we'll see the beginnings of an actual frame.

Cicli Tomi Part 2

Serafino Tomi was so kind during my visit, it was clear he was happy to see someone interested in his previous framebuilding work. He took great pride in pantographing frame parts as well as components. In these photos you can see the turntable gizmo he used to pantograph chainrings along with the old machine he used to do the actual engraving (incisione in Italian) as well as a cast seatstay cap with his initial.

Plumbing -- Round 2

Problems continued with our kitchen sink. It was taking so long to drain we were starting to consider eating on paper plates! After our Padrone was out to see for himself, a plumber was summoned. As written previously Larry hates plumbing as much as he hates yardwork but in a pinch (like last week when he melted the plastic drain tube -- the new one is shown here) he'll get the tools out. He thought this installation was pretty bad as the tube runs almost horizontally and the level of the sink drain is barely above the hole in the wall the tube exits through! He was amazed at the quality of the incoming water, all stainless steel braided lines and threaded connections -- but the drain is this cheapo plastic flex tubing! The plumber took one look under the sink and said pretty much the same thing- just in Italian with a few "porca miseria's thrown in. He and his assistant pulled the oven out of the cabinet to access the second (darker) tube and its connection to the drain pipe, cleaned a small amout of debris out, then attached an air pressurized gizmo to blow any big clogs out the other end. They said they found nothing seriously wrong except the hole in the wall should not be where it is (or the sink should not be where IT is) and that the setup will never work very well (vindicating Larry's earlier opinion) and that they'd advise the padrone of their findings. At least the thing drains better now so we can avoid those paper plates! Turns out this apartment was never intended to house cooking facilities -- in the medieval times folks dined at osteria-type places or picked up street food, only the rich folks had kitchens. And yes, that is a catch pan underneath as their reconnection of the whole works is a bit less than drip free. Now if we can just get the knack of knowing which electrical stuff we can turn on without blowing the circuit breakers we'll be fine.

TOMI- Part 1

For Larry an important part of moving to a new place is finding the local bike shop and establishing a good relationship. Here you see Larry and Serafino Tomi who runs (along with his sons) two stores just outside the medieval walls of Viterbo. They are from nearby San Martino. This is a classic, old-time Italian bike store, totally different than the self-service emporium we're used to in the USA. The photo was taken at what I believe is their original store, full of old Columbus tubes, lugs, etc. along with some dust. For old guys who treasure steel frames this is a small slice of heaven! I begged "Serafi" as he's called affectionately, to spend a bit of time with me for an in-depth interview and photo session. Most of it has been completed and parts will run over the next few weeks so folks not so enamored with tubes and lugs can read about other aspects of our time here in Viterbo in between the old bike lore.