One of the things that attracted me to cycling was the beauty and craftsmanship of the bicycle. Granted you see many bikes these days that are made in Asia, however there are still many companies out there that handcraft works of art.
The first day I met my husband Aaron (on my first ride with the University of Wyoming cycling team), I noticed he had such a sexy bike! It was like riding next to a Fararri! I was a little envious as I was so proud of just purchasing my first road bike, a carbon Trek off of eBay. Aaron was riding a Tommasini that he had custom made while he had toured Europe by bike a few summer's before. To make a long story short, we started dating and that same year I had applied to an art school in Florence Italy and was accepted! Aaron had convinced me to do a solo bike tour though Italy before starting my semester abroad. As he is such a good sales guy - he also convinced me to go to the Tommasini factory, just as he had, and purchase a custom bike. I was sold as I was able to take out a loan for school and add in the extra needed for this dream bike!
The Tommasini experience was priceless. Aaron was there as his family just happened to have a vacation in Tuscany the same time I flew over to start my bike trip. Walking into the Tommasini factory in Grosseto was like a combination of an old bike shop and a beautiful gallery! I knew nothing about bike parts so as we sat behind the desk as Barbara Tommasini (Irio's daughter) asked me which groupset and components to build the bike with, I would look at Aaron and say, "Will this make my bike cooler than yours?!" He would nod his head and respond, "Yes!" so I would add that part to the bike. I decided that if I was going to spend the money, I might as well get the best - and I ended up with all new Campi Record. I also chose the color green because I love green. They had never made a bike that was just green so they were very excited to see the results. Then, I met with Irio Tommasini himself where he took some measurements to build the custom frame. He did not speak any English but I could see his passion for each frame that was built.
First day with the NEW Tommasini in my Florence apartment in September 2005. What a beauty!
The memory of getting the bike will always stick with me. The day I took the 3 hour train ride from Florence to Grosseto, I remember walking in to see the most beautiful bike I had ever seen. It was a piece of art. Irio Tommasini had a twinkle in his eye as he ran his hand along the top tube, kissed his fingers and exclaimed, "Bene!" He had touched the bike as if it were his masterpiece. I was speechless.
Since then, I spent several years riding and racing my Tommasini. It was such a great bike! Finally the Campi components started wearing out and it was time for a new bike.
Still riding my Tommasini in 2008 when I spent a season racing in Europe. This is me riding near a gorge in southern France.
As this bike, along with Aaron's Tommasini has so much sentiment to us, we decided to strip the bike to the frame and hang the frames as art on our walls.
I had the idea of casting a hand and using that to mount the frames on the wall. But I decided to get on google and see what was out there already. I found some wooden hands that were used to hold surf boards. Exactly what I was looking for! But instead of buying the wooden hands, I decided to make my own version with some found objects in the house.
An extra set of wooden salad hands would do the trick! I took a trip to the store and purchased a set of corner hardware. Being mindful of the depth of the wood, I had to find screws that would not go through the other end.
First I marked my holes, drilled and then screwed in the mounting hardware. I then screwed the hands to the wall. Because I was just hanging a frame, the weight distribution only required 1 hand to hold the frame. If the bike were complete with wheels, the weight distribution would require 2 mounts to hold it up.
This was an easy and very economical way to mount our bikes as art on the wall!
