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Video: Italian trials star Vittorio Brumotti gets diggy with it on road bike in Martyn Ashton homage

Can you dig it? Plus latest clip from London's Boris bike trialsters...

Martyn Ashton’s Road Bike Party videos have inspired quite a few homages, with other talented riders showing that road bikes aren’t as fragile or limited as many think. This amazing video from Italian Vittorio Brumotti is the best yet.

Not content with jumping on, off and around stationary objects that present only the danger of a crash-landing, Brumotti took himself to a working quarry and went leaping about on massive dirt-moving equipment while it was still moving.

Our mouths are open, our jaws are dropped and we’re reciting that great English mantra: ’Elf an’ safety nightmare.

“Martyn was one of my inspirations and I was a huge fan of everything he did on Road Bike Party,” said Brumotti. “My new film is my dedication to Martyn’s work.”

”I’ve known Vittorio for many years,” said Martyn Ashton of Brumotti, “He brought his energy and style to the competition scene and his passion for riding is legendary in the trials world. He has always wanted to inspire people through his riding and this video is certainly going to do that.”

“I recently travelled to the UK and met with Martyn at the GCN office,” said Brumotti. “I showed him the footage from my new video with the road bike. He loved it and we agreed GCN should make an edit especially for their cycling fans.”

In his native Italy, Brumotti is a national celebrity, thanks to his regular appearances on Italy’s most popular TV programme, Striscia la Notizia, among others. He is so well known that even on a recent visit to the UK he was mobbed for autographs and photos by excited Italian fans who were holidaying in Britain.

Bikes vs freerunners - as recommended by the UCI

Meanwhile back in Blighty, those scamps on Boris bikes at social video site Fightme.com have been at it again.

In their latest clip, trials riders on what look like Boris bikes (but are really trials bikes with blue bits on) take on freerunners as they dash about London.

“No Boris bikes were harmed in the making of this video,” they say in the video notes on YouTube, which will reassure fans of the iconic London hire bikes.

It’ll probably please UCI president Brian Cookson too. He tweeted the video this morning, and said: “Trials riding vs. freerunning in London. Looks like the #cyclists have it.”

Then he remembered his position of responsibility and added: “Don't try any of this at home, kids. Or anywhere else. Remarkable stuff. But not recommended.”

Damn shame; we were looking forward to seeing him riding the rooftops above Regent Street.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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4 comments

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J90 | 9 years ago
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I still think MacAskill is the best of the bunch.

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OldRidgeback | 9 years ago
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Non standard wheels too

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Pret | 9 years ago
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Not a standard Boris bikes with hydraulics brakes

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tombourne | 9 years ago
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Hardly 23mm tubs are they  21

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