A different animal entirely; Basso frames didn't appear until at least the late 1970's, Ideor Asso frames and bikes don't look like any of them were made later than the mid 1960';s. David Feldman
> OK gang, time to play is this a fraud, and if so, what might it really be?
>
> I recently acquired a 70s vintage frame that has been repainted, and
had "Asso" decals applied.
> The logo has a yellow spade and the word Asso is flanked by little
multi-coloured wings on the down
> tube. You can see the same decals on a very different frame recently sold
by the same seller at
> http://ebay.com/
> BASSO decals, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I know that Ideor made
a model called the Asso, and
> I see that Chuck has a 50s catalogue available through Velo Retro. My
first question is whether
> anybody has actually seen one of the bikes? I'm told (in reply to an
earlier query) they were
> imported into Canada for a couple years in the 60s or 70s. Maybe they
never had a U.S. importer, but
> since the catalogue is there, I'm betting they were. Anyway it's possible
that either the seller or a
> previous owner slapped the Asso decals on a frame of another manufacturer
when he repainted. Since the
> frame also has nice chromed long-point prugnat lugs, which were painted
over when I got the
> frame(ouch!), I don't like to think about why this might have been done.
It also seems just barely
> possible to me that this ASSO is genuine, but nothing to do with the IDEOR
ASSO. Maybe a small factory
> private label frame (like Tomaso)? Supporting this theory is the absence
of any IDEOR name anywhere on
> the bike.
>
> Eventually I'd like to begin to work out what it really is (if it's
not an IDEOR ASSO). I realize
> pictures are crucial, and I'll try to arrange some soon. But for now, in
addition to the
> above-described lugs (with angular heart-shaped window cutouts on top, and
a side profile very similar
> to the prugnat lugs on the CR website), the clues include 27.0 seatpost
size, long concave seatstay
> caps, rear brake-bridge reinforcements with cutouts matching the lugs,
long chainstays (over 43 cm),
> campy long dropouts, a slotted italian bottom bracket shell with cable
guides on top, brazed-on shifter
> posts but no top tube cable guides. Of course things like the cable
guides could have been altered and
> covered up by the repaint. Also (cringe) no serial number, though no
obvious signs that one has been
> removed either.
>
> Opinions and speculations welcome. More info forthcoming.
>
> Ron Cooley
> Saskatoon, Canada.
>
> _______________________________________________
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