Bass Sports was the sporting goods division of Bass Shoe, or Bass Footwear, which I believe was based in Wilton Maine. There was quite a small industry of hand sewn footwear producers in Maine years ago, and Bass still has shoe outlets in these parts, though the products usually have molded rubber soles cemented to the uppers instead of the old moccasins, penny loafers and boat shoes that were the stock in trade years back.
Butch Weiden was one of the people at Bass who started the Sports division in the late '60s or early '70s to expand the Company's product offerings. I only know this because I bought a badly neglected Cilo Sprintx from Butch four years ago, and he told me all about it. The components on this bike were as you described. The bike sat outside unprotected for years, all the chrome was pitted and peeling, the saddle was shot, and anything that wasn't anodized was badly oxidized. The Campy crank and derailleurs were quite salvageable, and the hubs were still smooth once I cleaned and repacked them.
Anyway, Butch told me that he went to Switzerland to purchase these bikes and other European sporting goods from the manufacturers. Bass Sports imported several container loads of bikes in the early '70s bike boom. The also brought in cross country skis, clothing, and other exercise equipment.
I spoke with the mechanic at a small shop in the adjacent town of Farmington Maine who told me that he sees lots of Cilos in the area. I wouldn't be surprised if Bass employees and their families bought lots of them, but I doubt that there were many of the high end models, though.
I don't know who imported Cilo bikes in the mid eighties, but there were quite a few around here in the Northeast with Shimano SIS drivetrains.
Ed Braley
Falmouth, Maine.
> Hello,
> I bought a 1972 Cilo Sprintx road bike in the fall of 1973.
> The componentry on it included Campagnolo Nuovo Record cranks, pedals with
> Christophe toeclips and straps, f/r derailleurs, high flange hubs,
seatpost,
> downtube shifters, a bottom bracket double cable guide, and headset. The
> brakes were Weimann centerpull - 999 ? The handlebars were 3TTT as well
as
> the stem. The saddle was a Brooks Professional, as best as I can recall.
> The wheels were red label Fiamme tubular rims. I do not recall whether
the
> rims were 32 or 36 hole. The spokes were double butted. The bike came
with
> a black Silca Imperio presta pump with a Campagnolo steel pump head. The
> frame and fork was make from Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing with
Bochemia
> lugs. The frame and fork color was silver
> The seattube was adorned with a bunch of colorful decals, indicating that
it
> was assembled in Switzerland. The words "BASS SPORTS" ran paralel with
the
> seattube.
> The bike accerlerated like a scared wild ass being chased by a onry wasp.
>
> I have only known three other Cilos. There was only one Cilo in the
> bikeshop back in 1973 and no other. I bought it for $380.00 back then.
>
> My questions are : how many were produced ? was it on limited scale ?
Did
> the componentry vary or was it consistent ? I would like to have better
> pictures of this bike sent to me, if any of you out there have an original
> Cilo Sprintx road bike. The pictures I have are very poor.
>
> I still have this bike, however, about six months after I purchased it, I
> changed all the componentry on it into a sports touring bike. The only
> things I have kept that was original are the frame/fork, the frame pump
and
> the Campy quick-release skewers .
> Your help would be most appreciate and enlightened to me.
>
> Thank-you in advance,
> Kim Hetzel
> outside of Olympia, WA