There's a story here. Matteo has a local shop, Montelatici, that has a very
interesting batch of frames hanging in the back. As you may or may not know,
Cino Cinelli was originally from Firenze (Florence). Senior Montelatici and
Cino were friends in their youth, after Cino moved to Milan and started
Cinelli and Company, his friend opened a bike shop. He would call Cino to
have Cinelli make batches of frames for him to badge as his own shop brand,
Montelatici. These frames are from the mid 70s to mid 80s as far as I can
tell. The rear spacing is 120mm, they use standard reach brakes with recessed
allen nuts and 1010A long drop outs. They are Cinelli long point lugs with a
"V" cut out on the top. The shell is Cinelli sand cast, the fork is NOT full
sloping and has no tangs. The ends of the stays at the drops is a French
style of open scallop. I went by Ed Litton's to compare the pin placement to
a Cinelli he's repainting from the same era (70s) and all the brazing pins
are in the same locations. This isn't proof that Cinelli s.P.A. built them,
but it's at least an indication. I've asked Matteo to try to dig up a
receipt, but Sr. M. threw them all out after the legal 15 year limit. I've
also been by a couple of local frame builders and several high end
knowledgeable shops and all agree this was made back when they "gave a d--n"
about craftsmanship.
I have one and it is easily comparable to the best of the simple, straight
forward yet elegant, classic Italian racing frames, whether it can be proved
to be Cinelli or not. The 60cm center to center frame that I have is a
conservative, yet modern design. Seat angle is 73, head 74. Chainstays are
16.5 maybe plus a little, and I was very happy to find that a 27.0 seat post
was an exact sliding fit. I like SP frames, although the smaller frames may
be SL, I don't know but this can be checked.
Bottom line is there is a small quantity of these NOS unpainted frames
available, with the correct original decals. They come with one, "Montelatici
Special" down tube decal and two diamond shaped, "Cicli Montelatici" decals
for the head and seat tubes. I may make a small number of down tube decals to
satisfy those who want to have a decal on each side of the down tube.
I will be coordinating the state side delivery of the frames, and I'm not
making a mark up. If you're interested, I suggest you copy Matteo and me on
all email correspondence. The goal is to have the unpainted framesets
delivered to Oakland California for $400US. Additional shipping may apply for
further delivery. Sizes available (center to center) and quantities are:
49cm-one, 50cm-two, 51cm-one, 53cm-one, 54cm-two, 55cm-one, 56cm-one,
59cm-two, 62cm-one.
Matteo can send pictures, I have some pictures, if you're local you can look
at the one I have. Don't pass up this unique opportunity to get a really cool
Italian frame made by Cinelli and Co. that is NOS and been hanging in the
back of a shop in Italy for 20 to 30 years. These are truly beautiful frames.
Red twizzlers will be awarded as a prize for people who help to correctly
date the approximate year these were made based on the information given so
far or subsequently.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA