>>>>After purposely sitting this whole discussion out on the sidelines, I think that the seller's accusations of Brian are such that they deserve clarification. I have therefore sent an email to Cristiano De Rosa (Ugo's son in charge of all marketing and sales!) to ask for him to say whetehr or not it really is a De Rosa or not. My personal gut feeling is that it is not one of their bikes, but who knows apart from the De Rosa family themselves!
Steven<<<<
Steven -
Thanks for making the effort to get the true skinny on this frame. I, for one, am certainly interested in this debate. I have no desire to engage in any sort of debate with the seller, but we of the "bike weenie email group" certainly deserve to discuss a frame such as this one. Like you, my gut feeling would be that it is not a De Rosa, but I have heard of some "one-off" oddities coming out of De Rosa, Pinarello and Merckx in the early 80's, especially for TT use. I remember being in the Gita warehouse once and seeing a completely built-up Merckx mixte leaning against the wall. And, yes, it was a "real" Merckx.
Wayne Bingham Falls Church VA
PS: I'll be traveling abroad again this month. Anyone know of any cool bike shops in Dubai? :)