There are "reissues" and there are "resissues." I recently picked up, very reasonably, a brand new (2002? 2003?) Cinelli Supercorsa frameset. I have a friend who has a Cinelli Supercorsa framset from the 60s, which he recently, lovingly, and perfectly restored. Looking at the two frames, it is difficult to see which one comes from which era. The same chromed lugs, fork crown, paint, decals, etc. Indeed, if you look at old catalogs, including several I got as reproductions from Chuck (thanks, by the way, they make for great reading, and order #2 just got to me and a check for #3 is on its way to you, Chuck) it would seem that this particular model is in a time warp, and has been in almost continuous production since the early '60s, if not before. (Okay, my new frame is Columbus Neuron, and the older frames are SLX, etc. but they seem otherwise identical.)
Is this then a 'reissue', a 'reproduction', or why buy one at all? The answer for me was simple: I wanted the look and feel of this frame without the worry of dropping a lovingly restored frame. I like what I got quite a bit, and when someone said to me the other day, "nice job fixing up that old Italian racer" I was flattered -- but honest when I responded.
I also see the comments on the Bates Cantiflex. The same tubing, I believe, is used in the 'reproduction', Cooper is a true master builder, and those forks are unique. Tough to really know what to call a bike like that, perhaps like Aston Martin did when the released a slightly modernized version of their original Zagato, that was the same in look and components as 25 special models built years before, "Sanction II"?
Dave Novoselsky,
Chicago, Illinois