Italvega seemed to have an in with Columbus that permitted them to create unusual tubing stickers. My Italvega (light green) uses the old dark color scheme sticker, but it is an English language version, the first that I had seen. It reads "Butted Tubes - Guarranteed" (or maybe Warranted; I don't have the bike in front of me). Did Mr. Lawee know someone at Columbus?
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/
Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ
>From: PBridge130@aol.com
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: [CR]60's Tre-tubi; random blatherings about Italvegas
>Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 01:23:30 EST
>
>
>There's an Italvega on the Bay, apparently 60's, with an early tre-tubi
>sticker. I'd never seen that sticker before -- I always associated tre-tubi bikes
>with the late 70's and early 80's, when there were scads of bikes from the
>likes of Basso and Pinarello, which could be bought for a song, and which rode
>really wonderfully.
>
>I've had a soft spot for Italvegas since giving one to a girlfriend in about
>1977 -- one of the lovely dark brown ones, with gold highlights, GS crank with
>her name pantoed in the ring, the rest NR . She was Italian, too, but don't
>get me started. Back in those days, I'd been given to believe that Italvegas
>were a marketing creation of Ben Lawee (and a quick visit to CR told me that
>I'm not the only one who thinks that), but I would have thought that the bike
>on the Bay would be earlier than Lawee Imports.
>
>Speaking of Ben Lawee, a quick google reveals that the City of Long Beach
>dedicated a memorial bench to a Ben Lawee, just about a year ago, so I gather
>that Ben has passed. I respected him a lot, he was kind to me and my business,
>and he made me laugh on a number of occasions. Thanks, Ben.
>
>Anyway, I'd never seen that tre-tubi sticker before.
>
>Blather
>
>Peter Bridge
>Denver, CO
>
>
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