As a supplement to Norris's informative post, I have learned that the Paganini was a Bilato built frame, indeed for the Concorde firm as was mentioned. The Veltec firm acted as the distributor for these bikes in the US and Canada, and possibly in some parts of Western Europe as well. I discovered on the internet that Veltec Benelux is currently still marketing Concorde race-fietsen.
Dennis Young Hotaka, Japan
> Sounds very Italian but is in fact Belgian,,.Like several other top =
> Belgian lightweight shops and some French ones too ,eg Van Yperzeele at =
> Geraardsbergen near Ghent calls his bikes Giacomelli, so the proprietor =
> of that small chain of excellent shops at Ghent and Ostend, La Plume =
> Vainquer - "the Winning Feather", christened his frames after the =
> musician Paganini.
>
> in the 80s and 90s Plumes' best shop along the Nederkooter, in Ghent was =
> a Mecca for English hard riders and Belgians alike. Many are the hours I =
> have spent along the very long glass corridor leading from the street to =
> the shop door. Hell, the stuff that they had in there. The shop itself =
> was quite large at the back where the staff worked but the counter area =
> was relatively small with a little "boutique" area.
>
> Anyhow to the bikes.. and more drooling. The frames were built in Italy =
> by, according to all accounts CIOCC/Cicli JOHN/CONTI, but whether they =
> were sprayed there I'm not certain, because later frames made for La =
> Plume Vainquer during his liaison with a Dutch wholesaler under the =
> joint name of Concorde, were sprayed by Van Yperzeele or so the latter =
> guy told me.
>
> However.. the most noticeable feature of the Paganinis was their superb =
> flambouyantreds and blues over chrome with the stays lugs and forks all =
> left chromed. The other striking item was the amount of engraving on the =
> lugs and fork-crown. The "window" part of the lug in the corner had a =
> very styllised "P" in what I can only call Neon-style typeface. The down =
> tube lug had a variation on the Pinarello "P". The decals were also =
> written in the same style of lettering. The overall effect was stunning.
>
> Whether or not the track frame available is of the same high quality is =
> debatable but I would think it very likely. However there was a trend in =
> Belgium and in France at the time to build track frames and cyclo-cross =
> frames in stiffer and often cheaper tubing such as FALK.. probably so =
> that it is cheaper to write them off in a crash.
>
> The lus were invariably, on the road frames at least, short point "Serie =
> Corsa Special" made by Rizzato Alessandro in Padua. Oh.. and the top =
> eyes were havily engraved also, with the "Paganini" running from the top =
> of the eye to the bottom, and not sideways on.
>
> Hope that's been of some use.
>
> Norris Lockley.. wishing he was in Ghent..