Steven is absolutely right on this. If my memory of the DeRosa history is right, construction started sometime in the 50's. What I should have said is that it is one of the early ones to hit the U.S market. Just a few came in during 1973 or 1974, mostly I believe from a west coast shop. This one is a tad later. Finally, by late 70's quite a few were entering as they were brought in by at least one larger importer. Mike Kone in Boulder CO
> Mike Kone wrote about the high-flying De Rosa frame:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> > The frame looks to be one of the original early DeRosa frames which is a very
\r?\n> > rare animal. Only questions in my mind are the seeming lack of the cool
\r?\n> > triagular chainstays, and the headlugs don't have the faces by the headset
\r?\n> cups,
\r?\n> > but it is the early decal set. These things are really rare although I'm not
\r?\n> at
\r?\n> > all impressed by the ones I've seen in person.
\r?\n> > For the Italian bike collector, this is a holy grail item. Much rarer in this
\r?\n> > country than a true Confente frame.
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > For the avid collector, this was a very rare find.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The frame is not what I would personally consider an early De Rosa, given that
\r?\n> Ugo had been building frames with his name on them for more than 20 years by the
\r?\n> time this frame was built. According to De Rosa, this frame was built after 1973
\r?\n> and before 1977. So rather than being an 'early' De Rosa, this was one of the
\r?\n> very few frames that was built right alongside Eddy Merckx's frames. This is
\r?\n> indeed the exact period in which Eddy was riding exclusively on Ugo's bikes. It
\r?\n> is therefore truly a very rare bike here in the US and the original person or
\r?\n> shop who ordered it almost certainly had to wait longer than expected to receive
\r?\n> it. BTW, I was one of the people who had programmed a snipe bid that did not
\r?\n> even get a chance to register as the bidding had already gone through the
\r?\n> ceiling for the bike. Charles should be proud.
\r?\n> --
\r?\n> Steven Maasland
\r?\n> Moorestown, NJ