Dave outed the following:
> As usual, no relation to seller, etc. I was particularly intrigued by the
> brake system, as I have never seen it before. While I have heard of the Ganna
> marque before, maybe some else can give a greater background about this bike.
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/
The sellers of this bike, Vincenzo Nati and his son Alessandro, are friends of mine. These city bikes have quite a following in Italy (often more so than the racing models!) The starting price, which translates to approximately 1000 euros is well within the range of prices that these bikes can command at swap meets in Italy, however I doubt that it will sell on ebay, as most collectors of such bikes are not overly computer savvy. The brakes are 'hidden' rod brakes. The front brake lever operates a rod inside the handlebars that is connected to a rod that goes through the steer tube and comes out the bottom where it attaches to a horseshoe shaped bit that is affixed to the visible stirrup (see the cut-out in the front fender). The rear brake lever operates a second rod in the steer tube that then operates another rod inserted in the down tube with an external lever mechanism at the BB that then pulls the stirrup. The Ganna system on this bike is one of the nicer hidden systems but cannot compare with the Taurus ones which are considered the ne plus ultra. For one of the nicer Taurus city bikes with fully hidden brakes, you are normally looking at spending well over 1500 euros.
Ganna made some very nice bikes. I have posted some photos of my own Ganna at: http://www.wooljersey.com/
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Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ