snipped: " I'm sure someone on the list can explain why, and I imagine that it hod to do whith who apprenticed where, and with whom."
it should be in the archives. i met raul garza, a former top racer and son of my first-ever client, at the 75 ny cycle show. raul was manning the benotto booth and we discussed his being mentored at derosa so as to make the high-end benotto frames to the specs of the mexican brand. e-RICHIE chester, ct
Nice Benotto... err DeRosa. I don't know exactly what you have there, other than a nice bike that is probably Benotto and *may* have been buit by DeRosa. I will add though, that the nicer Benottos from the 70's and 80's were DeRosa-like in many ways. I'm sure someone on the list can explain why, and I imagine that it hod to do whith who apprenticed where, and with whom. Note that many of the nicer Benottos were made in Italy, not Mexico. The round-diamond-round stays were featured on models such as the top-end Mod. 3000. The heart motif appears on old Benottos, inclding my rather crude, Italian made Benotto from the late 70's (Mod 2000?). The common denominators are there, and your Benotto was not necessarily made by DeRosa. The panto parts are not really a clue, because the bike is such a mix of parts from different vintages. The SLX sticker is probably an add-on, and the presence of the 531 fork decals only further enforces the possibility of a sticker-happy former owner. Based on the pressed seat lug, this is an older frame that predates SLX. That's about all I can say, but I'm sure someone knows more about the Ugo-Giocinto connection.
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA
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