Re: [CR]re: 70s (?) De Rosa on ebay

(Example: Production Builders:Tonard)

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 12:50:06 -0800
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]re: 70s (?) De Rosa on ebay
References: <17371976.1087839684266.JavaMail.root@wamui02.slb.atl.earthlink.net>


chasds@mindspring.com wrote:
>
> Seems to me this bike went for about 700 bucks more than
> it's worth, based on past auctions of the same sort... this does
> have an interesting set of graphics...the head-badge decal looks
> like some sort of transition graphic between the early 70s
> design and the more common one that is still in use.
>
> It looks like two guys got into a bidding war for it..otherwise,
> it's hard for me to figure out why this went for so much more
> than the usual.
>
> http://ebay.com/<blah>
>
> Charles "hey, it's a cool bike, but THAT cool?" Andrews
> SoCal

The memories :(

I bought the identical frame in the early 1980s and I think the auction bike is early '80s too. It was the first batch of De Rosas that I saw (Peter Johnson said a shop in Palo Alto [Sugdon & Lynch?] imported some in the early 1970s) and most came in the same Mercedes Anthracite paint scheme. Were these imported by Ten Speed Drive back then?

http://i16.ebayimg.com/02/i/01/f4/14/dc_12_s.JPG

I put mine together with all the pantographed parts, Super Record plus the Campagnolo chainhanger with six speed 28° Ambrosio Metamorphos hard anodized sewup rims. I remember the dish on the drive side was almost completely flat (spoke bracing angle close to 90° vertical) but the wheel stayed true!

Sorry to say that bike was stolen out of Marina del Rey bike shop back in the mid 1980s never to be seen again. I imagine it went south of the border...

(Finally had to get another a few years ago, an NOS '87 Ugo Blue with SR.)

Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California

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