Hi friends! Trying here to help us move from "macro" considerations back to the "micro", where my heart lieth. I love it when we wax lyrical rather than nip at each others heels, so today I am offering the following tidbit to bring out the helpful sides of you all:
I recently bought a Nuovo Record-equipped Spanish bicycle which had been advertised as "Razetta". If the seller is here on the list, I must say, I'm grateful to you for our cordial dealings. I'm delighted with the bike, but I guess I am now convinced it is in fact a Razesa--a marque I regret to say I was and remain rather ignorant of. I suppose in some parts of Spain you'd more or less say "Razetha", so the seller may not have been as wide of the mark as it might seem ;-). It has obviously been resprayed, but in a praiseworthy way--a very creditable job. It's decaled (okay...stickered) with the chainwheel-and-"R" motif on the headtube, "Romagna" on the downtube and seat-tube, and has a "Vuelta A Espana" grayhound sticker on the right side of the top tube, indicating the model designation, I feel certain. The NR rear derailleur is "Patent-71", and the bike has no braze-ons--a look I love. Wrap around seatstays...long-point lugs. The rear triangle is chromed, but only something less than 1/3rd the length of the stays--closer to 1/4th--shows chrome rather than paint. Gives it a sort-of "can-do", pugnacious look to complement its overall grace. A complete set of 531 decals is in evidence.
I would love to hear more about Razesa, and it would seem to be an underexposed brand. I'm sure it's likely to have been discussed here before, but might bear repeating. One curiosity might be: what is the earliest personal recollection anyone on this list has of seeing one? I wonder when a Razesa first appeared outside of Spain?
This particular bike showed up with Zeus shifters, but Campagnolo NR chainset, derailleurs and QR skewers, Atom pedals and freewheel, and definitely incorrect 700C clincher wheels (Sunshine hubs / Super Champion Competition rims). Tubulars are in order here! Stem is a Pivo requiring a 7mm allen key, as do TTTs of yore. Weinmann 500 sidepulls are featured but are very likely not original spec. I detect a spacer that might indicate centrepulls. I note that while some of these parts may have been changed, the NR components all seem to match in terms of the (slight) patina. Wishful thinking? Hard to tell at this point whether the bike was built with the majority of these parts yesterday or 30 years ago. It's not of paramount importance to me, but one does like to know.
Anyone have memories of how these were marketed, i.e., as frameset only, etc., etc.? Anyone have magazine ads or catalog listings for turn of the decade / early '70s Razesa? Anyone on our list residing in Spain, or have we driven you away with our puzzling tendency toward contentiousness?
Someone here (was that Walt in Pennsylvania?) was offering a Razesa patch recently, so I know there's some interest in these bikes. What about the company itself? What's known? I laugh to think that I "googled" Razetta, turning up nothing (surprise, surprise)--but haven't done the same with Razesa, the correct name. Just thought we needed to distract ourselves with detail again after an emotionally draining weekend on the list. I have at least distracted myself, to the tune of staying up way too late composing these words!
Love to all,
Tom Ward One mile north of WTC, where a doppler-shifting jet overhead still jolts the nerves a little, at odd hours like 9 am, or 2 am (NYC)