I just had an interesting discovery. While chasing a couple of small parts,
I entered into some communication with a fellow named Glenn Barr who used
to have a bike shop in Cedar Rapids Iowa called Bicycle Peddlers. He and
his partner apparently bought out a Colnago/Allegro dealer in Ohio named
Jim's Pro bikes from a gentleman named Jim Beras. Some of these names will
no doubt be familiar to some of you. They were not to me. There were
apparently a lot of bikes that came to Bicycle peddlers new in boxes. Most
of the larger and smaller ones were sold off over the years. What remains
is largely in the 54cm size range, which reflects the size of Glenn and his
partner.
Now they are selling these. They have set up a web site showing some of
them, but he tells me that there are many that have not made it onto the
site yet. The NOS ones are wonderful, but the real stunner is a red with
chrome lugs '60s Allegro that is at the top of the page. It is about as
pretty as any bike I have seen in a long time. I understand that the '60s
one is the only one that has been refinished...it had to have a repaint and
Jim Cunningham did it for him, as the original finished had been ruined by
hanging over the desk of a chain smoker for decades. Ah, the evil of
nicotine! At any rate the bikes may be seen at
http://www.531forever.com/
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi