The original owner of this bicycle was British. I suspect that this one was imported as a frame only; hence the British threading and component mix. The mismatched brakes and levers is a mystery. A person who purchased a new Roma from the same period mentioned Universal 61 levers were often replaced. I thought maybe the bicycle originally had Ballila calipers that were replaced with the Universals. The other oddity was that the pedals never had toe clips installed.
Another guess is that the shop that built it out did it with parts available at the time. The owner was not particularly a bicycle enthusiast, but rather some one with a taste for quality items and the wherewithal to afford them.
Nick Zatezalo Atlanta,Ga
[Original Message]
> > From: <themaaslands@comcast.net>
> > To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org (Classic Rendezvous)>
> > Date: 2/11/2005 11:50:11 PM
> > Subject: [CR]Nick's Legnano roma
> >
> > http://ebay.com/
> >
> > I am quite surprised that nobody has been speaking about the Legnano
Roma Olympiad that Nick has offered on ebay. This bike is a very special
bike and deserves some more attention. We should also complement Nick for
not succumbing to the lure of quick money by parting the bike out. This
bike has a lot of very collectible components that alone would bring in a
lot more than the bike is now attracting. It has the 1st generation
Campagnolo chainset (the one with the pedal caps on the inside of the
cranks) as well as the corresponding pedals (the ones with the short pedal
spindle threads) the early Campagnolo headset, badged Cinelli stem and
bars, narrow rail Campagnolo seatpost with Brooks/Campagnolo saddle. It
does have some components that puzzle me somewhat like the brakes, the
English BB and 27" wheel size. I wonder if the bike was built for the
British market? Any comments?
> >
> > --
> > Steven Maasland
> > Moorestown, NJ