Well, so I went to have a look at the Casati our LBS has in its used bike rack, and I�m glad not too many people answered my post that i t is FS, because I�m not too sure I might not want it myself now.
The parts it is kitted out with are not interesting at all, but the frameset leaves me irritated. On the one hand, the lugs, brake bridges
and so on seem to be rather un-refined and plain, the dropouts are small and non-branded, and the tubes are Cromor. On the other hand, the
fork crown is nicely done with a "C" in it, and it says "Casati" (engraved) on the seat stay tips. Then there�s a lot of chrome, and
two puzzling transfers: One on the top tube, some sort of signature I canï¿ ½t
read, like "Gianni ...", and the other on the lower part of the down tube, triangular, reading "Varnished by Dossena Carlo", in English.
The model is indicated on the l/h chain stay, the transfer reading "Casati Monza".
I have looked on the net, and not found anything really, not even on the encylopaedic CR website. The Casati site is under construction.
The question of course now is: Is this frame anything special? Was the
Monza Casati�s cheaper model?
I�m sorry to bother the list, but I can�t remember ever hav ing seen
another Casati in Germany, and if this thing isn�t a KOF frameset I
don�t know what is.
Regards,
Toni Theilmeier, Belm, Germany. Here's one little clue: check out the eBay listings for "Titan" framesets, there's somebody who bought up a large stock from Switzerland and offers th em on the US site as NOS from the '80s, many with replacement Tange forks. They all seem to be "varnished by Dossena Carlo" could there be a Titan-Cas ati connection? Many have very unusual paint, some are "interesting" some a re downright ugly. Alan Goldsworthy San Francisco, CA