Hi List,
I am a big fan of De Rosa's and would love to have an early/mid seventies bike. I was very excited about the 7K bike when it was first outed but alas, it wasn't my size and had to sit by the side lines to watch the going ons. There is a similar bike hanging on the walls of Talbot's now (along with a Masi GC of the same vintage), with the panto stem, fluted and painted seatpost and the heart cut-outs on the big ring. It looks to be of a similar size as well (57ish c to c). For the last few years, I would wonder into the store every few months and ask if the bikes were for sale to the point that they recognize me and tell me the answer before I ask. Of course, the answer had always been "No" and that it was part of the owner's collection and the store's history. I would then stood there and stare at the two bikes for 15 minutes and play thru my mind what I would do to them if I had them (mainly some cleaning up, new hoods to replaced the deteriorated original ones, re-tape the bars and ride them). I would then snap back into reality until months later when I have a reason or made an excuse to go into Talbot's again.
Now that you all know about this, I will probably never have the chance to buy them. One of you would probably go there with a truck load of money next week and keep offering the owner more and more money until he can't refuse ;-)
One other small point, I was under the impression that Talbot's didn't sell De Rosa's until 1973 or even 1974.
Respectfully,
Felix Chiu
Foster City, CA