Another "fancy" head tube lugset on a Doneselli 4-speed "city bike."
http://www.twistcomm.com/
I really like those old "tarted-up" lower end Italian bikes.
Fred
**********************************
Fred Yavorsky
Jenkintown, PA
fred@twistcomm.com
http://twistcomm.com/
> From: <emeneff@earthlink.net>
> Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:10:46 -0700
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: [CR]re : 60's Olmo with "fancy" headlugs
>
> I'm not positive, but I believe that those overdone ornate "headlugs"
> are really just a cheap and nasty one-piece stamped headtube assembly.
> Many cheapo italian bikes came with similiar pieces - notably the
> low-end Atala's of the same era. Kind of interesting that the big makers
> would actually make the effort to tart up their cheapo bikes and
> actually try and make them look nicer. It is too tempting to look back
> on second-string bikes like this (and even cheaper ones) and ask "why
> even bother ?"
>
> The way to tell for sure is to remove the fork assembly and look inside
> the headtube for the tell-tale full size holes for the top and downtubes
> ( and the big ol' weld seam along the front ). Eons ago I think I had or
> saw a catalog from the Italian firm "Rizzato" that featured these
> pieces. How come I can remember that and not remember what I ate for
> lunch yesterday ?
>
> Large companies often used this trick to save a few pennies and some
> assembly time for the lower-end models. Even Trek did this for some of
> their less expensive bikes, back when they actually made bikes of METAL
> . . . remember that ?
>
> Memory and cheap bikes can sure be strange . . . and not what they
> always seem !
>
> Mike Fabian
> Foggy San Francisco