Hey Listers.
I bought a Rossin track bike about a year ago as a complete bike but nothing on it was original. From what I understand, I am the third owner. It had been resprayed (rather thickly) by the original owner, sold to the second owner who built it up with close-but-not-quite- right bits and then sold to me. I swapped out some things and added decals but most likely not the correct ones.
Here are photos in it's current state: http://sisuhome.com/
I plan to have it repainted and decaled to it's original spec but am having trouble figuring out exactly what it originally looked like. I've seen various models/years of the Rossin track model but none of them quite fit what I've got. The closest example is a bike that is on ebay right now. I contacted the seller but he was unsure of it's vintage.
http://ebay.com/
The other closest example is in a Rossin catalog (sans the gold chroming):
http://bulgier.net/
My questions is, does anyone recognize any particular features that can help me determine the vintage and/or paint scheme?
Clues/peculiarities in my mind are the stamp on the track end that says "US" and the all-chrome fork that looks like it MAY have had paint on it at one time; the top half of the fork legs look darker and tarnished compared to the bottom.
Also, the "R" stamp on the fork crown is more faint on one side than it is on the other. This looks like it could have happened as the result of someone attempting to remove paint/polish.
If anyone has any wild guesses or spot-on explanations send'em my way. Remember all parts and paint are not original so the frame gives the only clues.
Thanks Mark Buswell San (too rainy to ride the new Merckx) Francisco, CA