Thanks for the emails that I have received about this bike..and all those encouragements not to think about the money and just to "..go for it!"
A couple of emails have asked about the size of the frame...so I sent an email to the vendor who has replied very promptly. The reply is not going to make very pleasant reading for at least one List member, Robert Freed. Sorry about this Robert, but Monsieur has confirmed that the frame is a 60cms..and that this is stamped on the bottom-bracket shell in typical French fashion..making the frame around 24.5" I guess.
In my original email to the List I ststed that the bike was either modestly or reasonably prived..whatever the epithet I used..well. apologies for that statement because at 1500 euros..it isn't too modest..and I was clearly getting it mixed up with something else I had spotted at 400 euros.
However later in the evening when I was sweet-talking to my wife about the bike...she knows I have lusted after just such a Stella for a long time..I started to justify the starting price both to myself and also to her..thereby reversing the tactic that she often adopts when buying shoes or handbags! But all those nice bits on the Stella, if sold separately, would probably fetch a tidy sum.
Norris Lockley, from a very very wet Settle, UK ..lost under a tungsten sky.