The best riding, and looking, bikes of the many I have been fortunate enough to own over the years are Tommasini lugged steel framesets. The bright red paint and shiny chrome on this Tommasini scream fast Italian racing bike!
This fire engine red Tommasini Super Prestige frame measures 56cm from the center of the bottom bracket to the top of the top tube with a 55.5cm top tube. The frame tubing is the legendary Columbus SLX steel with chromed rear chain stays and seat stays. The 1" threaded Tommasini AIR fork is chromed with Tommasini engraving in the fork crown. The Tommasini "T" is pantographed in the headtube lugs, brake bridge, top of the seat stays, and fork crown. The bike was repainted in 2000 using official Tommasini decals.
The rear brake cable is routed internally through the top tube, there is a braze-on front derailleur tab and downtube shifter bosses, a pump peg, and two sets of water bottle bosses. The rear dropouts are horizontal (dropout screws included) and measure 127mm wide.
The overall condition of the bike is very good. The paint is in good condition, as is the chrome. The frame and fork have been completely treated inside the tubes with Boeshield T-9 rust prevention spray.
There are a few flaws that keep this bike from being in excellent aesthetic condition. There are a few small paint chips, most of which have been touched up, with the most noticeable being on the bottom bracket shell from installation of the bottom bracket. The chrome is very shiny, with only a very few small marks in it. There is also a quirk on this frame in that the top of the right seat stay is red, but the one on the other side is chromed. I didn't notice it at first and, in fact, it wasn't until I was looking at some of the pictures I took of the frame that I saw it. The original owner indicated he specified the repaint to be this way so he would not have to worry about rear brake cable housing rub on the top of the left seat stay as he did with the original paint job. I am not sure I would have chosen that method to mitigate the rub, but he did and it was his bike! Finally, the rear exit point for the rear brake cable housing looks to have a very tiny (doesn't show on pictures and you have to be looking for tiny imperfections like I was) flaw as if too large a ferrule was used at one time. None of these items affect the integrity of the bike, nor do they detract from how striking it is.
$425 for the frame, fork, headset, and bottom bracket professionally packed, shipped, and insured to the lower 48 United States.
Lots of pictures available for free...just ask.
Frank Phillips
McAlester, OK